HPD now offers the 1.5-liter Honda Fit engine to racers planning to run in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Formula F competition. The L15A7 engine in FF form is intended to provide open-wheel racers with a modern, fuel-injected design offering superior service life, increased availability and lower operating costs. As one of the initial offerings in its new grassroots motorsports initiative, Honda Performance Development, Inc. (HPD), the authorized Honda and Acura auto racing company in North America, enters into an SCCA Club Racing program with an eye toward lowering operating costs, while strengthening FF’s position as the first step in American open-wheel racing. “FF has a tremendous history, here in North America and around the world. Through the ’70s and ’80s, it was THE place for open-wheel racers to ‘cut their racing teeth’,” said Erik Berkman, President of Honda Performance Development. “So many champion drivers, such as our own Jimmy Vasser, Gil de Ferran and Bryan Herta, got their start in FF. Our goal is not to force competitors to make a change, but to make FF more affordable and more competitive.” The Honda FF engine has been developed by Honda Performance Development in cooperation with Sandy Shamlian of Quicksilver RacEngines. The engine is being developed to equal the performance of the Kent powerplant through utilization of an HPD-developed intake restrictor plate and appropriately mapped Engine Control Unit (ECU). If testing reveals the need for …