Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127970
Hond aMotor 50th anniversary celebration -FEATURE onda likes to win." sa id Mr. Sakata , the gene ra l manage r of H on da' s ..---1~-' North America n a nd European operations . To anyone wh o watches racing or market share, for that ma tter - this has been an obvio us fact. After tal king wi th him over lunch in Tokyo, his statemen t carried a peculiar weigh t. In ou r conversa tion with Mr. Saka ta, we found ou t a little career historv. There was a time back in the 1960s that he was working in Ca nada, try ing to se ll the litt le S600 to Can adians. A t first blush, this doesn't seem th at sig nifica nt. But cons ider the fact that Sakata-san was tryi ng to sell a rustpro ne, chain-d riven, chai n-bre aking- p rone 600cc car with a top speed qu ite a lot more suitable for the con fines of Japan's congested urban areas that the w ide-open s paces of s pa rsely po pu la ted, snowy Ca nad ian provinces. And he lived to tell abou t it. He, in fact, succeeded. • Suc cess - wi nnin g - is a no rma l cor p o ra te struggle in Ho nda's bu siness. Clear evidence of Hon da' s desire to win was paraded just d ays befor e on the l. 5-mil e oval at Tw in Rin g Motegi, H o nd a ' s 1600-acr e motorsports com plex located a few hours fro m Tokyo , at Honda's 50 th a nn ive rsa ry celebra tion . Some SO,OOO peo ple atte nded . Man y of Honda' s cham pions wer e on hand to parad e the very bikes and cars they u sed to win their championships . I'd like to be able to illuminate mor e deta ils abou t the program, but short of telling you that Fred die Spencer, Wayne Gardner, 'Jim Redman , Ne lson Piqu et, Jack Brabham and a host of others cu t la ps on (and "in," for the car guys) some of the fines t Gra nd Pri x and su pe rbike machinery ever ma de, and that sk y divers we re d ropped , a rocket w as launched and the tra ck was circled by too -ma ny- to-cou n t significant prod uction Hondas - two wheels a nd fou r, some carrying ou tboard motor s and genera tors the en tire p ro gra m was run in Jap an ese. Thi s mu ch I can tell yo u: It ran on time and sou nded bet ter than any 50th anniversary party I' ve ever been to. C\ Race bikes new(er) (right) and old (above) - all taken direct ly from the Honda Collection Hall museum - were run around the track. Instructions at the riders meeting were clear, as were the pit boards held at the corner entran ces : Downshift. It was so we could hear the mus ic... (left) Honda races cars , too. (left) A taste of everyth ing s its in the entryway of the Honda Collection Hall. Side by s ide with the cars and bikes is one of the coolest-looking rototlllers you'll see anywhere, (Right) The streetmotorcycle co llection highlights most Honda models, as well as significant competi tive models from othe r manufacturers. On the collection-ha il site Is the "rest oration room," which has windows so you can watch the process. , L{) N ... Q) ..0 E Q) > o z 17