Honda goes into the most demanding 34rd Suzuka 8 Hours in years looking to win for the 24th time in the legendary test of man and machine that’s not only the highlight of the Japanese racing calendar but one of the world’s premier motorcycle events. Honda doesn’t officially take part in the third round of the QTEL World Endurance Championship, though they provide a number of top teams with Honda supported CB1000RR Fireblades, one of which won last year’s race.

The FCC TSR Honda team is the early favorite, with Suzuka veterans Kosuke Akiyoshi, Shinichi Ito and Ryuichi Kiyonari sharing seat time. Ito and Kiyonari, the reserve rider, have both tasted success at Suzuka; Ito won the race in 1997 and ’98, as well as 2006. The veteran who earlier this year announced his retirement is from Sendai, Miyagi prefecture, which suffered considerable damage from the March earthquake and tsunami. Three-time British Superbike winner Kiyonari has three wins; 2006, ’08, and last year when he teamed with Takuma Takahashi to win for the Honda Musashi RT Harc Pro team. The trio came away from a recent test at the Suzuka Circuit with the fastest time.

For this year’s race, Honda Musashi RT Harc Pro have brought back the 21-year-old Takahashi to team with veterans Makoto Tamada, 36, and Tadayuki Okada, the 44-year-old multi-time winner in a blend of youth and experience. Okada first won in 1995 with Aaron Slight, and again in 1999 with Alex Barros. Though he hasn’t raced the 8 Hours since 2007, Okada’s experience in guiding the team as a rider/advisor will be invaluable. Tamada was delighted to be chosen to represent last year’s winning team. In addition to winning the 2010 race, Takahashi has been on the podium each of the past three years.

Making their first appearance are three riders better known for their ability to navigate public road courses at breathtaking speeds. Isle of Man TT legend John McGuinness is teaming with fellow road racers Cam Donald and Keith Amor on the Honda TT Legends team. Despite a stream of successes at a number of venues, the trio said they were honoured to be chosen to take part in the legendary event.

The Suzuka 8 Hours is held on the last weekend in July, in the very heart of the oppressive summer heat and humidity. The rigors of racing for an hour at a time takes its toll on riders, tires, and motorcycles, who have little downtime between stints. Riders have been known to cool off in portable wading pools, others replenish their depleted muscles and a massage. Temperatures regularly run into the 35C range, though they cool slightly as the sun sets. This year’s race will be start an hour earlier so that it can finish earlier, with the podium ceremony taking place at 6:30 p.m. local time, thereby saving electricity in the wake of the tsunami and earthquake that devastated this island nation. But it guarantees an even longer dose of the tropical conditions.

Though race is the third of five rounds of the 2011 QTEL FIM Endurance World Championship, only the top half dozen series regulars make the trip to Japan.

No manufacturer can approach Honda’s record of success in the 8 Hours. Many of the sport’s icons have won the race for Honda, including 500cc World Champions Mick Doohan and Wayne Gardner, the 1991 winners. Gardner also won the race on three other occasions. 500cc World Champion Valentino Rossi teamed with two-time World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards to win the race in 2001. Edwards won twice with other partners, including once with the late Daijiro Katoh. Fred Merkel won in 1984; four years later he would win the first of his first two World Superbike titles, both aboard Hondas. Ten years after Merkel’s win, another World Superbike champion, Doug Polen, teamed with Kiwi Aaron Slight, a two-time winner himself, to win the 1994 race.

Honda could not have won the race a record 23 times in 33 years without the constant development of new models, in various engine configurations, which serve as a starting point for the race bikes. Honda’s first five wins, over a period of seven years from 1979 through 1985, came on a variety of inline four-cylinders. Australians Tony Hatton and Michael Cole won the first race on a Honda CB900. Two years later Americans Mike Baldwin and David Aldana rode a Honda RS1000 to victory. The first Japanese riders to win the race for Honda were Shego Ijima and Shinji Hagiwara in 1982 riding a CB900F. Two years later Baldwin won for the second time, now with Merkel on a Honda RS750R, the first of the V-4’s.

