By Honda Racing (28/05/2004)
May 28 2004

Honda has a very special milestone to mark at the Nurburgring this weekend as it was 40 years ago at the famous German venue that the Japanese company made its Formula 1 debut. Honda has always loved a challenge and so, perhaps, it's no surprise that it decided to make its first foray into Grand Prix racing on what, at the time, was the most demanding circuit of them all - the 14-mile, 174-corner Nordschleife that pre-dates the current circuit. It was on this epic roller-coaster through the Eifel Mountains that young American Ronnie Bucknum made Honda F1 history 40 years ago, just two years after Honda started to manufacture and sell automobiles.

Initially Honda had planned a joint project with an established F1 chassis manufacturer but the deal did not go ahead, so the Japanese company's engineers rose to the enormous challenge of designing and building a complete racing car as well as forming their own Formula One team from scratch, a task they completed in just six months.

Having chosen the little-known Bucknum as a driver, Honda also had to settle on its battle colours. The original intention was to paint the new RA271 gold to match the RA270F prototype, but this colour was assigned to South Africa under the FIA's sporting regulations so Honda elected to finish the car in ivory white, accented with a red rising sun on the cowling.

The pioneering Honda RA271 was sent to Europe in mid-July 1964 and, although the car had barely turned a wheel in anger, Honda made its Formula One debut in the German Grand Prix in early August. The combination of an untried car, team and driver saw the team battling against handling and engine problems during practice at the fearsome Nurburgring and ultimately failing to qualify. However, the organisers granted Honda's request for a special session to complete the minimum number of laps required to start the race, and Bucknum duly lined up at the back of the 22 car grid.

The obviously potent RA271 propelled the American up to ninth place, when the Nürburgring's notorious jumps caused the suspension to fail, sending the new machine off the track. Honda contested two further races later in the year and almost incredibly won its first Grand Prix during the following season.

Since then Honda has racked up a further 70 Grand Prix wins and, on current form, Jenson Button and Takuma Sato could be adding to that tally before too long.