Honda Blowing Up In England

Operations Centre
Brackley
12 July 2006

HONDA INCREASES UK INVESTMENT WITH NEW WIND TUNNEL  

Honda Motor Company today celebrated the launch of its newest facility
in the United Kingdom, a state of the art wind tunnel at the Honda
Racing F1 Team's Operations Centre in Brackley, Northants. Officially
opened in a ceremony hosted by the Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling MP,
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and Shigeru Takagi, President
of Honda Motor Europe, the new facility represents further evidence of
Honda's commitment, not only to Formula One, but to investment in the
UK.

Honda's presence in the UK began over 40 years ago with the creation of
Honda UK in London. The company currently has seven locations employing
5500 people throughout the country, with total investment now reaching
over 1.3 billion pounds.

For a company synonymous with engineering excellence, Honda recognises
the value of investment in the most up to date infrastructure available.
The new facility effectively provides the Honda Racing F1 Team with an
in-house 'test track' - a fully automated, fully instrumented testing
facility able to accommodate one of the team's full-size RA106 race
cars. The tunnel can generate a wind speed of 80 metres per second (the
equivalent of 180mph), driven by the 5.3m diameter fan and its 16
rotating and 27 static blades, and is powered by a 2263kW electric
three-phase induction motor, generating 43560N.m of torque at 495rpm.
The rolling road is also capable of running at 80 metres per second.  

Shigeru Takagi, Chief Operating Officer for Regional Operations (Europe,
the Middle East and Africa) of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. and President of
Honda Motor Europe Ltd. commented: "This facility is a demonstration of
our strong commitment to the United Kingdom, to motor sport and to our
research and development capability. Our passion for the toughest
challenge in motor sport and our desire to become Formula One champions
requires a very strong infrastructure and it is with this in mind that
we have invested in our new wind tunnel at Brackley. 

"This kind of deep commitment to racing is not new to us. It has been a
constant throughout Honda's history, simply because we regard racing as
an investment in the research and development that drives our future. It
is our aim that the same spirit of challenge which goes into making
Formula One racing cars should go into every one of the twenty million
Honda products we will sell around the world this year. 

"I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all our partners and to the
citizens of Brackley for their co-operation in allowing us to complete
the wind tunnel ahead of schedule."

The Rt. Hon. Alistair Darling MP, Secretary of State for Trade and
Industry, said: "This impressive new facility shows Britain is still
attracting the best engineering and manufacturing in the world. One of
the great strengths of the British automotive industry is its ability to
evolve and create new opportunities in the face of change. Engineering
is the future in Britain.

"The wind tunnel I am opening today is another excellent example of
partnership between the best of British and the best of Japanese
industrial know-how.

"People don't talk enough about our successful automotive industry. Last
year we made 1.6 million cars, not far below the peak in the early
1970s, and nearly twice the number built in the early 1980s."