Honda, in perfect Japanese fashion, had its RA-163 V6 turbo engine (1477cc) ready a full year ahead of schedule, pushing the newly formed Spirit team to accelerate the development of the new 201C car for the 1983 championship. In 1982, designers John Baldwin and Gordon Coppuck had already begun adapting the Japanese turbo engine on the experimental 201B, a modified Formula 2 chassis built specifically to house the new power unit. To tackle pre-season testing in 1983 at the Jacarepaguá circuit in Brazil, the two engineers had to quickly develop a further iteration of the car.
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| SPIRIT 201C, Stefan Johansson Silverstone, British GP 1983 |
The car seen in Brazil was significantly different from the previous version but still very much underdeveloped, forcing the British team to delay its racing debut until July, at the British Grand Prix held at Silverstone. The 201C that appeared at Silverstone still looked like an unfinished prototype, with very boxy shapes and, notably, no engine cover at all, leaving the new Honda V6 Turbo fully exposed.
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| SPIRIT 201C, Stefan Johansson Zandvoort, Dutch GP 1983 |
This version of the 201C still used an aluminum monocoque chassis, with no synthetic fiber reinforcement, directly derived from Baldwin and Coppuck’s original design. Despite the team’s limited resources, the 201C proved to be a fairly decent car. Thanks largely to the incredible power of the new Honda turbo V6, already on par with top competitors like Renault, Ferrari, and BMW, it managed to finish three of the six races it entered, narrowly missing the points at the Dutch Grand Prix, where the team’s sole driver, Swedish Stefan Johansson, finished seventh. From that race onward, the team also dropped Honda’s all-white livery in favor of Spirit's original red-white-blue color scheme.
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| SPIRIT 201C, Stefan Johansson Zandvoort, Dutch GP 1983 |
A new car, called the Spirit 101, no longer derived from a Formula 2 chassis but designed from scratch for Formula 1, was tested at Monza and Brands Hatch. Its rear end resembled the Toleman TG183B designed by Rory Byrne, featuring a double rear wing.
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| SPIRIT 101, Stefan Johansson Brands Hatch, European GP 1983 |
Everything pointed to a promising 1984 season for the small Spirit team, finally equipped with a good car and one of the most powerful turbo engines available. But at the end of the season came a crushing blow: Honda announced it would be leaving Coppuck and Wickham’s British team, which it deemed too small for its ambitions. Honda instead partnered with Williams as its new technical ally, leaving Spirit without a competitive engine, without sponsors, and without funds, forced to start over from scratch.
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