Then followed the first of Gardner’s four victories, partnered with Japanese rider Masaki Tokano on a Honda RVF750. The RVF750 would win a total of five times, before the RVF/RC45 won the first of its five titles beginning in 1994. From 2000 through 2003, inclusive, the race was won by a eclectic mix of riders piloting the Honda VTR1000SPW, Honda’s first V-twin race-winner. The transition to the Honda CBR1000RRW inline four followed in 2004 and continued into 2005, with the CBR1000RR winning in 2006, Honda’s record-extending tenth win in a row. The past two successes, in 2008 and 2010, were powered by the Honda CBR1000RR, which continues to be the company’s flagship sportbike and will be the machine of choice for all Honda-supported teams. The venerable inline four-cylinder returns to the grid as a four-time winner.

F.C.C. TSR Honda rider Kosuke Akiyoshi says:

“So far everything is good. Some quick lap times and the average lap time is also good. I have the same feeling as Ito san so I don’t think there will be any problem. In the All Japan Championship, I have won five consecutive races since last year. Two last year and three this year. I want to bring this momentum to this year’s 8 Hours race. I have only won one 8 Hours race so far and I want to win many more, like (Tohru) Ukawa san, who won five 8 Hours races.”


F.C.C. TSR Honda rider Shinichi Ito says:

“Set-up among the three of us is getting on in the right direction. I retired from Superbike racing at the end of last year, but because of the disaster, I was invited by TSR to take part in 2&4 race on May 15, in which I finished second to (Kosuke) Akiyoshi in order to cheer up the victims of the quake. At that time it was decided that I should do the 8 Hours race as well. I didn’t expect to take part in 8 Hours race again from a potential winning team, so I was very much grateful for TSR for giving me such a big opportunity. I am from Miyagi and all I can do is race, so I want to race with those who had suffered. Our race number is 11, the top number for a Honda team. My partner is Akiyoshi, who is famous for his extraordinary fast riding and Kiyo (Ryuichi Kiyonari), who is the winner of last year’s race. I have no further race plans, so I don’t have to care about anything but this race.”


F.C.C. TSR Honda rider Ryuichi Kiyonari says:

“This year I will ride for TSR with Ito san and Akiyoshi san. I am the third rider and I don’t know the tactics of the team. I don’t know whether I will ride or not, but still we will aim for the win, nothing else. I have been watching this team race with Ito san and Akiyoshi san since I began racing myself. They are both great riders and I am sure I can learn a lot from them. This year, the race starts one hour early; that means the race will be hotter and tougher physically. Still, we will try our best to achieve our goal.”


Musashi RT Harc Pro rider Takumi Takahashi says:

“From the last test before the 8 Hours race, (Tady) Okada san joined the team and we have tried hard to find the set-up. This is the first time I am riding with (Makoto) Tamada san and Okada san. This is my fourth 8 Hours race and in the past I have been on the podium three times. I was third in my first attempt and it was a surprise. Then I won the race last year. The success is due to the effort of the team, but I am sure I was lucky; I didn’t know about my potential, though. This year I want to bring the luck and also improve myself in order to win two in a row.”


Musashi RT Harc Pro rider Makoto Tamada says:

“So far, so good for our team, but our rival teams are improving also. I was delighted when I heard I could race for this year’s 8 Hour race with Harc Pro, last year’s winning team. I have never won the race before. Second is the best result for me, so I am desperate for the win. It is the first time I am riding for Harc Pro and with Takumi (Takahashi). Takumi is a young and talented rider and I hope I can help him to improve his skill. I really enjoy riding for the team.”


