The newly installed president of Honda Performance Development shares his company’s plans for electric race vehicles, Indy cars, sports car racing, and how he stays focused amidst the challenges that come with a hectic racing schedule.

A global powerhouse in terms of automobile manufacturing and technology, Honda also boasts a rich and accomplished heritage in motorsports. The OE maintains an active and winning presence in a wide array of racing series, including the NTT IndyCar Series and IMSA, along with extensive involvement in grassroots racing such as quarter-midget competition.

Honda administers its motorsports and performance efforts through Honda Performance Development (HPD) located in Santa Clarita, California. With the retirement of Ted Klaus in December, HPD Technical Director David Salters was subsequently named HPD president.

Salters, a native of England, brings extensive motorsports experience to his new position. Early in his career, Salters served as design and development engineer for the CART program at Cosworth Racing, and later with Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines (formerly Ilmor Engineering) including stints as team leader of Formula One performance development, and also development engineer with the CART racing program. Salters then moved over to Ferrari, where he oversaw Formula One engine development from 2006 to 2015.

Salters holds a Bachelor of Engineering with Honors degree from Cardiff University and a PhD from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.

An engaging and gregarious personality, Salters recently sat down with Industry Insights to discuss his career, his new position at HPD, and more.

PRI: Congratulations on your new position at HPD. It was interesting that the development of electric racing vehicles was mentioned prominently in the announcement of your new position. Is it reasonable to assume electric racing vehicles are a special priority for Honda?

Salters: Honda goes racing to develop people and technology, and the company is pretty authentic with that. The factory up here in Santa Clarita has a great team, and we make powertrains and help develop cars. There are several hundred people working here, to run our American motorsports program. Of course, when you think about electrification that is now coming, we are a good way of developing people and technology in that area. With Honda’s lineup of hybrid cars and looking further, that’s important. Very, very important. There are hybrid powertrains in IndyCar in 2023, and there are hybrid powertrains in LMDh (IMSA Le Mans Daytona) in 2023, and we are also looking beyond that. So the answer to your question is yes, because we are focused on the people and technology and trying to promote Honda’s class-leading hybrid cars. 

PRI: You have an extensive background in racing, through many years. That gives you a deep perspective of where we stand today in terms of competition among manufacturers. Is it as strong today as in your early years?

Salters: That is a good question. You’ve seen a fair amount of racing as well, and this topic fluctuates, depending on lots of criteria. I’m going to speak from Honda’s point of view here, and if you look at IndyCar, we’ve been a consistent supporter of IndyCar for 20, 25 years. A long time. Honda is in it for the long term in racing, which is very refreshing. Other manufacturers come and go; it’s a transient thing. But Honda is in it for the long haul, and it’s part of our culture here. But regarding your question about the level of competition...I don’t know. We enjoy the competition, and we do it so we can compete. That improves the breed. And the more manufacturers (involved), the better. That helps everybody. Undoubtedly, it’s as strong today as in the past in some areas. If you look toward LMDh and others, that looks pretty interesting, doesn’t it? There are some very good discussions with IndyCar for hopefully a third manufacturer, so that’s got potential, too.

It might be a bit weird to say this, but we could be finding ourselves in a golden age right now. There are many things to look forward to. At the moment the level of competition is reasonable. Bear in mind, there are many outside influences on people’s businesses right now. And there are a lot of good indications of things being quite exciting in the future.

PRI: For an engineer, projects such as the new hybrid power unit in IndyCar are surely an exciting undertaking. Are those the types of things that make the next few years so appealing for motorsports from an engineering standpoint?

Salters: I think it is. From our point of view, it’s about our people, our team. The thing we’re most proud of is (the people at) Team HPD. Our associates here, the ladies and gentlemen...the real pleasure you derive from this is building your team, and watching your team develop and excel. It begets projects like electrification, and hybrids. Very efficient powertrains. Engineers, they get really enthused and excited, and they can show their real skill in projects like this. Building the simulation tools, validating those tools, learning, and taking it all along. The exciting bit is developing the people and the technology, and the two go together. Without the people, nothing happens. With interesting technology, you can further develop people. The two are intrinsically linked, and that’s typically why Honda goes racing. 

PRI: On the flip side, there remains a significant question of acceptance of electric power among traditional fans and participants. That’s a big unknown. How can you win people over to the idea of electric technology in racing?

Salters: I think the way you win them over is to provide good racing. We all want to see good racing. So what can you do to make the racing more exciting, that’s my personal view. If you go to watch an IndyCar race, the racing is pretty good. You don’t know who is going to win, which is good. You want to go into a race not knowing exactly who is going to win, don’t you? So the way the technology can best promote itself is to be involved in good racing. If you can put those two things together and have the technology help the racing, that’s going to get the traditionalists over. We watch it because it’s a competition, it’s racing, it’s human, and it’s exciting. It adds value to people’s enjoyment. Technology with good racing is good.

