| Visit to the Honda Collection Patrick Hampson |
| Ottawa Section CVMG |
The Honda Collection (pictures to be added, having trouble with the format)
I was just reading the April 2005 issue of the CVMG magazine, and a letter from Pete Gagan referred to the re-
opening of the Guggenheim “Art of the Motorcycle” exhibit in Memphis. This inspired me to share, with CVMG
members, my recent experience visiting a fantastic exhibition of motorcycles, cars, and stationary motors.
I had to go to Tokyo, Japan on business during the month of February. While this may seem like a very exciting
opportunity, the fact that I would be away for a month was a real drag, especially as it would delay the engine
rebuild of my 1966 Triumph Trophy TR6, which had died 50 miles from home, when out on a run with Brian Given.
The assignment in Tokyo was pretty intensive, but I managed to steal some time to have a bit of a look around. I
checked the web for information on the Japan Classic Bike scene. The only thing I could find was under Honda,
and it mentioned that they have a motorcycle and car collection at the “Twin Ring” race circuit at Motegi.
I had no idea where Motegi was, and no one in the office had heard of it either. Anyway, on the first free
Saturday, I went to Tokyo station and asked at information on how I could get to Motegi. The assistant was
fantastic; she diligently did the research on her computer, and came up with a 3-train inventory for me to follow.
The cost of the tickets would be 5790Yen (about $66 Canadian). I then set of on my adventure. The first train I
caught was a “Shinkansen” bullet train that is supposed to reach speeds of 186 mph. I could not tell, as the ride
was so smooth and quite. I stayed on this train for two stops, the ride lasting about 35 minutes. The next train was
a local commuter train, going through small towns, taking about 25 minutes, until I reached Shinidate. There, I
had to change lines to the Mo-oka line. The train was a single carriage diesel, with the driver collecting fares. It
stopped at every village and hamlet, and the ride took 1 hour, but I was finally in Motegi.
In Motegi, there was a bus waiting, and I pointed to my paper that showed the Twin Rings name, but the driver
only shook his head, and pointed towards the road I should take. I had walked about 2 km, and it had started to
rain, when I saw a sign saying Twin Ring 5 Km. By this time it was after 1.00 PM and I knew the collection closed
at 4.30 PM in February. I had been walking a bit further, when a bus, driven by the driver I had been
“communicating” with, waved to me. He stopped a little further up the road, and I dashed on the bus. He pointed
to indicate a bus was coming behind that I could take. I then got off his bus and jumped on the following bus,
pointed to my paper, and the driver smiled and nodded. This bus took me close to the north entrance to Twin
Ring circuit; the Honda Collection is just inside the south entrance. I went up to the gate, luckily, it was not a race
day, and there was no entry charge. I walked for about a mile and a half, in the rain, and arrived at the Honda
Collection Hall just before 2.00 PM, where I paid 100Yen to deposit my soaked ski jacket in a locker.
The Honda Collection is a large building with three floors, with two wings on each floor, and stairs in the middle. It
opened in 1998 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Honda Corporation. They have about 350 exhibits
in total, including 248 bikes. While the majority of vehicles are Honda, there are many other marques on display.
The Honda Collection Building at Twin Rings, Motegi
On the ground floor, there is special exhibits (when I was there 1930s racing cars), reading room, and vehicles to
sit on/in (for me, a fully loaded Goldwing, a CBR Fireblade street racer, Honda Cub, and a “naked” scooter (I
forget the model name)
There is also a restoration shop and demonstration area. All the vehicles in the collection are operational and
started from time to time. The restoration shop looked clean and tidy, with a couple of bikes, and two cars under
restoration. Unfortunately as it was a Saturday, no one was working.
The second floor, dedicated to vehicle history, with cars, stationary engines, and marine engines in one wing,
and bikes in the other wing. The third floor shows the history of racing vehicles, with cars in one wing and bikes in
the other. As time was very limited, I spent 80% of my available time in the two bike sections.
General view of Second Floor Historic Bike Display
The second floor was most interesting staring of with the replica 1885 Daimler wooden framed bike, to Honda first
bike from 1946, using war surplus stationary engines fastened to ordinary bicycles, to his first “dream. This
section also acknowledged, what many people believe, that Honda, and other Japanese manufacturers copied
British and European bikes (Is Britain part of Europe!).
Honda’s first bike (1946) using war surplus stationary engine
The 1956 Monarch has an almost carbon copy of a Velocette engine. The rest of the bike resembles a Norton.
Honda, purchased European bikes, stripped them down and incorporated the best design points. Other bikes
resembled BSAs, Triumphs, and Italian bikes.
