Bar Honda

Honda is simply the OG tuner car company, for a variety of reasons. In the old school days, Honda heads were patriotic and loyal, mostly because it was tunable, not because of the badge per se, or the styling, and perhaps because Honda was the underdog coming up in an world of V8s; of threatened big block American O.E. lovers afraid of the "Japanese Invasion" and afraid what they didn't know. Today, U.S. Honda loyalists are a motley crew, many follow die-hard Honda drag racers like Steph Papadakis, some follow Civic racing in Japan or Britain, some are into only "all-show-no-go" cars at so-called import shows, and yet many are unaware of the long history and twisted roads Honda has traveled to be a dominant player in the world of speed.

Honda is also one of the only O.E. auto makers selling in the U.S. today that has been an integral part of the ridiculously paid, technologically advanced, clandestine world of Formula One for the last 20 years! Also known as F1, the media drama, glamour and international race scene of Formula One are merely small diversions from the real drama that goes on behind the scenes in the Tech Labs, R&D and Race Development Teams. So what does any of this have to do with you? More than you might know.

For starters, an entire myriad of racing (everything below Formula One), such as Formula Three Thousand to the most basic form of drag racing and even drifting is touched by F1 Technology. Derivatives of cutting edge F1 technology have been modified and trickled down to affect our daily street drivers, such bi-directional telemetry-somewhat like OnStar unlocking your doors after you lock yourself out or paddle shifting your dream Ferrari or downshifting your Porsche with Tiptronic controls. The futurists in the motor world, whether you like it or not, look to F1 for leads. And let's face it, every wannabe racer, pro drag racer, CART or ALMS driver has fantasies and dreams of being picked up by an F1 Team even as a test driver.

We are F1 fans and enthusiasts at ImportTuner, so when a British American Racing (BAR) Honda event at Montreal Grand Prix presented itself, we had to come out of the closet. Since F1 technology is so highly coveted and arrives so expensively, we went with high hopes to see what goes on in the privileged pits and paddock that make F1 such a glamorous, seemingly untouchable billionaires sport.

All racing circuits have tense politics, fighting and coups of all sorts that make racing what it is, and F1 politics is the inspiration and example, with hotly debated scandals, debauchery and de-thronings at every turn of events. British American Racing's BAR Honda team is no exception as one of the favorite teams of a newer generation of F1 fans internationally. With strong followings for young drivers like Jenson Button and Takuma Sato, this fresh faced team is one of the few whose hardcore fan base around the world is the least about the billionaire's lifestyle and more about Honda's motoring legacy.

Honda's founder Soichiro Honda had an intense passion for racing which resonated for generations and is still evident in Honda's Motorsports activities today around the world. So fully thorough is Honda's passion for racing that its history speaks for itself. Reflecting back in this 20th year, Honda has been involved in F1 racing history with some of the greatest names in F1 racing, Surtees, Piquet, Mansell, Senna, Prost, as well as some of the most famously successful racing teams of all time, McLaren, Lotus, Williams, all who chose to be powered by Honda.