Car FYI

Close-up of Scott Dixon's Honda-branded Engine Cover (Chris Nagy/Car FYI Canada)   A company maintaining an uninterrupted 30-year association with motorsports is a commitment involving a great deal of mutual appreciation and respect. Back in 1994, the Honda name’s appearance on Indy cars was a new sight for many racing fans. While the auto marker had gained a reputation for winning in Formula 1 through the 1980s and early 1990s, the North American open wheel racing scene presented a much different challenge. Honda Racing’s endeavour into IndyCar immediately demonstrated that some first steps may be uneasy but the capacity to endure these early struggles can amount to greatness.   Honda had explored involvement with Indy car racing during the early 1980s partnering with Engine Development Limited (a company jointly founded by Jack Brabham and John Judd) to create a competition powerplant. While Honda opted not to officially enter the CART Indy car racing, work on t...

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy The 2023 Chevrolet Corvette is one of the finest-tuned and most recognized performance machines made. Featuring a meticulously sculpted shape combining elements of race cars and jet aircraft, the Corvette’s recent evolution to a rear mid-engined layout for its eighth generation has been a lengthy pursuit for perfection . The 2020 Corvette Stingray with its 495-horsepower Small Block V8 engine contributed to the fastest stock acceleration from 0 to 60 miles per hour while the Z06 edition of the sports car rose the vehicle to the peak of automotive athleticism with a 670-horsepower LT6 powerplant. The book of 70 years of history has been written by eight major revisions that progressed from a modest performer. On this day (June 30th), the first chapter for the Chevrolet Corvette’s story began to be written inside a Flint, Michigan factory where the first car was assembled with less precision and polish than the modern icon. Starting life as Project Ope...

Photo Credit: Engine Developments Ltd. Too many times, forgetting an anniversary would end with someone spending time in the proverbial doghouse. This has apparently happened this year as the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season concluded with no major celebrations or recognition for what is 30 years since a major current partner of American open wheel racing began participation in the sport. The following article is a collection of the details I’ve learned as well as some insight from engine builder John Judd on what was a quiet 30th anniversary in the Verizon IndyCar Series. During the week where the 30th running of the Canadian street race now known as the Honda Indy Toronto, I was compelled to capture the flavour of the inaugural event. The viewing experience provided me some insight into a period of time where I was too young to absorb auto racing in the manner I do today. A race that featured television coverage with no regular onscreen statistics, the league used a local ...