Honda won the Indianapolis 500 this year, powering Alex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to victory. Over in Formula 1, the Red Bull Racing Honda of Max Verstappen has grand prix wins at Bahrain and Japan in 2025. Yes, Honda knows how to build things that go fast.
Now, the US Olympic Bobsled Team is looking to the car company to help them ‘go for the gold‘ at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy and the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps. Honda has entered a 5-year technical partnership with the Americans, and between Honda’s racing experience, and state-of-the-art wind tunnel at their Ohio factory, Honda hopes to help the bobsled team go fast, too.
Unlike motor racing, where a driver can put the pedal to the metal and power down the straits, bobsleds only utilize the force of gravity to speed down the track, after that initial push from the team at the starting line. The bullet-shaped outer shell of the bobsled must be designed to optimize aerodynamic efficiency, critical to increasing speed.
The immediate goal for the partnership is Olympic gold medals in the 2-man and 4-man bobsled next year. But Honda doesn’t have as much experience with bobsleds as it does with race cars, so the 5-year commitment will allow Honda to continue developing the sled until the next Olympics.
To give the American team an advantage, Honda’s automotive engineers will work to optimize the airflow around the bobsled, Those same engineers spend countless hours enhancing aerodynamics of Honda EVs to reduce drag and increase range.
To make it clear that is a project of American Honda Motor Company Inc. not the Honda Motor Company Ltd. of Japan, the US bobsleds will carry Acura badges, not Honda. While Honda is a worldwide car company known for affordability, Acura is their North American exclusive brand which Honda uses to market its more expensive vehicles.
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