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From MCN Sport magazine.
Six years after the founding of the Honda Motor Company, Soichiro Honda announced that he would send a team to compete in the Isle of Man TT. He had already achieved an outstanding amount at home and was mass producing his first four stroke, the Benly J-type. Racing, he reasoned, was the best way to spread the word about his motorcycles. Three months later he was in Europe checking out the competition.
Britain didn?t exactly welcome him with open arms ? too many raw memories of the treatments meted out to PoWs ? but Soichiro went home with a lot of excess baggage in the shape of carburettors and electrical components of a quality not available in Japan. He now knew the scale of the task he had set himself.
Five years later, Honda had unleashed their first high-tech machine, the C70, on Europe, set up a North American subsidiary and launched the Cub step-through which sold over 170,000 units in its first year of production. They were ready to make good the founder?s promise.
A team of five 125s turned up, ran faultlessly but slowly, yet still won the team prize. For 1960, Honda realised he had to employ professional foreign riders and signed Aussie Tom Phillis. When he got hurt, Jim Redman took over. Neither expected to be re-employed. But they were, with the immortal words: ?Jim-san and Tom-san rode the bikes when they were slow; now they will ride them when they are fast.? Phillis won Honda?s first GP at the opening round of the season, and went on to take the title.
Mike Hailwood won Honda?s first and second TTs (125 and 250) on a single day, and went on to win the Senior on a Norton, thus becoming the first man to do the Island triple. He also won the 250 world title on a Honda. Redman did the 250/350 double the following two years, then followed that with two more 350 titles. He was also Honda?s first 500 winner, at Hockenheim in ?66.
From toe-in-the-water Manx expedition to world domination in four years: for a measure of the scale of the achievement, imagine that Proton had won everything since 2001.
How did they do it? Soichiro?s clear vision was obviously vital, and I got an understanding of it the first time I visited the Honda museum at Twin Ring Motegi. The machinery flanking the entrance doors comprised a Bugatti racing car and a single cylinder MV four-stroke. These were the machines that Soichiro Honda saw as the best of their day when he was starting out. This was the standard of engineering he must first understand, next equal and, finally, exceed. That?s where that old chestnut about Japan copying comes from; if you don?t understand how the opposition does it, how can you hope to do it better?
In the best Japanese tradition, the museum is peppered with plaques with a few of Mr. Honda?s quotes on them. The first one I saw? ?The product cannot lie.? What a pity the British industry didn?t adopt that one.
Tom Phillis
Jim Redman on the Honda RC165
Six years after the founding of the Honda Motor Company, Soichiro Honda announced that he would send a team to compete in the Isle of Man TT. He had already achieved an outstanding amount at home and was mass producing his first four stroke, the Benly J-type. Racing, he reasoned, was the best way to spread the word about his motorcycles. Three months later he was in Europe checking out the competition.
Britain didn?t exactly welcome him with open arms ? too many raw memories of the treatments meted out to PoWs ? but Soichiro went home with a lot of excess baggage in the shape of carburettors and electrical components of a quality not available in Japan. He now knew the scale of the task he had set himself.
Five years later, Honda had unleashed their first high-tech machine, the C70, on Europe, set up a North American subsidiary and launched the Cub step-through which sold over 170,000 units in its first year of production. They were ready to make good the founder?s promise.
A team of five 125s turned up, ran faultlessly but slowly, yet still won the team prize. For 1960, Honda realised he had to employ professional foreign riders and signed Aussie Tom Phillis. When he got hurt, Jim Redman took over. Neither expected to be re-employed. But they were, with the immortal words: ?Jim-san and Tom-san rode the bikes when they were slow; now they will ride them when they are fast.? Phillis won Honda?s first GP at the opening round of the season, and went on to take the title.
Mike Hailwood won Honda?s first and second TTs (125 and 250) on a single day, and went on to win the Senior on a Norton, thus becoming the first man to do the Island triple. He also won the 250 world title on a Honda. Redman did the 250/350 double the following two years, then followed that with two more 350 titles. He was also Honda?s first 500 winner, at Hockenheim in ?66.
From toe-in-the-water Manx expedition to world domination in four years: for a measure of the scale of the achievement, imagine that Proton had won everything since 2001.
How did they do it? Soichiro?s clear vision was obviously vital, and I got an understanding of it the first time I visited the Honda museum at Twin Ring Motegi. The machinery flanking the entrance doors comprised a Bugatti racing car and a single cylinder MV four-stroke. These were the machines that Soichiro Honda saw as the best of their day when he was starting out. This was the standard of engineering he must first understand, next equal and, finally, exceed. That?s where that old chestnut about Japan copying comes from; if you don?t understand how the opposition does it, how can you hope to do it better?
In the best Japanese tradition, the museum is peppered with plaques with a few of Mr. Honda?s quotes on them. The first one I saw? ?The product cannot lie.? What a pity the British industry didn?t adopt that one.
Tom Phillis
Jim Redman on the Honda RC165
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