Hello! This past weekend the Japanese GP took place at the Suzuka Circuit and Max Verstappen achieved his 4th pole position and his 3rd race win of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Long before the Aston Martin Vantage and the AMG GT currently being used as safety cars this season, in 1994 the Japanese GP that also took place at the Suzuka Circuit (operated by Honda) saw a Honda Prelude under the yellowish siren.
The 4th Generation Of The Honda Prelude
The specific trim used as a safety car in the race is difficult to know, maybe an SI VTEC (the top-spec Prelude at the JDM in 1994), but for sure it was a 4th generation Honda Prelude produced between 1991 and 1996.
The SI VTEC was powered by the H22A, a 4-cylinder 2.2 litter DOHC VTEC engine that delivered 197 hp (although the maximum engine output could go as high as 217 hp). The top speed was about 148 mph (238 km/h).
The Race
Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill, and Heinz-Harald Frentzen made the top 3 at the qualifying. Damon Hill won the race, with Schumacher in second place and Jean Alesi in third.
The weather was rough and the rain made the race conditions very difficult for the drivers. Just by lap 4, the Prelude was deployed, Johnny Herbert spun off the track and Ukyo Takayama crashed on the pit straight in lap 3.
On lap 14 the Prelude was deployed again and the race became red-flagged. At this moment 9 cars had already crashed out and Martin Brundle’s car aquaplaned and hit a marshal, breaking his leg.
Consequences
This was the first race ever in Formula 1 where a safety car was deployed two times but also the first time a race was restarted behind one.
Although some years later the speed and pace of safety cars were regulated, the Honda Prelude didn’t have a problem keeping the pace up when on track because of the weather conditions. It’s curious though to think that Honda had a much more powerful and fast NSX on the circuit at the time, but they chose to use the Prelude instead.
Feel free to leave any comment and write down a memory of the 1994 Japanese GP if you watched it!
