The new for 2006 Honda engined Formula Nippon car undertook its first test at Snetterton earlier this week and enjoyed a successful initial shakedown.
In cold but sunny conditions the Lola designed and built B06/51 chassis completed a total of 100 miles running during the test. Experienced single seater and sportscar driver Tim Mullen conducted the driving duties for the duration of the test.
Both Lola and Honda engineers were pleased with the results of the running and the car will continue its evaluations at Fuji in Japan on 15/16 January 2006 when the Honda and Toyota cars will run together for the first time.
Tim Mullen enjoyed his return to single seaters after competing in sportscars recently and said: “All the objectives that were set were achieved so everyone was happy with the systems checks that we completed.”
“Both the Lola chassis and the Honda engine were impressive,” continued Mullen. “I noticed the torque on the engine right away and the downforce levels from the car was excellent when we did our stints. Everything felt good and I enjoyed working with the engineers. It would certainly be great to do this again in the future.”
Lola’s Formula Nippon project manager Bruce Oliver was equally pleased with the two days work and commented: “We tested numerous aspects of the car and they all performed very well. The test allowed us to try all the new aspects of the car such as the new spark-cut gear-change system and evaluate the new aerodynamic package of the car.”
Honda’s Yasuhide Sakamoto was also happy with the results and said: "We were delighted with the first on track run of the engine which performed faultlessly over the two days, some good progress was made on the calibrations and strategies,
“We were pleasantly surprised to be running so quickly in such a short space of time under less than ideal track conditions, some of which was down to the excellent technical feedback and pace of test driver Tim Mullen.”
Formula Nippon testing continues on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week when Kazuyoshi Hoshino’s Impul team test the Toyota engined chassis at Fuji.
The 2006 Formula Nippon series kicks off at Suzuka on April 2, 2006.
