Home
    Steve's Homepage

Honda's race history 1959 - 1967........


Honda's Race History Riders & Handling
Content © Joep Kortekaas 2002

mail Joep here if you have questions

JUMP to the interest ........... or JUST scroll on down the Webpage
Main Honda Race History page
General Information on Honda Racing bikes

Copies

1954

RC113
RC113
RC113
RC113
RC113

Honda's own sounds of some of these great bikes
The Riders
Japanese Riders arriving
Bill Hunt, the team captain and the man that fell off
The Honda story would not be complete without a portrait gallery of the various riders who helped Honda to their successes.

 

On 5 May 1959, the Japanese riders arrive at London airport. From left to right: G. Suzuki, J. Suzuki, N. Taniguchi and T. Tanaka.

 

 

 

 

Image at left shows Bill Hunt, the team captain and the man that fell off.

 

 

1960    

The Japanese works riders this year are Kunimitsu Takahashi (see top image), Shimazaki, Yukio Sato (see second image) M. Tanaguchi, and Australians Tom Phillis (see third image, bottom right) and Bob Brown (see forth image below) are contracted.

Phillis acts as team leader until his death in the 1962 TT of Man during the 350 cc race.

Bob Brown is killed when he crashes on the Solitude in Germany.

When Phillis crashes during practice for the Dutch TT, Rhodesian Jim Redman joins the team (see fifth image, bottom left). After Phillis' death, he takes over as team captain until his retirement, aged 36, after his crash in the Belgian GP in 1966.

Redman was a brilliant rider and an absolute professional, who was, I feel, underrated by most people. He won six world titles for Honda, two times in the 250 class and four times in the 350 class and had 46 GP victories.

Kunimitsu Takahashi

Yukio Sato

Jim Redman
Bob Brown
Tom Phillis
1961  

Luigi Taveri

Mike with his father Stan after winning the 125 cc class on Man, 1961

John Hartle

1961, and Luigi Taveri (see top image at left), born in 1929 near Zürich, in Switzerland, joins the team.

He becomes a three times world champion 125 cc for Honda. Although Taveri was mainly involved in the 50 and 125 cc classes, he would sometimes ride the 250 fours and the CR72 and CR77 production racers, which earned him third place in the 350 cc world championship in 1963

Thanks to some arm twisting by Mike Hailwood's father Stan, Honda lend a 125 cc twin and 250 cc four to 21 year young Brit Mike Hailwood (see second image at left - Mike with his father Stan after winning the 125 cc class on Man, 1961).

Hailwood gives Soichiro Honda his first TT victory in the 125 cc class on Man. He goes on to win his first world championship this year, the 250 cc. Honda are not happy that he beats their works riders, and it is only in 1966 that he gets a works contract.

Another man, racing Hondas in national races in England is John Hartle (see third image at left), a former MV works rider.
Although the works riders are not happy with these "privateers", it gives Honda a lot of publicity, and that is what racing is all about.

During this year Japanese riders Moto Kitano and Teisuke Tanaka compete in various races – the Honda policy with regard to the Japanese riders is a bit obscure.

1962  

Bob McIntyre (see top image at right) joins the team, after having had some Honda rides before.

McIntyre was the man who, for the very first time, lapped the Isle of Man course at over 100 mph during the jubilee TT races in 1957 on a Gilera four 500 cc.

With the Honda 250 four he sets a lap record on Man this year of 99.58 mph, but retires with oil problems. Later in the season he is tragically killed when competing in a local race on a Norton.

 

 

Irishman Tommy Robb (see middle image) also joins the team. He comes in third in the 350 world championship and claims Honda's only 50 cc win this year with the RC112 twin on Suzuka in Japan. After a poor 1963 season, he is sacked halfway through the 1964 season.

 

 

 

A noteworthy "privateer" this year is Derek Minter (see bottom image), who gets a 1961 Honda four on loan for the TT on Man.

Against team orders he wins the race, ahead of the works riders. Honda are not happy.

Bob McIntyre

Tommy Robb

Derek Minter

1963 as 1962    
1964  
Ralph Bryans

The practically unknown Irishman Ralph Bryans (see image at left) joins the team, concentrating on the 50 and 125 cc classes.

He wins the world championship 50 cc for Honda a year later.

Halfway through the season Tommy Robb and Kunimitsu Takahashi (who later joins Nissan as a test driver) are sacked.

1965 No changes to the team. During the last GP of the season, in Japan, Mike Hailwood wins the 250 cc class on a "privately" entered Honda six.
1966  

Mike Hailwood (see image at right) now enters the team as a works rider. In his book "Hailwood", Hailwood complains: "Racing has made me an old man before my time." Well the change is quite clear.

During the Belgian GP on Francorchamps, Jim Redman crashes in pouring rain, and breaks his arm. He returns for the Ulster GP, but the arm gives too much trouble, so he doesn't start. He again tries at the IoM TT but the arm is not right, and Redman decides to quit racing. He becomes a Yamaha dealer in Rhodesia, where he privately races a couple of Honda 250 fours, which he later sells to a Dutch collector. I acquired one of them, but sold it later.

To assist Hailwood, Stuart Graham, son of Leslie Graham, the first ever 500 cc world champion, joins the team.

Mike Hailwood

For a personal story about Mike - click the link

1967  

For some reason, Graham is no longer part of the team, that now consists of only Hailwood and Bryans.

At the end of the season, Honda retires from Grand Prix racing.

