Masters F3 debut for Japanese engine

A new Japanese Formula 3 engine is to make its race debut in the Masters of F3 at Zandvoort in September.

The ThreeBond powerplant, which has been built by the firm's long-time associate Tomei, was homologated by the FIA for F3 use last week. The ThreeBond-backed T-Sport team, which used the company's Tomei-built Nissan engine in F3 in 2012 and '13, will run the car.

T-Sport will add the machine as a second entry alongside its regular car powered by a Neil Brown Engineering unit, which is driven by Julio Moreno. The UK-based squad tested an early version of the ThreeBond engine at Silverstone last December, and is confident that the new product can be competitive.

"Everything that I've seen – the figures and the data from the engine – looks quite good," technical director Alan "Skelly" Woodhead said. "Their old engine was extremely strong against the competition, and I believe this will be good."

Although the ThreeBond has taken shape at Tomei's Japanese premises, it uses architecture from the British NBE powerplant, including the engine block, cylinder head, cam cover and sump.

"For us, it was a nice fit for Tomei and Neil Brown to work together, and it makes it easier to install because it has the same fixing points as the NBE engine," added Woodhead.

T-Sport, which plans to test the ThreeBond during August, has an eye on running the engine alongside its existing NBE-powered car in the final two European F3 rounds at the Nurburgring and Hockenheim as well as the Macau Grand Prix.

"We'd like to but it's all about the budget," said Woodhead. "The major hurdle for us was to homologate it, which we did last Thursday."

Originally on Autosport.com