3 replies to this topic

[Megatron]

Tyrrell used the Honda unit in 1991. Was it the same as McLaren or Mugen Honda?

[Ray Bell]

Was it not the unit discarded by McLaren? Probably bearing the Mugen tag as well . . .

[Stephen Herbert]

Honda switched from a V10 to a V12 in 1991, and won first time out at Phoenix. The old V10 engine used by McLaren to win the championship in 1990 was supplied to Tyrrell in 1991, who had signed Satoru Nakajima. The season was a big disappointment for the team who had Nakajima and Stefano Modena driving for them and big sponsorship from Braun. The engines did not have anything to do with Mugen in 1991 but in 1992 the Honda V10 engines where supplied to Footwork as 'Mugen-Hondas'

[Marcel Schot]

The 1991 Tyrrell Honda's didn't bear the Mugen badge, but Mugen did tune the engines.
The tyres were Pirelli, but according to sources Tyrrell wasn't getting the support out of them that Benetton did.

At first it didn't go very bad at all : Modeno managed to qualify 2nd at Monaco and finish 2nd at Montreal.

I guess the main downsider was Harvey Postlethwaite leaving to Sauber halfway through the season.