Musashi RT Harc Pro Tady Okada rider says:

“This year I am the third rider for Harc Pro. The last 8 Hours race I raced was in 2007 when I got pole position and made a jump start and got a penalty. Four years have passed, but I hope I can race as fresh as I was four years ago. My role in the team is to coordinate the set-up between (Makoto) Tamada and Takahashi. Also I would teach them the importance of the factory team, which I learned in the past. I rode the CBR1000RR at a test, but I crashed. But our average lap time is improving and I am sure we can improve another one or two seconds. We will be invincible in the race.”



Honda TT Legends John McGuinness says:

“I’m really excited but I am also really nervous about the whole job. I’ve raced all over the world, but I’ve never raced in Japan, so it’s completely new territory for me. By all accounts Suzuka is an amazing race and it’s great to get the chance to take part. We’re up against some of the most experienced teams in endurance, but I’m really pumped up for it. I’ve heard horror stories about the heat and the humidity but you can’t worry about it until you get there. It’s a suck it and see situation but I’m sure it will be a brilliant experience whatever the outcome.”


Honda TT Legends Keith Amor says:

“I am really honoured to get the chance to race in such a classic event – that is a massive thing in itself. Having said that, if I’m being completely honest I am incredibly nervous. I know that a lot of riders struggle with the heat and the conditions, even riders that are used to doing it, so I am apprehensive, scared, excited – everything rolled into one. We are not going into this race with any big expectations, I think we just have to enjoy the experience and the overall event and see what happens.”


Honda TT Legends Cameron Donald says:

“The Suzuka 8-hour is a something I have dreamed of doing since I was a kid so to get the chance to take part with the Honda TT Legends is incredible. It’s going to be a big challenge to go up against the regular teams from Japan as well as the other EWC teams, but I am just so excited about the opportunity. I can’t wait to get out there and see what we can do.”



HONDA WINNERS OF THE SUZUKA 8 HOURS

1979: Tony Hatton, AUS/Michael Cole, AUS - Honda CB900

1981: Mike Baldwin, USA/Dave Aldana USA - Honda RS1000

1982: Shigeo Iijima, J/Shinji Hagiwara, J - Honda CB900F

1984: Mike Baldwin, USA/Fred Merkel, USA - Honda RS750R

1985: Wayne Gardner, AUS/Masaki Tokano, J - Honda RVF750

1986: Wayne Gardner, AUS/Dominique Sarron F - Honda RVF750

1989: Dominique Sarron, F/Alex Vieira, Por - Honda RVF750

1991: Wayne Gardner, AUS/Mick Doohan, AUS - Honda RVF750

1992: Wayne Gardner, AUS/Daryl Beattie, AUS - Honda RVF750

1994: Doug Polen, USA/Aaron Slight, NZ - Honda RVF/RC45

1995: Aaron Slight, NZ/Tadayuki Okada, J - Honda RVF/RC45

1997: Shinichi Ito, J/Tohru Ukawa, J - Honda RVF/RC45

1998: Shinichi Ito, J/Tohru Ukawa, J - Honda RVF/RC45

1999: Tadayuki Okada, J/Alex Barros, Bra - Honda RVF/RC45

2000: Tohru Ukawa, J/Daijiro Kato, J - Honda VTR1000SPW

2001: Valentino Rossi, I/Colin Edwards, USA - Honda VTR1000SPW

2002: Daijiro Kato, J/Colin Edwards, USA - Honda VTR1000SPW

2003: Yukio Nukumi, J/Manubu Kamada, J - Honda VTR1000SPW

2004: Tohru Ukawa, J/Hitoyasu Izutsu, J - Honda CBR1000RRW

2005: Ryuichi Kiyonari, J/Tohru Ukawa, J - Honda CBR1000RRW

2006: Shinichi Ito, J/Takeshi Tsujimura, J - Honda CBR1000RR

2008: Ryuichi Kiyonari, J/Carlos Checa, E - Honda CBR1000RR

2010: Ryuichi Kiyonari, J/Takumi Takahashi, J - Honda CBR1000RR