Officially, it's called the "Honda Collection Hall", but everyone knows it as the Motegi museum.
Situated on the sprawling grounds of the Twin Ring Motegi racing circuit complex in the rural Haga District of the Tochigi prefecture a few hours north of Tokyo, the museum houses a number of collections on the upper floors. The second floor for street-legal machinery is split into two wings; one side is motorcycles, the other side autos and power products.
It's the third floor everyone comes for. Half the floor is dedicated to Honda race cars, which includes the iconic models from Honda's long history in Formula One. The other side houses not only Honda's legendary race bikes, but also many of the landmark race bikes of all time. In all, there are 246 motorcycles in the collection, with each holding a unique place in the history of motorcycling.
Second floor lobby of Honda...
Second floor lobby of Honda Collection Hall showing the 50th anniversary display with a 1998 CBR900RR, 1960 RC143, 2005 RS250RW, 2006 RS250RW, and the 2008 RC212V of Dani Pedrosa.
The attention to detail in the restoration work is exquisite-and not only on the older machinery. Dani Pedrosa's 2008 Repsol Honda RC212V is displayed with the canister of compressed air that pressurizes the pneumatic valve system.
This year the museum added a special display to celebrate Honda's 50th anniversary in Grand Prix racing. And, in keeping with the harsh economic times, they had only a modest celebration on the Friday of the Japanese MotoGP weekend.
1959 RC142, using a 124cc...
1959 RC142, using a 124cc air-cooled, four-stroke DOHC four-valve twin making 17.7 horsepower at 13,000 rpm and weighing 191.8 pounds. This was the five-year culmination of Soichiro Honda's declared intention to race in GPs in 1954. Three RC142s took part in the ultra-lightweight (125cc) class on the Isle of Man's shorter 17.36km Clypse Course.
All of current Honda MotoGP riders, including Repsol Honda's Pedrosa and teammate Andrea Dovizioso, attended. But interestingly, only three non-current riders were invited. Naomi Taniguchi, the now 73-year-old who earned Honda's first point in GP racing on the Isle of Man in 1959, looked fit enough to race. He was joined by Kunimitsu Takahashi, Honda's first Japanese-born GP winner on the 250cc RC162 in West Germany in 1961. And the rider who represented Honda from the modern era wasn't five-time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan; it was a champion whose talent burned brightly but briefly.
1965 MV500 powered by a DOHC...
1965 MV500 powered by a DOHC 492.7cc air-cooled, inline four-cylinder making 74 horsepower at 11,000 rpm and weighing 260 pounds. The MV won eight of nine races in 1965 World Championship, and won both the constructor and rider's championship with the legendary Mike Hailwood. This was the final version of the GP racer that won for eight consecutive years; the 1966 models onward were three-cylinders.
2001 Honda NSR500, the last...
2001 Honda NSR500, the last of the breed. Valentino Rossi won Honda's 500th GP on this bike at Suzuka. Rossi won the first of his five consecutive premier class titles with this bike (and the last true "500GP" championship). Claimed 177.5 horsepower and a weight of 288.8 pounds.
In the "Motorcycles From around...
In the "Motorcycles From around the World" exhibit is Barry Sheene's 1977 Suzuki RGA500 XR22 that won six of eight rounds in the 1977 World Championship and took the manufacturers and riders championship two years in a row. Powered by a 494.8cc, two-stroke, square-four-cylinder, rotary disc valve engine making 118.3 horsepower at 11,000 rpm, top speed of 174 mph and weighing 282 pounds.