Honda celebrates 50 years of its arrival in the premier class of Grand Prix

Honda is taking advantage of the 2016 Japanese Grand Prix to celebrate 50 years of its debut in the premier class of motorcycle sport. The winged crest displays its very first 500 cc, the RC181, at its Motegi circuit, alongside the MotoGP RC213Vs of Marquez and Pedrosa.

Honda began its involvement in motorcycle Grand Prix in 1959 on the Isle of Man in the 125 cc class, under the leadership of its creator Soichiro Honda. His first race in the premier class came seven years later, in 1966, during the German GP at Sachsering. A first in the form of victory for Honda, which wins the race by 26 seconds thanks to the RC181 powered by an air-cooled 4-stroke twin-camshaft 4-cylinder.

Two years later, the winged crest officially withdraws from the Grands Prix – at the same time as Suzuki – to protest against the new regulations applied in 1968 by the Federation internationale de motocyclisme (FIM) !

These new rules notably limit the number of cylinders (2 on the 125 and 250 cc, 4 on the 350 and 500 cc) in order to stop the technological escalation to which the manufacturers were engaged. The Japanese are furious to see their creativity curtailed in this way and are showing it by leaving the world stage: Yamaha will wait until the end of the season to follow in the footsteps of its compatriots, but will remain more involved via competitor customers. The official return of Honda will take place twelve years later, which will not prevent it from forming an enviable track record with some 277 victories in 500 cc / MotoGP as well as 38 driver and constructor titles from 1966 to 2016 !

For the anecdote, the year of Honda’s return to GP (1979) was also marked by the first victory of a certain Graziano Rossi in 250 cc on a Morbidelli hit with the n ° 46! A few months before this success, on February 16, this whimsical pilot and often on the ground celebrated the arrival of his first child: Valentino…

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