PRI: Honda is involved in a number of racing series. For you personally, and with your background, is there a series you naturally relate to, feel more connected to?

Salters: I’ve been at HPD now for some years, and the reason I love it here is that we do different series. We get to see different stuff, and we’re so privileged here to be involved in IMSA and IndyCar. But we also support F3 and F4. If you look at the differences…as I’ve gotten older and wiser, I’ve realized that if I’m watching sports car racing…you can relax a little more. It’s like five races in one, and the faster cars are overtaking the slower classes. And then you’ve got the Indy 500, which is just pure spectacle. Blimey! Human beings can actually do that! As I’ve grown older and wiser, I’ve come to appreciate each racing series for what it is. I was fortunate enough to be involved in Formula One, which of course has its own nuances. Each racing series has its own pros and cons. We’re fortunate here at HPD to be involved in many different things and you come to appreciate the nuances of each type of racing. I don’t know that I have a particular favorite, but I appreciate the different aspects of each series. 

PRI: On the flip side, outside of your current realm, where would you like to see Honda become active? Is there a type of racing you’d enjoy seeing the company pursue?

Salters: I’m not sure how to answer that, but I’ll try. You’ve got to be careful here, because you’re talking to an engineer who happens to also be the company president. (Laughing.) Those two things put me in a difficult position when I consider that question. It’s a separate discussion, from each perspective. In the future, I’d like to understand how—with electrification or more sustainable racing—we can be responsible as we go forward. Honda is a quite responsible company, and as an engineer you want to use that skill to people’s benefit. What we do now is quite exciting, I think—arguably IndyCar is some of the best racing on the planet, and it’s good engineering. That’s great. And in the future that will transition toward hybrid and more things after that, to be more sustainable, so we’ll see what happens there. So if you think about full electric racing and other forms of sustainable racing, the question will be, “How do you make that type of racing exciting?” I’m sure there will be ways. But if I were thinking toward the future, as we become more sustainable and our goals move toward carbon neutrality, how do we use racing to accelerate that, but also make it more exciting. But that’s future-future. Sustainable racing will be interesting, but it has to be exciting.

PRI: You spent several years with Ferrari, one of the most recognized performance brands in the world. It’s a safe assumption that the expectations there were enormous. How important was that stint in your career?

Salters: The expectations at every organization are enormous. You’re there to compete, and to win, right? That’s our philosophy, in a respectful way. But yes, Ferrari is probably a special case, because it’s like the national team. So the expectations are huge. But for me, you really challenge yourself. And it’s always nice to put yourself out of your comfort zone. Like all racing organizations, it’s all about the people, and there were great people there. The pressure is relentless, but at all forms of motorsports the pressure is relentless. But that experience helped me...it’s a particular flavor there, at Ferrari. You learn to deal with pressure and solve problems and try and move forward and be positive. It is particular, because as I mentioned, it’s the national team. But there were people I met there, you got some great friends you make as you move through. Italy is a lovely place, very warm and very friendly. I got to speak and work in a different language, which was terrifying and brilliant both. I didn’t speak it very well, but I tried. There were challenges of different culture, different language, etc., but it was a life experience. 

One of the most amazing things has also been coming here, to HPD and Southern California. As you get older, you begin to realize that you’re not too bothered about possessions and things, but it’s more about experiences in your life. The Ferrari experience was an extraordinary life experience for my family and me. And then coming to California and working for Honda and HPD, that has been an equal life experience. Those experiences are valuable. 

PRI: Looking back across your career, what has always motivated you? Winning races? Championships? Working with your peers?

Salters: The engineering is a primary challenge, and then working with a team of like-minded, driven people is another strong motivation. Doing good engineering, learning and understanding, is a primary motivation. And then, the fact that you get to find out on the weekend whether that was good enough or not, that’s another motivation. (Laughing.) It’s very black-and-white, actually. There is a winner, and those who didn’t win. It’s lovely being in that environment; it’s hard, but it’s lovely. You can find out whether you were good enough, whether your engineering, your team’s engineering, were you good enough to win? That’s really good. It’s a double-edged sword because sometimes you don’t like the result. But you regroup and challenge yourself. That’s what gives you the motivation.

PRI: One of the elements that makes racing so interesting—and unpredictable—is the human factor. You can engineer the perfect engine, or car, but humans still have to drive the car and service the car on pit road. Does that make it more challenging from an engineering perspective?

Salters: That’s what makes it exciting. It boils down to human beings. Being human and showing off the skills of the driver, and the skills and the passion. That’s what makes racing special. The human aspect is delightful. And interacting with humans, that’s lovely also. The teamwork aspect, that is very enjoyable. Now that you mention it, that’s what makes it nice when you get to put together your engineering with a human aspect. There is the team, and the driver, and when you understand what the driver is doing, it’s awe-inspiring. The fact that a human can push the car to the limit and keep it there, that is extraordinary. It’s a testament to what people are capable of. You appreciate that more as time goes along, I think.

