Tadao Baba – The father of the Honda Fireblade

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Tadao Baba - The father of the Honda Fireblade
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Tadao Baba – The father of the Honda Fireblade

Portrait: Tadao Baba
The father of the Honda Fireblade

When Honda launched the “FireBlade” presented, the motorcycle world was upside down, because its creator Tadao Baba had redefined the standard of the modern sports motorcycle. This is the real story of one of the most influential motorcycle designers of all time.

Jorg Lohse

04/26/2012

Ingenious and revolutionary. Wacky and eccentric. Fanatical and stubborn: Tadao Baba cannot be clearly defined for those around him – friends, colleagues or competitors. However, there is consensus when judging his legacy. At a time when sports motorcycles were getting faster and faster, but at the same time hardly manageable, Tadao Baba’s design of the Honda Fireblade looked like something from another world. By breaking all conventions, the little Japanese also defined an almost universal template for the future design of supersport motorcycles. It should be mentioned at this point that Baba is not a trained engineer: “My dream was to drive test machines for Honda. In fact, I then stood at milling machines in the factory in Saitama. ”In 1962, Baba started working for Honda, graduating from high school, but the then 18-year-old Honda Super Cup 50 driver did not attend university. The first three years are monotonous. The young factory worker’s daily schedule includes cylinder heads and crankcases for the CB 72 and CB 77, Honda’s mass companions at the time. But in 1965 the life of Tadao Baba was to change suddenly: “My dream suddenly came true. I was allowed to work as a test driver in the research and development department. ”Background to the meteoric rise: Baba drove in the Japanese 125cc championship and was considered an extremely accomplished pilot who even won the title in 1970.

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In any case, Honda boss Soichiro Honda also became aware of the committed racing driver Baba in his company: the beginning of a lifelong, trusting friendship. As a test driver for Honda, Baba should mainly take care of handling and stability as well as the carburetor set-up. But the autodidact learns quickly, not only brings in measurement results, but also delivers the right solutions at the same time. Within a few years, Baba was promoted to deputy project manager of the Honda test center and from 1972 was jointly responsible for the development of road and off-road machines at the Hamamatsu site.

But the real culmination came 15 years later, when Yoichi Oguma moved to the company’s own racing department HRC as head of the new Superbike project. Suddenly the showcase project is in the hands of Tadao Baba: “Of course I was damn nervous. After all, it was my first solo project. But I was also confident. I love riding sport bikes. And there is nothing greater than having absolute control of the bike while riding. My ideal was thus also established: my motorcycle had to be perfectly controllable, but at the same time easy to drive. “

Baba has access to a large staff. At times up to 40 young engineers and designers from a wide variety of specialist fields work around him. Baba takes up a variety of ideas and tries to bundle them into a coherent concept. There are only a few strict specifications, even the question of displacement is still open – the first prototypes have 750 engines. But Baba is uncompromising when it comes to weight. The project manager demands 190 kilos and is relentless – which ultimately earns him the nickname “Buddha Baba”: “Looking back, I have to admit that I reacted doggedly and angrily here!” For example with the fork. In the 1980s, upside-down forks became fashionable on sport bikes. Baba argues against it: telescopic forks are lighter. After all, the original Blade uses conventional forks, which, however, are based on the distinctive shape of an upside-down fork.


Tadao Baba - The father of the Honda Fireblade


fact

Honda CBR 900 RR Fireblade: The fire blade was unleashed on the overweight big bike world in 1992.

In the summer of 1989, the first prototype was ready for testing in Suzuka. At the time, Baba announced to the test drivers full-bodied: “Gentlemen, you will be riding a motorcycle today that will set new standards in super sports!” Was he really that sure? Baba’s simple answer today: “The results were as expected … While the test drivers, one after the other, are catapulted away by the sheer performance of the prototype, Baba is convinced that the concept of the Fireblade will work.

In general, Baba is not the typical engineer who rushes through the pit lane with a clipboard and smock. He can be found much more often on the racetrack and duels with the test drivers, which for him, however, all too often end up in the gravel. “I heard about my reputation as a crash pilot,” smiles Baba today, “and some on my team are of the opinion that I fell with every model of the fire blade. But I think it was only four or five …

Baba’s first blade, the SC28, was finally introduced exactly 20 years ago – the beginning of a motorcycle dynasty that continues to this day. Baba himself remains responsible for the “FireBlade” project until his retirement in 2004. The 2002 model, the SC50 with a displacement of 954 cc, is the last generation that he designed himself: “When I handed the project over to Kyoichi Yoshii, I felt as if my son was moving out of his home.” Honda itself honors Baba with a small but significant change in the name: the “FireBlade” becomes the “Fireblade” – on bikes of the post-Baba era, the “b” is written in lower case.

And what is the sprightly pensioner doing today at 68? “I write small columns for a Japanese motorcycle magazine and play golf. But playing golf is difficult and riding a motorcycle is so easy, which is why I use my 954 Fireblade more often – in my opinion, by the way, the model that comes closest to my ideal of a sports motorcycle. “

But there is one more rumor that urgently needs clarification. It is said that after his retirement, Tadao Baba secretly snuck into manufacturing to send messages to future Fireblade drivers. “That’s right,” laughs Baba-san, “but only on 2004 and 2005 models. I wrote “Have a good trip” and “Have fun” in Japanese on the inside of the fairing … “

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