Honda showcases 50 year two wheel racing heritage

Honda has further added to its ‘50th Anniversary of World Championship Racing’ area on its global website – world.honda.com – with even more previously unseen images and footage from the last five decades, as well as ringtones and wallpaper downloads, to create an insightful archive of Honda’s Grand Prix racing heritage.

This ‘50th Anniversary of Racing’ dedicated area showcases detailed images and footage of Honda’s legendary race machines to include the RC142 – Honda’s first ever TT race bike – the RC166, NR500, NSR500 and RC211V, as well as stories from the last fifty years which chart Honda’s progress in two wheel grand prix competition.

Two-wheel motorsport enthusiasts around the globe can reminisce and learn about Honda’s epic GP racing history, learn about significant events for Honda leading up to the 1959 TT, read about milestones throughout this time and now see footage of 73-year old Naomi Taniguchi, a rider from Honda’s first TT team back in 1959, reunited with his restored RC142 on a test ride around Twin Ring Motegi in Japan.

A shortened version of the transcript that Soichiro Honda, then President of Honda, sent out to his workers on 20 March 1954 can also be viewed. At that time, victory in the World GP series was unimaginable for the majority of Japanese, but Honda did not flinch. He had set himself the noble target of competing in the TT, and by issuing a written declaration, enabled his enthusiastic staff to become part of his long-held dream.

Steve Martindale, General Manager of Honda (UK) Motorcycles said, “Honda is proud to have such an unrivalled history in two-wheel Grand Prix racing and this website is a superb celebration of this history, as well as a fantastic resource for motorcycle enthusiasts.”

To view this historic and inspiring content visit world.honda.com/MotoGP/history.