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Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, whose career has been supported by Honda for many years, will drive a very unusual Honda Odyssey minivan at the Pikes Peak hill climb event later in June.
Pagenaud is a Honda protégé since he raced for the Japanese car manufacturer in the American Le Mans series alongside Gil de Ferran a few years ago. The genuine Frenchman has now graduated to the IZOD IndyCar series, and captured his maiden win a few weeks ago in Detroit.
Pagenaud says his Odyssey is “Honda's Monster Family Van.”. It's exactly that, as under the hood sits a 532- horsepower Honda V8 IndyCar engine!
“I like to say that this minivan was created for all the mothers taking their kids to soccer, ‘soccer moms' as they're called here in America,”, said Pagenaud to Auto Hebdo.
“However, there's power underneath the hood. The ‘Honda Monster Family Van' sits seven passengers and has 530 horsepower. Plenty enough to smoke the rear tires at every traffic light!” he added.
Renault created a similar monstrous vehicle some 15 years ago; bolting a Renault V10 Formula 1 engine in an Espace minivan.
Pagenaud is a Honda protégé since he raced for the Japanese car manufacturer in the American Le Mans series alongside Gil de Ferran a few years ago. The genuine Frenchman has now graduated to the IZOD IndyCar series, and captured his maiden win a few weeks ago in Detroit.
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| Photo: Simon Pagenaud |
Pagenaud says his Odyssey is “Honda's Monster Family Van.”. It's exactly that, as under the hood sits a 532- horsepower Honda V8 IndyCar engine!
“I like to say that this minivan was created for all the mothers taking their kids to soccer, ‘soccer moms' as they're called here in America,”, said Pagenaud to Auto Hebdo.
 |
| Photo: Simon Pagenaud |
“However, there's power underneath the hood. The ‘Honda Monster Family Van' sits seven passengers and has 530 horsepower. Plenty enough to smoke the rear tires at every traffic light!” he added.
Renault created a similar monstrous vehicle some 15 years ago; bolting a Renault V10 Formula 1 engine in an Espace minivan.