PRI: Your father was an engineer. How much did that impact your career path?

Salters: A marine engineer, yes. It impacted me quite a lot, I suppose. I’m very lucky to have the best parents a son could wish for. They always encouraged me, and looked after me. I used to work with my dad during the summers when I was in university, and even before that. I was exposed to (marine) engineering very early, but I pursued a different type of engineering. My dad’s engines rotated at 80 revs per minute, and I was working with engines that rotated at 19,000 rpm. But the physics is all pretty much the same, and the principles are the same. Just different regimes. But it did influence me, because my parents were always there for me. My father had his own business as a marine consultant, so there was a chance for me to go into that. But I wanted to do my own thing. My parents were always brilliant with that, with their encouragement. We had the bond of engineering between us, which was lovely.

PRI: What do you look for in the people who work on your team? What traits are key to success in the motorsports arena?

Salters: As you become more responsible, one of the greatest pleasures I’ve ever experienced personally is the recruitment and development of younger people. You watch them grow and flourish and contribute, and that’s one of the biggest pleasures you will experience. Particularly in the second stage of your career, where you become more responsible. So looking for traits, there are a few that are very important. Honesty, you want people who want to be on the team, and are honest. We all know things, and there are things we don’t know. If we don’t know it, be honest and say so. So honesty goes a long way. And then, energy. People who want to be there and want to contribute. And then, competence and skills. So you want people who are honest, want to be there, full of energy, lots of optimism. And pragmatism, as well. You want them to question things. The nice thing about a team is that you have lots of different people and different views. That’s the point. That will always achieve more than the single person can achieve.

PRI: You mentioned a moment ago that it is important to push yourself out of your comfort zone, to challenge yourself. Why is that so important?

Salters: I think that makes you feel like you’re alive. It’s quite nice to feel a little bit uncomfortable about where you are and what’s ahead in the future. You want to keep moving forward in a sensible way, in a learning way. Humans are quite extraordinary, and if they set goals and challenges they tend to achieve them. Sometimes it’s hard to know if they can be achieved, but trying new things and getting out of your comfort zone, that all adds to life experiences. As you get a bit older you realize that some of the best things are experiences you’ve shared with your family and colleagues, so trying something challenging and different is very enjoyable. You enjoy it in a way that might feel uncomfortable. Watching my children grow and develop, they seemed to relish that. Kids are brilliant, they don’t really notice the challenge, they just get on with it. They don’t notice they’ve learned a new language, they just adapt. Which is quite a lesson for us adults. Humans are quite extraordinary, so pushing yourself far out of your comfort zone is a way to take that forward. 

PRI: How are you able to escape the grind of work? Are you able to cultivate any other interests or hobbies?

Salters: Oh yes, otherwise you go crazy. There are a few things I’ve learned along the way, in some high-pressure environments. Much of it is in the mind, remember. Exercise helps a lot because it clears the mind and helps you put a different perspective on things. I love cycling—my son races mountain bikes, so I’ll go out and follow him around. Exercise is good to relax. And I like sailing, because when you’re sailing you have to think about sailing; you can’t think about other things. It’s difficult for your mind to wander. I like to sail, and I like wind surfing. That is awesome, because you just switch off. And the third thing is nature. With my family we have a horse and a dog, and we enjoy going out to have experiences in a natural environment. The simplest things are sometimes the nicest things. A good hike, walking down the beach, or that sort of thing. It’s quite important to keep a balance to all this, and I learned this from not (keeping a balance) sometimes. You get stale and tired. Exercise, taking your mind off things, and my family. I’m very fortunate that my family is awesome, and we enjoy nature together and that helps keep a balance. It’s not always easy, but you have to try.

PRI: We’ll wrap it up with this. What can you tell our readers to prepare them for the changes that are coming to power development in motorsports? What should we be ready for?

Salters: So I’m talking here from the perspective of North American motorsports from Honda’s point of view. Electrification is moving into our motorsports. I personally think it’s great, and also relevant from the perspective of the class-leading products from Honda and Acura. So that’s good. And we’ll do it in a way where the racing is exciting, and that’s good, too. Trying to race more responsibly, and developing people and technology. It showcases our products and that’s great. And then, just going forward, Honda is a responsible company, and we’re all trying to figure out how to use all the benefits of racing to develop the people and technology to move things forward. We want to keep that going. Providing it entertains people, as well. Motorsports is a way of entertainment for people, and it brings them joy. So we will look to keep people entertained, responsibly, as we go forward.

PRI: Thank you, David, and we wish you the best in your new position.

Salters: Thank you, Dave, thank you very much.