[Matt Holcomb]

From the iTV F1 website:

"BAR-Honda has revealed that it ran a prototype version of the V8 engine it plans to race in the 2006 Formula 1 World Championship, during a test at Mugello last week.

According to Autosport magazine's website, both the team's test drivers Anthony Davidson and Enrique Bernoldi tried out the new, much smaller, 2.4-litre unit, and lapped four seconds off the pace of a contemporary car.

"It wasn't at any time a question of catching quick laptimes," BAR's technical director Geoff Willis said after the test.

Next year's regulations state that manufacturers must switch to the new V8 format.

The smaller independent teams however, will be allowed to run restricted versions of the current V10 engines for the next two years.

"It is a very strange engine," said Willis.

"Really, really low and shorter than usual, with a lack of power and a lower stroke curve compared to the actual V10, as logical.

"In some ways more similar to a MotoGP engine than an actual F1 V10." "