A Matter of Handling  

Time and again the Honda GP racers have been described as atrocious handlers, to such an extent, that all subsequent Hondas were doomed to live under the alleged curse of bad handling and road holding. Where do all those stories come from? Well, one powerful reason is, "because everybody says so." Even people who have never, ever ridden a Honda know exactly how to tell the blood curdling tales about their roadholding.
A second reason is some totally irresponsible statements by writers who should know better. In his book "Honda GP racers", Colin MacKellar writes (page 48): "….recalling how, when Honda started in Europe, they only began to win GPs when they changed to English frames". This is blatant nonsense. Honda, in what is called their "Golden Age", have never, ever used English frames – the frames were pure Honda. They used some English parts, i.e. tyres (Avon and Dunlop), rev counters (Smith, although also Honda counters were used), and Girling rear shock absorbers. Two English frames were built for the RC181: one by Colin Lyster, which was not a success, and one by Reynolds' Ken Sprayson, which might have become successful if it would have been further developed. However, those frames were never used in GP racing.

Actually, during the "Golden Age", the only person who complained about the roadholding and handling of the Hondas was the great Mike Hailwood – nobody, but literally nobody else ever complained. Not Jim Redman, not Bob McIntyre, not Tom Phillis, not Luigi Taveri – nobody.
In his book "Hailwood", written with Ted Macauley, Hailwood states (page 79): "The old Hondas, the ones used in 1961, were bad handlers compared with other bikes. In the light of their history of atrocious handling, Jim Redman comes out as a far better rider than most people are prepared to give him credit for." History of atrocious handling? Really? Then why did the same Hailwood write in his previous book "The art of motorcycle racing", about the 1961 Hondas (page 166): "I have already given my impression of the Honda 125 c.c. twin and there is little I can add except to say it is, without doubt, the finest 125 I have ever ridden. Although it is not nearly as outstanding in its class as the 250 c.c. Honda four, it is nevertheless a superb machine which combines ample, smooth power with perfect handling". No grounds for misinterpretation here, is there? And about the 250 four (page 169): "This, like the 125, is a magnificent machine. When riding close to a Honda four its handling looks frightful, but its looks belie it, for it feels perfectly all right and does not seem at all skittish. I never fell off a 250 Honda in spite of some hair-raising battles with riders of the calibre of Bob McIntyre, Tom Phillis, John Hartle, Kunumitsu Takahashi and Jim Redman, so its handling must be all right". Pretty obvious, hmmm?

The Reynolds framed version

All those Hondas had the same type of frame. All those Hondas I have seen being raced by the aforementioned riders, and some I have ridden myself. Their handling and road holding was beyond reproach. You don’t win that number of world championships with machines that are really wanting in the handling department. During one Dutch TT, in 1964, Redman won three classes, all three with new race and lap records. On atrociously handling machines? Come on!
But Hailwood keeps changing his mind. "Hailwood" (page 76): "I really enjoyed racing the 250, even though the Yamahas I raced against were quicker. The 250 was quite well behaved and easy to handle. The 350 was okay, too." Somewhere, I have a statement by him, that the 296 cc six was his all time favourite. But for the love of Pete I can't find where it's stated. For the time being, just believe me.

So, what does it all boil down to? No doubt the reputedly terrible handling of the big RC181. Two persons, other than Redman and Hailwood have ridden this bike: Martin Hodder and John Surtees. But Hodder rode the Reynolds framed version (see top image at left), and still found fault with the bike (The Classic Motorcycle, May 1996): " I had proved for myself that the Reynolds frame, significantly better than the Honda original in every way, was not at all suspect, and that the infamous handling we had all witnessed was down to a combination of power, undeveloped suspension and inadequate tyres."
The conclusion, or statement: "…significantly better than the Honda original in every way…" is not his to give: he had never ridden the originally framed RC181, and so couldn't compare. But his conclusion about the suspension units and tyres is well noted.

the Reynolds framed version
Jim Redman winning the first GP in Germany in 1966

Jim Redman winning the first GP in Germany in 1966

Writes John Surtees, who rode the original Honda framed RC181 (Classic Bike, December 1985): "The rear units are down to their bump rubbers, which locks up their suspension movement, and a reaction is then transferred to the front of the machine." And, a little further on: "However, I would hesitate to blame frame flex or whip without having the opportunity to modify features such as the rear suspension pivot points, damping and spring rates, and wheel travel." Words like these, from an out and out expert like John Surtees, are not to be taken lightly. Moreover, how about the other person who has ever ridden the RC181 in anger, Jim Redman? He won the first GP in Germany in 1966 (see Bottom image above), looked at a 22 seconds gap behind Agostini in the Dutch TT after Hailwood had crashed, but fought back and won, and a week later, in Francorchamps, had trained 1 second faster than Hailwood and 6 seconds faster than Agostini, leading the race till he fell off in pouring rain – and that was it. He never complained about the big Honda, on the contrary, recently he stated, at the occasion of riding a brand new RC181 made by Honda, that he had never problems with the RC181 and liked it. I have always thought, that if Redman would not have fallen off in Belgium, he would have been the 1966 500 cc world champion. If…..

No doubt Hailwood had some hairy moments on the big Honda. However, it is wrong, in my opinion, to blame it all on the Honda engineers and their frame creation – no doubt the combination of totally inadequate rear suspension units (which had less than 60 mm travel, both the Showas and the Girlings), and tyre sizes that were hardly bigger than are now used on 125s, played a major role in the handling problems of the RC181. The world was simply not yet ready for the power of that bike….