zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Racing
/
Honda’s Reliability Problems Just Took Out One Of The Indy 500 Leaders [Update: And Another]
Honda’s Reliability Problems Just Took Out One Of The Indy 500 Leaders [Update: And Another]-January 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:11:22

This is not Honda’s year to build a reliable engine in open-wheel, single-seater race cars. Ryan Hunter Reay, one of Fernando Alonso’s Andretti teammates, just had his engine fail with a huge THUNK. Hunter-Reay has the first Honda engine to go kaput during today’s Indianapolis 500 race.

Sadly, 2014 Indianapolis 500 winner Hunter-Reay has been one of the front-runners of this race, giving Formula One’s best Indy rookie hell for the lead. Hunter-Reay’s engine failed abruptly on a straight on lap 137 of the 200-lap race, forcing him to pull over and retire from the race.

The gutting thing is, two-time Formula One champ Fernando Alonso opted to do the Indianapolis 500 because Honda’s F1 engine is such an unreliable turd and he’s been unable to be competitive in F1 for over a year.

While Honda’s IndyCar teams have had a much better season so far, ABC commentators noted that Honda found extra horsepower this season in IndyCar at the expense of reliability. Honda had to several IndyCar engines in practice and qualifying, before the Indy 500 ever began—including Alonso’s.

Here’s hoping this is the only one. I’d rather see a good fight for the win instead of cars dropping with blown engines.

: Charlie Kimball just had his Honda engine blow on lap 167, adding another engine failure to Honda’s list. Kimball’s No. 83 Chip Ganassi Racing car left a trail of oily smoke behind him, dusting poor Helio Castroneves’ visor behind Kimball’s car with oil droplets on its way out.

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Racing
'Big Daddy' Is The Most Disturbing Vine I've Ever Seen From A Driver
'Big Daddy' Is The Most Disturbing Vine I've Ever Seen From A Driver
Chris Windom drives sprint cars, midgets and stock cars. He's an up and coming talent in oval racing. He has also mastered the art of the amusingly disturbing Vine. Oh, and he'd like to be called "Big Daddy," just in case you didn't know. There's something about a red spandex...
Jan 14, 2026
Watch A Tesla P85D Lose To A Porsche 944 On A Drag Strip
Watch A Tesla P85D Lose To A Porsche 944 On A Drag Strip
Everyone loves the . Two motors. Lots of instant electric torque. Room to terrify the whole family. But you know what's cooler? A 1980s Porsche. That's right. This Porsche 944 is faster than everyone's favorite modern tech wonderboy. If you tl;dr'd our earlier P85D vs. Hellcat post or have the...
Jan 14, 2026
Nick Offerman Explains Why NASCAR Rules
Nick Offerman Explains Why NASCAR Rules
NASCAR, in spite of its Bud Lite gut reputation, is actually kind of fun these days. NBC hired Nick Offerman to make an ad for their coverage of the series and well, it's fantastic. . This skit features Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso, an American football coach hired to manage…...
Jan 14, 2026
A Porsche GT3 Cup Dyno Run Would Make The World's Greatest Alarm
A Porsche GT3 Cup Dyno Run Would Make The World's Greatest Alarm
Need to wake up on a sleepy Tuesday afternoon? Here's a chrome shark liveried 991 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup making a dyno run in all its loud, shiny glory. You may remember the Kelly-Moss Motorsports "Lady Luck"-themed GT3 Cup from my obsessive roundup of all the Porsches at . That...
Jan 14, 2026
Wayne Taylor Racing Won't Be Going To The 24 Hours Of Le Mans in 2015
Wayne Taylor Racing Won't Be Going To The 24 Hours Of Le Mans in 2015
Team owner Wayne Taylor told today that he'd forfeited the automatic 24 Hours of Le Mans that Wayne Taylor Racing won from their TUDOR United SportsCar results last year. Preparing a class-legal LMP2 to run would spread the team too thin when they're focused on this year's TUSC season. The...
Jan 14, 2026
Ride Along As David Higgins Goes Bananas In The New WRX STI Rally Car
Ride Along As David Higgins Goes Bananas In The New WRX STI Rally Car
I just had the chance with champion David Higgins riding shot gun. I thought I was fast. Then . I wasn't close to fast. This is another angle of that run. Originally, we thought that the footage from the front facing GoPro had gone missing, lost to the deities that...
Jan 14, 2026
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved