Honda has always been associated with motorsports, ever since from day one with their founder Soichiro Honda. It began with Mr Honda heeding the call to compete in the Isle of Man TT races. It was a classic “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” case for Honda, and a real need in the face of looming bankruptcy because the Juno scooter flopped.
It had many issues – it had reliability issues and was too heavy, thus making it underpowered. Honda needed to sell bikes to get sales on the move again, and motorsports was one way to get the brand out there. The Tourist Trophy race program on the Isle of Man was Soichiro Honda’s choice of platform to showcase his race bikes. It took him 5 years for the first Hondas to race on the island, and 2 years later, Honda bikes won the Tourist Trophy category that they were racing in!
It’s a shame that they had to pull out of F1 at the moment due to the high costs associated. But I believe that it’s only something temporary, as Honda has been in and out of F1 before. They’ve been involved in F1 way back – since the 1960s, and they even won a race in 1965, just one year after they joined. And that amazing chassis that’s contributing to Brawn GP’s success now is the result of Honda F1 engineer development.
Even if they are not in F1 (they could possibly join the FOTA’s new Grand Prix Racing though?), they are still heavily involved in many other types of motorsports, both bikes and cars. Many of the technologies gained through racing R&D have been channeled into their road cars and bikes. Amongst many other races, in Malaysia, a factory team never fails to join the MME endurance race every year, and it races an NSX in the Super GT race.
VIDEO: Honda Motorsports “Reasons to Exist” – MME 2008
Their MME team is manned by Honda Malaysia staff and it helps them build team spirit, not to mention the knowledge and experience they gain under Mugen when building the race car. This is another way that motorsports can help a car company.
The Honda NSX-GT was in Malaysia during the weekend. It’s a race car based on the NSX, or the Honda New Sports eXperimental, a rear wheel drive, mid-engine mounted sports car powered by either a 3.0 litre or 3.2 litre V6 VTEC engine.
The NSX-R GT came much later as a response to the requirements of Super GT car requiring production car homologation. It was limited to a production run of only 5 cars to comply with JGTC rules. The NSX production car sales halted in 2005 to make way for a new V10 supercar (which was later put on hold around the same time as Honda pulling out of F1), but the NSX GT cars continued racing in the Super GT.
EPSON Nakajima Racing team is geared up to start
The Honda NSX Super GT car races in the GT500 class and runs a tuned up C32B engine, with displacement increased from 3.2 litres to various figures depending year to year. It was 3494cc in 2008 but this year lower at 3,396cc, but they all put out a rated 500 PS. There are even years where a force inducted 3.0 litre was used. The race car has evolved significantly since the road car, even down to the fact that the engine is now mounted longitudinally instead of transverse as per the road car.
VIDEO: Honda NSX GT car on-board cam at Fuji
In the GT500 race during the Sepang leg of the Japan Super GT last weekend, the NSX took 2nd (Keihin NSX) and 3rd place (ARTA NSX) after a Nissan GT-R, which very competitive considering that some might consider it an old chassis. Fourth position also went to the Raybrig NSX, with HIS Advan Kondo’s GT-R trailing it at 5th place.
Honda is currently having a competition called “Our Challenging Spirit” contest where you can basically nominate your friend with a Honda and Honda Racing-liked value (there are two – Passion and Dedication) and a reason for why you think your friend encompasses the spirit of Passion or Dedication, in under 300 words. You have to upload a picture of the person you are nominating.
Then you also have to fill up a slogan (example of Challenging Spirit) of not more than 100 words. Winners will be chosen based on both reasons for nomination and the required slogan. You can follow updates on the competition and Honda Racing updates at the Honda Racing Malaysia Facebook page. Go on, join and become a fan, I have!
If you any favorite nominee you noticed, do let us know in the comments so we can go check the nominee out together!
1961 | Jun.: | Honda sweeps top five places in Isle of Man TT Race (125cc; 250cc).(1) |
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1962 | Sep.: | Suzuka Circuit is completed. Honda wins Constructor’s Championship in World GP 125cc, 250cc and 350cc classes. |
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1964 | Aug.: | Honda’s first F1 entry. |
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1965 | Oct.: | Honda’s first F1 victory in Mexico Grand Prix.(2) |
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1966 | Sep.: | Honda wins Constructor’s Championship in all classes (50cc; 125cc; 250cc; 350cc; 500cc) at the World Grand Prix, an international first. Brabham Honda F2 car establishes a world record of 11 consecutive victories. |
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1981 | Sep.: | Honda wins Motocross World for 3years consecutirely. |
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1982 | Jan.: | XR500R wins Paris-Dakar Rally. |
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1984 | Jun.:
July.: |
Ralt-Honda wins European F2 with a new world record of 12 consecutive wins. Honda crowns its F1 comeback by winning the F1 America Grand Prix. |
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1985 | Nov.: | Williams Honda takes Constructor’s Championship in F1 Grand Prix. |
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1987 | Nov.: | Williams Honda takes F1 Grand Prix double title. |
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1988 | Nov.: | McLaren Honda wins double title in F1 Grand Prix, and posts a record 11 consecutive F1 victories. |
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1989 | Nov.: | McLaren Honda team takes second consecutive F1 Constructorês Championship along with double title. (3) |
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1990 | Nov.: | McLaren Honda takes another F1 Grand Prix double title. |
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1991 | Mar.:
Jun.: Nov.: |
Honda posts 60 Grand Prix victories in the Brazil F1. Honda wins 10 consecutive victories in Isle of Man TT. McLaren Honda take F1 Grand Prix double title (5th consecutive Driver’s Championship and 4th consecutive Constructorês Championship). |
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1992 | Feb.: | Honda receives award from British Prime Minister for winning 4 consecutive Constructorês Championships. |
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1993 | Nov.: | Honda wins the World Solar Challenge 1993, with the Honda Dream. (4) |
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1994 | Mar.: | Honda enters Americaês IndyCar World Series. (5) |
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1995 | Aug.: | Honda wins its first victory at the 15th IndyCar World Series. |
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1996 | Sep.:
Oct.: |
Honda wins the IndyCar World Series Manufacturer’s Championship. Honda wins the World Solar Challenge ’96. |
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1997 | Aug.: | Twin Ring Motegi is completed. |
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1998 | Mar.: | Japan’s first IndyCar race is held at Twin Ring Motegi. (6) |
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1999 | Oct.: | Honda captures six consecutive WGP Rider & Manufacturer titles. |
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2001 | Apr.:
Aug.: Nov.: |
Honda wins 500 Motorcycle Road Race World Championship victories at Suzuka Grand Prix. 6 consecutive wins at Suzuka 8-hour endurance race. 6 consecutive Driver’s titles and 4 Manufacturer’s titles in CART Series. |
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2002 | Apr.: | Race Debut of new 4-stroke, 5-cylinder RC211V motorcycle. (7) |
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2003 | Apr.: | Honda’s first race in the MTB downhill. |
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2004 | Sep.:
Oct.: |
Honda wins the WCT, Takahisa Fujinami takes his first world title. (8) In its second year of participation in the Indy Car Series, Honda wins three titles: the Driver’s |
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2005 | Sep.: | Honda wins three titles in the Indy Car Series, consecutively for 2 years. |
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2006 | Sep.:
Oct.: |
F1 Hungary GP Honda Works Team wins its first victory in 39 years. (9)
Wins MotoGP rider title and wins all titles for constructer, team, and rookie of the year. |
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2007 | Nov.: | Honda wins Team and Drivers’ titles in the SuperGT |
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[zenphotopress number=99 album=343]
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very good review Paul Tan..
hope our local MALAYSIA automotive companies like PROTON, PERODUA and MODENAS can see what is the importance of racing motorsports in developing new technology, improve the quality and conquer international market like what HONDA did!
Without a doubt i know which 3 pictures from above get the most clicks… :D
that girls is chinese or japanese?? cute ^^
HONDA is the best.. they start building their image and branding through racing motorsports and it also help them improve from time to time..
Malaysia automotive companies must learn from HONDA success!
yeah.. my dads honda cup still rocks! heh..
Honda the Power of Dreams…
Bikes got excluded due to rempits ?
Honda failed in F
Honda failed in F1 because of too much interference from higher-ups in Japan. They should have kept their hands in their pocket, and let the team run the show. Firing Dave Richards and putting in his place Nick Fry was a stupid action that ultimately doomed the team
The Rockstar NSX GT Queen is very cute when they confused and forgotten their line to promote their team. "Our team is Rock…our team is rock..nanda?"..hahaha very cute..I was way at the front..:P