Honda and Mansell tackle F2
The Ralt RH6-Honda – Nigel Mansell in the car, here-above, at Zandvoort in 1980 – is an open-wheel racing car built by Australian constructor Ralt, based in England, and owned by legendary designer Ron Tauranac, for the 1980 European Formula 2 championship.
In 1980, Honda asked John Judd’s Engine Developments to develop an engine for the Formula 2, which would be used by the works Ralt team. Drivers were Nigel Mansell and Geoff Lees (one race). Its highest finish that year was second for Mansell at Hockenheim.
The V6 Honda engine produced 300 bhp at 10,500 rpm, but that increased to 330 bhp at 12,000 rpm in 1981, although the effective rev range was narrow and the car not down to the weight limit.
Tauranac (picture below, next to Mansell’s car) had previously been associated with Honda through Brabham’s introduction of the Japanese marque to F2 in the 1960s, while Jack Brabham had co-founded Engine Developments with Judd. Mansell finished twelfth in the 1980 F2 championship, dominated by the two Toleman TG280-Hart of Brian Henton and Derek Warwick.