Oliver White
Honda debuted their 2008 car at Valencia this morning, dressed in white and and powering Rubens Barrichello around the Spanish circuit. The new car, which Honda hope will lift them back into the competitive zone, is quite a radical move away from the failed RA107 which only garnered six points in last years championship. Visually, the nose is much higher and the sidepods are significantly different. The rear end has also been completely altered according to the team and the front suspension has been remodelled.
It is going to be tough season for the Japanese team as they will need to play catch up with the others ahead of them, but this winter has seen some big changes at Brackley, most notably the placing of Ross Brawn in the team boss role. But the car needs to be a dramatic improvement if they are to be able to compete with Renault and BMW for the remainder of the points.
We will have our ups and downs and over a long season; that is inevitable. But I don’t see any reason why we cannot get back to where we were at the end of 2006. We obviously don’t know where other people are, but I don’t think it is unreasonable to presume that during the course of 2008 we will be able to get back to where we were in 2006 – which is going to races with full confidence that we can score points. Nick Fry.
The RA108 will run for the rest of the week at Valencia and will be officially launched in it’s 2008 livery on January 31st at the team’s HQ in Brackley.
Photographs Of The RA108
Has there been any comment no what the livery will be like? Surely not the Google Earth nonsense of last year…
Can they afford to move away from that though? It would effectively look like they were turning their back on the whole “Save the Planet” thing which wouldn’t be good for publicity!
Originally I heard they were binning the Earth livery entirely, then I heard they were sticking with it. Ultimately, I think they’ll stick with it but maybe adjust it slightly or approach the concept from a slightly different angle.
From the inside of the earth looking out? 😉
I was thinking of slapping the sponsor stickers back on, but your idea is better! 😀