Home
During the 50s, Soichiro Honda had brought his company to a good level in Japan, but as of 1954 he was convinced that his target should be to reach other markets, essentially Europe and the United States. He also thought that the sport would be an excellent vector for bringing up a good image of the brand by achieving good performances on the tracks and eventually clinch one or various world titles. What was the top of motorcycle sport in the 50s? The Road Racing Grand Prix of the World, where all existing manufacturers from the European continent were fighting for supremacy, particularly the Italians and the British.
Soichiro Honda went to Europe in 1956 to have a look to the existing models and markets, and went to see the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man – he had been planning this travel for two years. He went back to Japan with two tasks: to reduce the technological gap with European industry, and to make his machines winning on the racing circuits.
In 1959, as a first test, Honda sent a team to the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man, with 125cc twin-cylinder RC 142 machines. The best result was a sixth place by rider Naomi Taniguchi, on a circuit of more than 60 km that no Japanese rider knew or had ridden on before. The team went back to Japan with plenty of information. Working day and night, the factory, beside the manufacturing of models and creation of new design, was preparing the motorcycles to enter all races of the 125cc and 250cc Grand Prix competition in 1960 with one Japanese rider Naomi Taniguchi and Rhodesian Jim Redman in the 125cc and Redman, Tom Phillis, Kunimitsu Takahashi, Teisuka Tanaka, Rob Brown, Gilberto Milani and other Japanese riders in the 250cc class. Jim Redman obtained the best results in both classes and finished fourth in the 250cc and seventh in the 125cc class. The Hondas were becoming slightly more competitive, but nobody was expecting what would happen the following year.
In 1961, the Australian rider Tom Phillis won the first race ever on a Honda machine (125cc RC 143) at the first Grand Prix of the season in Spain. In the 250cc the first win came at the second Grand Prix (Hockenheim, West Germany), with Japanese rider Kunimitsu Takahashi on a RC 162. That year all races except the first one were won by Honda riders in the 250cc; in the 125cc Tom Phillis was World Champion but he had to fight against East German rider Ernst Degner on the very fast 2-stroke MZ. At the Tourist Trophy, the first five places were taken by Honda riders in both classes in which the winner was one of the greatest champion in history: Mike Hailwood, who also clinched the 250cc title. It had taken just two years for Honda to be at the top. And they would stay there until 1967.
The sixties were a long story of successes for Honda, with a total of 15 titles in all classes. But in 1966, Soichiro Honda had learned another consequence of competition, a very high price to pay to be at the top. He had also started to invest in car manufacturing and car racing, the famous CB 750 was being prepared, which would make a revolution in the motorcycle market, and important changes in the FIM rules were about to come into force. At the end of 1967, Honda withdrew completely from competition. Bearing in mind the situation in 1959 when a team from the country of the Rising Sun went to discover the most difficult circuit of the world on the Isle of Man, the achievements at the end of the 1967 season are remarkable. 138 wins (13 in the 50cc, 33 in the 125cc, 47 in the 250cc, 35 in the 350cc, 10 in the 500cc), 16 riders’ titles with Mike Hailwood (3 in the 250, 2 in the 350), Tom Phillis (1 in the 125), Jim Redman (4 consecutive in the 350, 2 in the 250), Luigi Taveri (3 in the 125), and Ralph Bryans (1 in the 50, only 4-stroke title in this class), and 18 manufacturers’ titles (including all five solo titles in 1966).
The absence of the first motorcycle manufacturer in the world would last until the end of the 70s with the famous NR 500 with oval piston and eight valves per cylinder V-four engine, but while it was a real jewel in terms of revolutionary technology, it turned out virtually inefficient on the track. Some engineers had started to work on a two-stroke motorcycle – maybe against Soichiro Honda’s own wish who was a strong supporter of four stroke engines only and never wanted to hear about two-stroke engines. And the NS 500 3 cylinders was competitive right from the start. American rider Freddie Spencer made the pole position at the 4th Grand Prix in Spain and took the first win for Honda in Spa, Belgium, since Mike Hailwood in 1967 in the 500cc in Mosport, Canada. It took less than two years to clinch the 500cc world title with Freddie Spencer after one of the most fabulous season in the history of Road Racing, in 1983, a legendary fight against Kenny Roberts, ending with a narrow advantage of two points in favor of the Lousiana rider.
