Honda Performance Development

Founded in 1993, Honda Performance Development (HPD), a wholly owned subsidiary of American Honda, is the technical operations center for Honda’s high-performance racing engines, including the Honda HI19TT Indy V6 engine utilized in NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition.

HPD began Indy car competition in 1994, winning its first race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in 1995 and first manufacturers’ and drivers’ championships in 1996. Three more manufacturers’ titles (1998, 1999 and 2001) followed, along with six consecutive drivers’ crowns (1996-2001) and a total of 65 race victories under CART sanction.

HPD entered the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in 2003 and again quickly established its competitiveness against other major manufacturers. From 2003-05, Honda teams and drivers scored 28 victories in 49 races, including the 2004 and 2005 Indianapolis 500s. Honda won the NTT INDYCAR SERIES manufacturers’ championship in 2004 and 2005, while Honda-powered drivers Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon won the drivers’ championship in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

For 2006, Honda became the single engine supplier to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and the company continued in that role through 2011. Throughout Honda’s six seasons as the sole supplier, a total of 98 drivers completed 1,188,376 miles of practice, qualifying and racing with only six race-day engine failures. No race-day failures were reported for the entire 2008, 2010 and 2011 race seasons.

For six consecutive years, from 2006-11, Honda powered the entire 33-car starting field at the Indianapolis 500. And for six years in a row – and the first six times in Indy 500 history – there was not a single engine-related retirement in the event.

Manufacturer competition returned to INDYCAR in 2012 with Honda-powered drivers and teams scoring four victories, highlighted by Dario Franchitti’s third triumph at the Indianapolis 500; Alexander Rossi’s victory at the historic 100th running in 2016; and Takuma Sato’s popular victory in the 2017 “500”.

In 2018, Honda recorded the company’s seventh Manufacturers’ Championship, scoring 11 race wins from 17 events. Honda-powered Scott Dixon won his fifth drivers’ title, and Robert Wickens won series Rookie of the Year honors.

In the last quarter century, Honda has 337 Indy car victories in 429 races, including 12 wins at the Indianapolis 500 and 16 drivers’ championships.

Today, HPD operates out of a multilevel, 123,000-square-foot facility in Santa Clarita, Calif., north of Los Angeles. There, the company and its nearly 150 associates coordinate Honda’s participation in NTT INDYCAR SERIES racing and the many other racing programs conducted by American Honda, ranging from sports prototype competition in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship all the way to entry-level categories such as karting and quarter-midget racing.

HPD’s headquarters includes: engine design facilities; comprehensive engine R&D operations; prototype and production parts manufacturing; race-engine preparation and rebuilding areas; a material analysis laboratory; quality-control inspection areas; five engine dynamometer test cells; a machine shop; an electronics lab; a parts center; administrative offices and multiple meeting/conference rooms.

David Salters was named president of Honda Performance Development in December 2020 following the retirement of Ted Klaus, who oversaw two of Honda’s three consecutive manufacturer’s crowns. Previously, HPD was headed by Thomas Elliott (1993-2002), Yasuhiro Wada (2003-2004), Robert Clarke (2005-2007), Erik Berkman (2008-2012), Art St. Cyr (2012-2018) and Klaus (2019-2020).

Honda NTT INDYCAR SERIES contacts:

Dan Layton, Media and Public Relations
8081 Clearwater Parkway
Indianapolis, IN 46240
Office/Cell: (314) 614-9763
danlayton47@earthlink.net

HPD Contact Information:

Honda Performance Development
24145 Anza Drive
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
Phone: (661) 294-7300
http://racing.honda.com/hpd

President and Technical Director: David Salters
Director, Program Management: Kelvin Fu
Senior Manager, Director of Production:Rebecca Johnson
Manager, Trackside Support: Wayne Gross

For more information, visit the American Honda website: www.honda.com; and the Honda Performance Development website: hpd.honda.com