Honda RA165E

The Honda RA165E is the turbocharged 1.5 litre Formula One engine that Honda, through its F1 programme, developed for the 1985 season. It was an entirely new design that replaced the RA163E line, which had grown out of a Formula Two engine and suffered from poor fuel economy, modest output and frequent piston and turbine failures. Its designers, led by Yoshitoshi Sakurai, drew on Honda road-car turbo engine experience and chose a smaller bore, a longer stroke and a combustion chamber shaped to burn faster. It is a water-cooled 80 degree V6 with DOHC and 24 valves, displacing 1,498 cc with a bore and stroke of 82.0 by 47.3 millimetres and producing more than 800 PS at 11,200 rpm, and from 1986 the bore and stroke moved to 79.0 by 50.8 millimetres. It first raced in the Williams FW10 at the Canadian Grand Prix in 1985 and won at the next round. The line went on in the Williams FW11 and Lotus 99T, passing 1,000 horsepower in 1987, and ended with the RA168E when turbocharged engines were banned after 1988.