How Japan became such a force in International Motorcycle Racing…..

Let me take you back to 1961….

The following photographs were scanned from a book published for Honda Motor at the time….

Titled, “The Race For Leadership”, the publication details are included in a scan below.

They clearly show the enormous effort the Japanese, in particular Honda Motor, made to be a force in motorcycle racing on the world stage.

The photo of the staff at Honda R and D in 1961 is staggering.

How could the British and European factories could hope to compete with this?

The fact that MV Augusta and some Italian factories did for as long as they did is amazing.

It was a steamroller unleashed.

The photos and items tell the story…

Read on…..

Left click on images to enlarge….

Acknowledgement is made to Mitsutoshi Kondo the editor and The Motor Sports land Ltd, publishers, for use of the items.