Honda Celebrates The 'Double Forty' At Goodwood

In 1965 Honda competed in its first full year of Grand Prix motor racing. Coincidentally this was the year that the official British import subsidiary of the Japanese company, Honda (UK), was created.

So 2005 marks this double milestone. It’s also the eighth consecutive year that Honda has participated in the world’s premiere historic motor sport event - The Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Honda will field its biggest ever entry of no fewer than five Formula 1 cars (including a contemporary B · A · R Honda) plus nine Grand Prix racing motorcycles. And there will be a galaxy of Honda’s racing heroes - past, present and future - to put them through their paces.

As this year’s feature marque and one of the main sponsors of the event, Honda will command the spectacular central display. Positioned on the lawn in front of Goodwood House, this will be used to display the largest and finest collection of Honda racing cars and bikes yet seen outside Japan.

The 2005 event marks the return to Goodwood of Honda’s historic GP cars. This year the company fields two of the V12 racers from the 60s - the rarely seen 1.5 litre RA272 with which the company won its very first car GP, plus the RA300 from the early 3.0 litre era. Also representing the same period is the Brabham-Honda BT18, which won 11 consecutive races during the 1966 F2 season. From the 80s Honda fields the one thousand horsepower 1.5 litre turbocharged Williams Honda FW11s as driven by Piquet and Mansell, as well as the Championship winning McLaren MP4/4. And finally, Honda will demonstrate a contemporary B · A · R Honda, which has evolved into one of the most consistently successful F1 cars of the modern era.

The sextet of cars is joined by nine GP motorcycles - represented by the 50, 125, 250, 350 and 500cc machines, all from the 60s, as well as later V4 500cc two-strokes from the 80s and 90s. And to bring the display right up to date, Honda will include the RC211V four-stroke V5 racer from the current Moto GP era.

The display of victorious machinery arrives in the UK directly from The Honda Collection Hall in Japan. Designed to be a living history, The Collection Hall is a state-of-the-art three-storey museum situated in Motegi dedicated to the company’s rich history of innovation, racing passion and engineering excellence.

This year is Honda’s eighth at Goodwood, the event having become an annual pilgrimage for The Collection Hall team from Japan. The team participates because of the event’s high quality and profile - and because of Honda’s special relationship with the UK.