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Struggling McLaren-Honda F1 partners near 'fork in the road'

WOKING, England - McLaren's partnership with Honda has not worked so far, and the team is now approaching a "fork in the road," executive director Zak Brown said on Wednesday. Speaking to Reuters in his office at the Formula One team's headquarters, Brown (pictured above) indicated clearly that a parting of the ways was a real option under consideration by management. The American said engine upgrades promised for this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix were not ready, and the Japanese manufacturer could not say when they might be. And while McLaren still wanted to win championships with Honda, there were serious concerns as to whether that was achievable. "Honda's working very hard, but they seem a bit lost," said Brown, who replaced Ron Dennis at the helm late last year. "We were only told recently that we wouldn't have the upgrade coming (for Montreal) ... and we don't have a definitive timeline, which is concerning because the pain is great and we can't sit around forever. "We were eagerly awaiting this upgrade as were our drivers, and it's a big disappointment that it's not coming. It's not lack of effort, but they are struggling to get it to come together."FAILURE AND EMBARRASSMENT McLaren, the second oldest and most successful team in Formula One after Ferrari in terms of race wins, are the only ones yet to score a point this season. They have not won a race since 2012. The renewed partnership with Honda in 2015 was billed as a return to the glory days, when French great Alain Prost and the late Brazilian Ayrton Senna dominated the late 1980s and early 1990s. Instead it has brought failure and embarrassment to the former world champions, whose cars have failed to finish races -- and sometimes even start them -- due to engine failures. Spanish driver Fernando Alonso, a double world champion whose future is uncertain, said in March that "we have only one problem, and that is the power unit. There is no reliability and there is no power." Honda's engine troubles even plagued Alonso at the Indy 500, where a failure took him out of the race. McLaren were ninth in 2015, sixth last year and this season could become their worst ever. MARCHING ORDERS "The executive committee have now given us our marching orders," said Brown, who is also chairman of the fast-growing Motorsport Network media group. "We're not going to go into another year like this, in hope." "I don't want to get into what our options are.

Honda Civic Type R clocks 7:50.63 front-drive 'Ring record

Lapping the Nurburgring in under seven minutes may be the ultimate bragging right for supercars, but further back down the field, a battle is being waged between front-drive hot hatches to see which can scope a lap time under eight. Seat was first to claim the crown with the Leon Cupra at 7:58, which was subsequently beaten by the Renaultsport Megane 275 Trophy-R at 7:54. All the while Honda pledged to take the record with the new Civic Type R. And that's just what it's done. As you can see from the video above, Honda's new hot hatch clocked a time of 7:50.63, making it the fastest front-driver ever to lap the Nordschleife and blindingly fast by any account. Honda suggests that the lap was clocked while testing the stock street-legal rubber (and not on slicks) and claims that the roll cage clearly seen in the video was fitted "for safety reasons and not to add rigidity," with extraneous equipment like the front passenger seat and audio system were removed to compensate for the cage's weight. Of course with no official sanctioning body verifying these times and the equipment in which they're achieved, they're a subject of much debate, but there's no getting around the fact that the new Civic Type R is one very serious piece of machinery indeed. NEW HONDA CIVIC TYPE R THROWS DOWN NURBURGRING GAUNTLET - Honda announces Nurburgring lap time for Civic Type R development car - 7 minutes 50.63 seconds lap time is unmatched in the front-wheel drive hot hatch class - Lap time achieved in development car with technical specifications representative of the final production car At the world premiere of its all-new Civic Type R at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show (5 - 15 March; Stand 4250, Hall 4), Honda announced that a development car had achieved a 7 minutes 50.63 seconds lap time of the legendary 20.8 km/12.9 mile Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany. This time is unmatched by any other front-wheel drive performance hatchback. The lap time was achieved during the final phase of pre-production testing in May 2014 by a Civic Type R development car. The development car was in a standard state of engine tune, with suspension, drivetrain, exhaust, brakes and the aerodynamic package identical to those of the production Civic Type R. The removal of equipment such as air conditioning, the front passenger seat and audio equipment offset the additional weight of a full roll cage (installed specifically for safety reasons and not to add rigidity).

Honda concept dials M for minivan [w/video]

Yes, it looks a bit, uh, toothy, but what you see here is a concept that previews a brand new small MPV specifically designed for the Chinese market. Called the Concept M, the swoopy Honda was designed in Japan and the automaker is currently aiming to launch a production version in China sometime in 2014.
Honda hasn't released many details about its small van concept, simply saying that it "offers the attributes of a passenger car while adding new value through the realization of a comfortable and spacious cabin space made possible by Honda's packaging technologies, and the fun of driving." Doesn't sound too bad to us.
Have a glance at the Concept M in the gallery above (full disclosure: we don't have live shots of this one), and take a look below for the official press blast direct from the MPV's Shanghai debut, as well as a promotional video showing the new concept from all angles. Oh, and be sure to turn your volume down before pushing the play button.