The Honda RA099 was a prototype Formula One car commissioned by Honda, designed by the former Ferrari and Tyrrell engineer Harvey Postlethwaite and built by Dallara in 1999. Its purpose was similar to that of the Toyota TF101 of 2001: a working test car used to prepare a full-scale Honda assault on Grand Prix racing in the following years.
Dallara Honda at a glance
| Commissioned by | Honda |
|---|---|
| Designed by | Harvey Postlethwaite |
| Built by | Dallara, Italy |
| Year | 1999 |
| Purpose | test car ahead of a Honda works Formula One team |
| Design team | former Tyrrell employees who joined Honda after the BAR takeover |
| First laps | 15 December 1998, Varano de’ Melegari |
| Winter testing | 1999, alongside the Formula One teams |
| Noted for | reliability and good performance |
| Project ended | 21 May 1999, when Honda chose BAR |
| Designer | died in April 1999 during a Barcelona test |
Based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on the Honda RA099, the car Dallara built for Honda. The article also summarises Honda’s earlier Formula One history.
History of the Dallara Honda
Honda’s first Formula One programme
Soichiro Honda, the company’s founding president, wanted one of his cars to become world champion in a global motorsport category, and in the 1960s he took the firm into Formula One. The Honda RA271 of 1964, with a V12 engine, failed to finish any of the four Grands Prix in which Ronnie Bucknum drove it. The following year two RA272s were entered, and at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix, held at altitude in Mexico City, Richie Ginther took Honda’s first Formula One victory. The RA273 that followed in 1966 proved unreliable, and for 1967 Honda subcontracted the design of a chassis to Lola: developed from a USAC car, the Honda RA300 weighed only 600 kg against the 743 kg of the RA273, and John Surtees won with it at Monza on its first appearance, the car being nicknamed Hondola by the press. Honda and Lola parted in 1968, Honda developed the RA301 alone, and reliability problems led the company to leave Formula One at the end of that year, after Jo Schlesser was killed in the RA302 at the 1968 French Grand Prix at Rouen.
Return as an engine supplier
Honda came back in 1983, at first only as an engine supplier, partnering the modest Spirit Racing team with a turbocharged V6 derived from a Formula Two engine. It then turned to Williams, whose cars won the constructors’ championship in 1986 and 1987, and from 1988 to 1992 it supplied McLaren, which took four constructors’ titles from 1988 to 1991. Between 1984 and 1992 Honda engines won 68 Grands Prix, two of them with Lotus. Honda’s president Nobuhiko Kawamoto said McLaren never understood the company’s motivation: while the British team aimed to win championships, Honda wanted to develop its technology. Formula One also reached a mostly European audience, so Honda ended this second phase at the end of 1992 and moved to American Champ Car racing in 1994.
The RA099
The RA099 was designed in a few months by former Tyrrell Racing employees who had joined Honda after British American Racing took over their team. Dallara built the car, and the single-seater made its first laps on 15 December 1998 at the Italian circuit of Varano de’ Melegari. It then took part, alongside the other Formula One teams, in the 1999 winter tests, where it stood out for its reliability and good performance.
Honda still had reservations about committing itself as a constructor, and the project lost its designer when Harvey Postlethwaite died of a heart attack in mid-April 1999 during a test session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. On 21 May 1999 Honda abandoned its Formula One team and chose instead to partner British American Racing, which became its works team through an exclusive supply of Honda engines and a technical partnership on the development of the British team’s cars. Supertec, the engine company owned by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, then considered taking over Honda Racing Developments to enter Formula One under its own name, but the plan came to nothing.
Design and features
- Purpose-built test car: the RA099 was never meant to race, but to prepare Honda’s return as a constructor.
- Dallara construction: the Italian firm built the chassis for Honda.
- Postlethwaite design: the car was drawn by the engineer behind Tyrrell and Ferrari projects.
- Tyrrell know-how: the design team were former Tyrrell employees who had moved to Honda.
- Strong testing: in the 1999 winter tests the car stood out for reliability and pace.
Dallara Honda versions
- RA099 (1999): the single prototype built by Dallara for Honda.
- Winter test programme: the 1999 tests alongside the established Formula One teams.
- Works team plan: abandoned on 21 May 1999 in favour of the BAR engine partnership.
The RA099 was built in the same years as Dallara’s Formula Three and GP2 programmes. More cars are in the Dallara collection.
Sources
- Honda RA099, English Wikipedia: the car, its design, testing and the end of the project
