Peter Baron’s Starworks Motorsport and Honda’s HPD racing outfit partnered to field the brand’s first Daytona Prototype engine at the recent Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, and with a disappointing run for the P2-derived twin-turbo V6 motor, not to mention a long list of improvements to be made for its next outing, the project has been tabled for the next few months.

“Neither of us were happy with the outcome at Sebring, and it’s a hard proposition to stick a twin-turbo motor in a Daytona Prototype and have it work right out of the gate,” Baron told RACER. “One area that was problematic was the NACA duct location on the doors for the intercoolers, which were set before they opened up the louvers, and that has greatly reduced the amount of air feeding the intercoolers – which increased the temperature of the air reaching the engine, and with the competitiveness of these cars, you can’t afford to give up anything.”
Keeping the 3.5-liter engine cool and making peak power was a continual problem throughout testing and the 12-hour race. With very little air moving through or being extracted from the Riley-Honda’s engine bay, Starworks and Honda will need to find a solution before the No. 78 DP returns to race.

“We were struggling with that at Sebring with [ambient] temperatures in the 70s; imagine what it would be like during summer when we’re close to a hundred, so the best thing we can do now is take time to look at a redesign to come up with what’s best for our engine installation,” Baron explained. “Whether we miss one race or two races, that isn’t really the biggest deal at the moment.

“Honda’s having Wirth Research come over and do a full assessment of the car to look at what’s needed. They’re doing a full feasibility study for the motor, what has to change, what has to move, if a new nose or new bumper would help with cooling or whatever.”

Starworks’ PC entries remain unchanged, and will run at the next round where all four TUDOR United SportsCar Championship classes are featured at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on May 4.

“We’ll have our two PC cars at the next races, and we’ll work on the DP in the meantime, and if it looks like that will take longer than expected, we could look at running a third PC,” Baron added. “Everything’s normal with our PC program, essentially, and it’s just the DP program that’s stepping back to make sure we come back in a more competitive position.”

Without a hard date to work backward from, Baron suspects the No. 78 will be seen next at Round 5 or 6.

“We’re targeting the Six Hours of The Glen as a return in June, and if we can find sponsorship, there’s some incentive to run at Detroit [on May 31], but we’re looking at the Glen,” he confirmed. “We don’t want to rush things again.” ​