More bikes
Some bikes of special interest for me were the:
BROUGH SUPERIOR SS100 PEDINE
BSA K1 BEAGLE
Honda CUB F
Honda Valkyrie Rune (SUV of bikes)
MONARCH SP-1
NSU SUPER MAX
TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE T120R
VINCENT H·R·D GREY FLASH
VELOCETTE KTT MARK I
YAMAHA 125 YA-1 (Yamaha version of DKW 125 / BSA Bantam)
Despite the fact that all the displayed bikes were operational, there was not a drop of oil on the carpet.
The third floor dedicated to racing was also very interesting, except that most of the racetrack bikes from the
1970's onwards tended to look the same with their fairings.
What was fascinating was the speed of Honda's race development. They entered their fist GP in 1954 with little
more than a touring bike with the lighting removed and the handlebars turned down. Honda did the usual thing
and purchased a state of the art Mondial 125 GP and reversed engineered it, and improved it. By 1959, Honda
was winning races.
Things did not always go well for Honda in the speed department. They had a Honda “Streamliner” that copied
the earlier Triumph land speed record breaker (despite FIM objections) of Bonneville flats fame. The Honda,
circa 1972, was equipped with two CB750 engines and shipped to Utah. Despite their best efforts, they were
plagued with problems and mishaps and did not break the record. I felt it was good they also showed their
“failures”.
Also of great personal interest, were the Honda 4 and 6 cylinder bikes of the 60's. I saw Mike Hailwood race one
to great success on Easter Monday at Oulton Park in 1967. These bikes had “oblong” cylinders (more like
rectangles with rounded corners). Each cylinder had two con-rods, two spark plugs, and four valves.
Part of the 3rd floor racing display
Also of interest was how the 50s and 125s used bicycle like caliper brakes, with blocks rubbing against the hubs.
Some racing bikes of note for me were:
AJS 7R3A
Honda CB750 RACER
Honda CR72 DREAM RACING
Honda R125 (1954)
Honda RC112
Honda RC166
MASERATI 48 IL ROSPO
MATCHLESS G45
NORTON CS1
NORTON MANX 30M
NSU SPORT MAX
VELOCETTE KTT MARK I
VINCENT H·R·D GREY FLASH
It was soon 4.30 p.m. and the collection closed. The staff was very nice and ordered me a taxi to Motegi, where I
had a delicious bowl of Udon soup, and retraced my journey back to Tokyo on the three trains.
While working in Tokyo, I noticed that Honda did not just copy the “classics”. They copied the Ariel 3! Today on
the streets of Tokyo there are two types of bike called the Honda Gyro, one has a flat back store are of approx 2
square feet. The other called the “Gyro Canopy” has a roof with windshield wiper, and a storage cabinet behind
the driver seat. Unlike the Ariel 3, I did not hear of any tipping up, or see any broken down.
I saw a few other Japanese sites while on assignment, such as Sumo Wrestling, Japanese Gardens (not many
Cherry Blossoms in February), and ancient homes and temple, but these are not stories for a CVMG magazine.
I strongly recommend that anyone who gets the chance to go to Japan to visit the Honda Collection. Give yourself
more time than I had and you will have a very interesting day.
For information on the Honda Collection go to:
http://world.honda.com/collection-hall/info/index.html
To see the complete listing of exhibits go to:
http://world.honda.com/collection-hall/search/index.html
Patrick Hampson
.
I was just reading the April 2005 issue of the CVMG magazine, and a letter from Pete Gagan referred to the re-
opening of the Guggenheim “Art of the Motorcycle” exhibit in Memphis. This inspired me to share, with CVMG
members, my recent experience visiting a fantastic exhibition of motorcycles, cars, and stationary motors.
I had to go to Tokyo, Japan on business during the month of February. While this may seem like a very exciting
opportunity, the fact that I would be away for a month was a real drag, especially as it would delay the engine
rebuild of my 1966 Triumph Trophy TR6, which had died 50 miles from home, when out on a run with Brian Given.
The assignment in Tokyo was pretty intensive, but I managed to steal some time to have a bit of a look around. I
checked the web for information on the Japan Classic Bike scene. The only thing I could find was under Honda,
and it mentioned that they have a motorcycle and car collection at the “Twin Ring” race circuit at Motegi.
I had no idea where Motegi was, and no one in the office had heard of it either. Anyway, on the first free
Saturday, I went to Tokyo station and asked at information on how I could get to Motegi. The assistant was
fantastic; she diligently did the research on her computer, and came up with a 3-train inventory for me to follow.
The cost of the tickets would be 5790Yen (about $66 Canadian). I then set of on my adventure. The first train I
caught was a “Shinkansen” bullet train that is supposed to reach speeds of 186 mph. I could not tell, as the ride
was so smooth and quite. I stayed on this train for two stops, the ride lasting about 35 minutes. The next train was
a local commuter train, going through small towns, taking about 25 minutes, until I reached Shinidate. There, I
had to change lines to the Mo-oka line. The train was a single carriage diesel, with the driver collecting fares. It
stopped at every village and hamlet, and the ride took 1 hour, but I was finally in Motegi.
