As for the engine, it was a different story. I would describe the Honda approach as sort of hands-off: it was responsible for the design and build and it worked, job done.
However, that was one of the problems, because the engine was designed and built by Honda and run by Mugen-Honda. As is the way with Japanese business culture, neither company could actually confront the other about the performance. It was OK when it came to mechanical problems as you had hard facts, but general parameters like fuel consumption, which was about 5% higher than Peugeot, and actual performance were out of bounds for discussion.
The main feedback from Honda about the lack of performance was that the Jordan’s airbox was too small. It wanted something about twice the size. We always based a lot of our aerodynamic research time into managing the airflow spillage from the airbox when the engine couldn’t use any more airflow and when the driver would shut the throttle. The last thing you needed was the rear wing downforce to suffer in either of those circumstances.
After I realised that Honda wasn't talking about the performance problems, I felt I had to use my famous diplomatic training skills to highlight the situation. So after the season started I did four one-day trips to Sakura to meet with the design team and a Mugen-Honda representative.
The first three were a failure as I just couldn’t get the message across. However, after round four at Imola I felt we had enough actual data for one last trip. That was the one circuit which had reasonably consistent acceleration off chicanes and this allowed us to compare that data to the previous season. If the mid-corner speed was the same and the throttle application was the same, then if the power output was the same in my opinion the acceleration off the corner should be the same.
So off I went to Sakura with my backpack over my shoulder full of data and we sat in an office for most of the rest of the day discussing the lack of acceleration compared to the previous year and how I felt that we had probably 50bhp less than the Peugeot unit from the previous year, which had roughly 745hp. They didn’t accept this and that’s when my diplomatic training kicked in, I started to get a bit angry and bang the desk (lightly) and with that a young engineer jumped up and left. I thought I had upset him.
Happily, he came back about 10 minutes later with a sheet of paper, he hit his calculator for a few seconds and then declared, ‘we have a problem’. His numbers showed Honda had just under 700bhp. From there on in, the tone of the meeting changed dramatically.
