Super Aguri boosted by Honda help

Although Honda Racing boss Nick Fry said last week that the company's works F1 team would not be helping Aguri much, sources have told autosport.com that Honda have agreed to supply the new team with major help on the chassis side from Japan.

On the personnel side it is understood that former Mugen-Honda engine project director Tenji Sakai will head Honda's efforts on helping with the new Super Aguri chassis.

He will be assisted by Akihiko Koiki, who used to be a Honda race engineer with Nigel Mansell, and chassis designer Kazuhiko Shimada, who has been drafted in from Honda's R&D facility in Tochigi.

As well as this trio of personnel, Honda are also likely to supply around eight permanent staff members to help the team on race weekends.

Sources claim that the Super Aguri car will use a Honda gearbox, although not the same carbon fibre version that is used by the Honda Racing team.

Honda Racing Development president Yasuhiro Wada confirmed last week that assistance for Super Aguri would come from Honda in Japan rather than their F1 team.

"There will be not much (help) from Brackley (Honda Racing's F1 facility) but more from Japan," he said. "We will supply the engines.and their objective is to make the grid at Bahrain."

When asked whether there was a danger that Honda's assistance to Aguri would dilute their efforts with Honda Racing, Wada said: "I don't think so. Simply supplying engines is something that we have done in the past and nothing more than that.

"They are working with an old Arrows and there is not much going on with Brackley operations. There could be some help from Honda R&D."

Super Aguri's efforts at the moment are still focused on readying the 2002 Arrows A23s that they will use for the first three races of the year. The modified car is believed to have passed all the crash tests it has conducted so far, with the roll hoop test due to take place this week.

The team are hoping to conduct the first shakedown of the Arrows cars on February 14, before joining testing at Barcelona in Spain from February 21.