SUPER AGURI SA06 Honda

   After acquiring the Arrows chassis, the Super Aguri team made its debut in the 2006 Formula One World Championship with a single-seater, the SA05, which was essentially an adaptation of the old 2002 Arrows A23 to the new regulations. That car had originally been designed by Mike Coughlan, who later moved to McLaren, and by Sergio Rinland. In the meantime, however, the Japanese team, owned by former Formula One driver Aguri Suzuki, worked tirelessly to produce a car designed with a greater degree of independence: the Super Aguri SA06. Its debut came at the German Grand Prix, coinciding with the promotion of Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto to second full-time race driver and with the return of Frenchman Frank Montagny to the role of test driver, after he himself had previously been promoted to race driver as a replacement for Japanese driver Yuji Ide. The Frenchman also served as reserve driver and took part in Friday testing sessions, but only from the Turkish Grand Prix onwards, once the team was able to field a third SA06.

SUPER AGURI SA06, Takuma Satō
Hungaroring, Hungarian GP 2006 

   The group of engineers responsible for designing and developing the new SA06 consisted of Technical Director Mark Preston, Chief Designer Peter McCool, Head of Electronics Stephen Watt, and Head of Aerodynamics Ben Wood, the latter already having Formula One experience from the Prost Grand Prix years. The new car featured several innovations compared to the previous model, from which it retained only the carbon-fibre and honeycomb composite monocoque with front and side composite impact structures, which was still considered valid despite the age of the original project. The basis of the new car was a newly designed gearbox developed in-house by Super Aguri engineers, featuring an aluminium casing instead of the Honda carbon-fibre gearbox also used on the SA05. This new gearbox allowed a complete overhaul of the suspension layout and aerodynamic development.

SUPER AGURI SA06, Sakon Yamamoto
Interlagos, Brazilian GP 2006

   The RA806E engine, a 2.4-litre 90-degree V8 capable of delivering over 700 hp at engine speeds exceeding 18,500 rpm, and the electronic systems were still entirely supplied by Honda, as were the cooling and exhaust systems. The suspension layout and the well-known twin-keel design introduced by Mike Coughlan at Arrows therefore remained unchanged compared to the SA05. From an aerodynamic standpoint, however, the sidepods and their air intakes were completely different from before, redesigned and built in a manner similar to those of the official Honda team. Thanks to the new gearbox, the rear end was also entirely new, with a revised suspension layout and a new positioning of the brake calipers. The SA06 was estimated to be 10% more aerodynamically efficient than its predecessor, and the overall weight saving allowed for strategic use of ballast depending on the requirements of different circuits.

SUPER AGURI SA06, Takuma Satō
Monza, Italian GP 2006

   Limited financial resources nevertheless prevented the team from carrying out extensive testing and, consequently, from introducing major updates to the car for the remainder of the season. Only before the Chinese Grand Prix were some aerodynamic changes made to the nose, while at the subsequent Japanese Grand Prix a “B” version of the car was used, featuring some solutions that would later be adopted on the future SA07. The livery was also slightly modified, with a greater use of red compared to white.

SUPER AGURI SA06, Frank Montagny
Interlagos, GP del Braszilian GP 2006

   Despite all the effort, the car’s performance remained very limited, and only in the final race of the season in Brazil, at the Interlagos circuit, was a reasonably respectable performance finally seen, with Takuma Satō finishing tenth out of the 16 drivers classified at the finish. He and Yamamoto set the ninth and seventh fastest laps of the race respectively. At the end of the season, having scored not a single point throughout the championship, the Super Aguri F1 team finished eleventh and last in the Constructors’ Championship, behind even the much more modest Midland/Spyker team. Before being completely retired, in January 2007 the SA06 took to the track once again at Silverstone, driven by three former Formula One drivers from the 1980s and 1990s: the Japanese driver and team owner Aguri Suzuki, the British driver Martin Brundle, and the German driver Christian Danner.