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Honda Racing F1 Team unveiled on January 29 its all-new RA108
Formula One car at the team’s headquarters in Brackley, United
Kingdom. The launch followed an initial shakedown period of the car
in Valencia where the team’s driver lineup of Rubens Barrichello
and Jenson Button put evaluation mileage on the car in preparation
for the start of its preseason testing program.
Honda test driver Alex Wurz led the unveiling of
the RA108, which already sports the team’s 2008 livery. Driving
the car for the first time, Wurz cruised down through the pit
lane-theme auditorium in front of around 300 international guests.
Honda laid out its long-term plans for 2008,
reaffirming its commitment to the sport to reach its ambitions. The
team’s 2008 challenge sees a substantial evolution in three key
areas, the most fundamental of which are changes in the car design
philosophy.
The RA108 is considered a response to the
challenges of 2007, benefiting from the combined resources of the
Honda Racing F1 Team’s three bases in Brackley and Bracknell in
the United Kingdom and the Honda R&D center in Tochigi, Japan.
“The RA108 car is a wholly different concept
from its predecessors in terms of its aerodynamic layout and
mechanical structure. The design philosophy has been developed to
allow greater scope for aerodynamic packaging and exploitation,
particularly to facilitate the introduction of performance upgrades
through the season,” said Honda F1’s new team principal Ross
Brawn.
Brawn, along with Michael Schumacher and Jean
Todt, is credited for bringing Ferrari F1 its unprecedented string
of five straight world championships.
Besides the new car, also launched at the event
was Honda F1’s earthdreams program. earthdreams is the evolution
of the myearthdream concept launched in 2007 and is the next stage
in Honda’s commitment to harnessing the passion of F1 and its
partners to provide support and investment for good causes.
Aiming to raise environmental awareness into
action, the Honda F1 team and its partners have committed $1.2
million, with $700,000 already allocated, to the project.
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