Following the Second World War, Japan had undergone tremendous change, and someone’s life, like that of Japan itself, was about to be totally transformed. This person was Soichiro Honda, founder of Honda Motor Co. Ltd in 1948.
Considered as the “Edison of Hamamatsu”, Soichiro Honda, was a real genius at making things. With his good expertise, the first bike under the Honda brand was released in 1949 and was called Dream D-Type.
Now we know where Honda’s world-famous slogan ‘The Power of Dreams’ gets its inspiration.
Honda also played a big role in motorsports and they began their racing activities in 1954 when Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) was founded. In 1961, Mike Hailwood won the first Grand Prix ever for Honda in the 125 and 250cc classes. In 1985, Freddie Spencer ‘fast Freddie’, a former world champion motorcycle racer became the youngest racer to win both the 250cc and 500 cc grand prix championships in a single year and he did it riding a Honda, the NSR 250 and NSR 500.
From then on, Honda continued to produce more high-performance motorcycles that took the riding world by storm, and what’s more, Honda’s racing technology always made its way to the bikes that anyone could buy.