The comeback in the smaller classes took a few years more. In the early 80s Honda started to build a 250 machine, but it was not until 1985 that the factory made a strong involvement with Freddie Spencer whose plan was to be the first rider to win the 250cc and 500 titles – which he succeeded. A couple of years later, following the change in the technical rules which reduced the number of cylinders in the 125cc class to one only, Honda also entered the class in 1987. Since then Honda has remained in the three Grand Prix classes – 125, 250 and 500 – earning titles in the 500 class with Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner, Eddie Lawson, Michael Doohan, Alex Criville, Valentino Rossi (500cc 2-stroke and MotoGP 990cc 4-stroke) and Nicky Hayden (MotoGP); in the 250cc with Anton Mang, Sito Pons, Luca Cadalora, Daijiro Katoh, Daniel Pedrosa and Hiroshi Aoyama, and in the 125cc with Loris Capirossi, Dirk Raudies, Haruchika Aoki, Emilio Alzamora, Daniel Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso and Thomas Luthi. At the end of the 2009 season, Honda achieved 630 wins in Road Racing Grand Prix, and is the absolute leader among the manufacturers. Honda also won 59 manufacturers’ World titles (2 in the 50cc, 15 in the 125cc, 19 in the 250cc, 6 in the 350cc and 17 in the 500cc/MotoGP).
Other motorsports
The 70s were not only a comeback for Honda in Road Racing, but also a beginning in other motorsports. Although the factory was not directly involved at the beginning, the launch of the CB 750 at the end of 1968 gave ideas for privateers and dealers to put the machine on the track for racing in Endurance, with a first win at the 1969 Bol d’Or in Monthléry, followed by many other wins and four European titles from 1976 to 1979, and World titles as from 1980. Honda also clinched many wins and titles in the TT World Championship, notably with Phil Read, Ron Haslam, Joey Dunlop and Carl Fogarty.
Later came the Superbike World Championship as from 1988, with seven titles for Honda riders (Fred Merkel, Colin Edwards and James Toseland with two titles each, and John Kocinski).
Honda also invested in Motocross in the mid-70s and a first World title came in the 500cc class in 1979 with Graham Noyce, followed by André Malherbe (500), Dave Thorpe (500), Georges Jobé (500), Eric Geboers (first Honda title in the 250cc class, then 500), Jean-Michel Bayle (first Honda title in the 125cc class, then 250), and many others.
In Trial, though, against the general tendency for all two-stroke engines in off-road competition, Honda introduced a factory machine in the early 80s in the hands of Eddy Lejeune who won three consecutive world titles. Then Honda came back through its association with Montesa and several titles came with Marc Colomer, Dougie Lampkin, Takahisa Fujinami and Toni Bou.
In Enduro, Honda produced XR machines derived from the trail bike line, and achieved its first win in the 1982 Paris-Dakar rally, with French rider Cyril Neveu (already winner in 1979 and 1980). Later, the Honda factory produced a fantastic machine, the NXR 780, which took Cyril Neveu to two more wins in 1986 and 1987, Italian Edy Orioli in 1988 and French Gilles Lalay in 1989.
Marc Pétrier
Photos Maurice Bula/FIM (road racing), Honda (off road)
1. The Australian rider Tom Phillis brought the first World title to Honda in the 125cc class in 1961.
2. Rhodesian Jim Redman clinched four consecutive titles in the 350cc class from 1962 to 1965.
3. Mike Hailwood, winner of the 1967 French Grand Prix in the 250cc class riding the six-cylinder Honda.
4. “Fast” Freddie Spencer took his first World title in 1983 on the 3-cylinder NS 500 – it was also the first rider’s title for Honda in this class.
5. Belgian rider André Malherbe (left) and British rider Graham Noyce were in the 500cc Motocross Honda factory team as from 1979. Noyce was World Champion in 79, Malherbe in 80, 81 and 84.
6. Belgian rider Eddy Lejeune clinched three consecutive Trial World Championships riding the 4-stroke Honda in 1982, 83 and 84.