In Motegi, there was a bus waiting, and I pointed to my paper that showed the Twin Rings name, but the driver
only shook his head, and pointed towards the road I should take. I had walked about 2 km, and it had started to
rain, when I saw a sign saying Twin Ring 5 Km. By this time it was after 1.00 PM and I knew the collection closed
at 4.30 PM in February. I had been walking a bit further, when a bus, driven by the driver I had been
“communicating” with, waved to me. He stopped a little further up the road, and I dashed on the bus. He pointed
to indicate a bus was coming behind that I could take. I then got off his bus and jumped on the following bus,
pointed to my paper, and the driver smiled and nodded. This bus took me close to the north entrance to Twin
Ring circuit; the Honda Collection is just inside the south entrance. I went up to the gate, luckily, it was not a race
day, and there was no entry charge. I walked for about a mile and a half, in the rain, and arrived at the Honda
Collection Hall just before 2.00 PM, where I paid 100Yen to deposit my soaked ski jacket in a locker.
The Honda Collection is a large building with three floors, with two wings on each floor, and stairs in the middle. It
opened in 1998 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Honda Corporation. They have about 350 exhibits
in total, including 248 bikes. While the majority of vehicles are Honda, there are many other marques on display.
The Honda Collection Building at Twin Rings, Motegi
On the ground floor, there is special exhibits (when I was there 1930s racing cars), reading room, and vehicles to
sit on/in (for me, a fully loaded Goldwing, a CBR Fireblade street racer, Honda Cub, and a “naked” scooter (I
forget the model name)
There is also a restoration shop and demonstration area. All the vehicles in the collection are operational and
started from time to time. The restoration shop looked clean and tidy, with a couple of bikes, and two cars under
restoration. Unfortunately as it was a Saturday, no one was working.
The second floor, dedicated to vehicle history, with cars, stationary engines, and marine engines in one wing,
and bikes in the other wing. The third floor shows the history of racing vehicles, with cars in one wing and bikes in
the other. As time was very limited, I spent 80% of my available time in the two bike sections.
General view of Second Floor Historic Bike Display
The second floor was most interesting staring of with the replica 1885 Daimler wooden framed bike, to Honda first
bike from 1946, using war surplus stationary engines fastened to ordinary bicycles, to his first “dream. This
section also acknowledged, what many people believe, that Honda, and other Japanese manufacturers copied
British and European bikes (Is Britain part of Europe!).
Honda’s first bike (1946) using war surplus stationary engine
The 1956 Monarch has an almost carbon copy of a Velocette engine. The rest of the bike resembles a Norton.
Honda, purchased European bikes, stripped them down and incorporated the best design points. Other bikes
resembled BSAs, Triumphs, and Italian bikes.
More bikes
Some bikes of special interest for me were the:
BROUGH SUPERIOR SS100 PEDINE
BSA K1 BEAGLE
Honda CUB F
Honda Valkyrie Rune (SUV of bikes)
MONARCH SP-1
NSU SUPER MAX
TRIUMPH BONNEVILLE T120R
VINCENT H·R·D GREY FLASH
VELOCETTE KTT MARK I
YAMAHA 125 YA-1 (Yamaha version of DKW 125 / BSA Bantam)
Despite the fact that all the displayed bikes were operational, there was not a drop of oil on the carpet.
The third floor dedicated to racing was also very interesting, except that most of the racetrack bikes from the
1970's onwards tended to look the same with their fairings.
What was fascinating was the speed of Honda's race development. They entered their fist GP in 1954 with little
more than a touring bike with the lighting removed and the handlebars turned down. Honda did the usual thing
and purchased a state of the art Mondial 125 GP and reversed engineered it, and improved it. By 1959, Honda
was winning races.
Things did not always go well for Honda in the speed department. They had a Honda “Streamliner” that copied
the earlier Triumph land speed record breaker (despite FIM objections) of Bonneville flats fame. The Honda,
circa 1972, was equipped with two CB750 engines and shipped to Utah. Despite their best efforts, they were
plagued with problems and mishaps and did not break the record. I felt it was good they also showed their
“failures”.
Also of great personal interest, were the Honda 4 and 6 cylinder bikes of the 60's. I saw Mike Hailwood race one
to great success on Easter Monday at Oulton Park in 1967. These bikes had “oblong” cylinders (more like
rectangles with rounded corners). Each cylinder had two con-rods, two spark plugs, and four valves.
Part of the 3rd floor racing display
Also of interest was how the 50s and 125s used bicycle like caliper brakes, with blocks rubbing against the hubs.
Some racing bikes of note for me were:
AJS 7R3A
Honda CB750 RACER
Honda CR72 DREAM RACING
Honda R125 (1954)
Honda RC112
Honda RC166
MASERATI 48 IL ROSPO
MATCHLESS G45
NORTON CS1
NORTON MANX 30M
NSU SPORT MAX
VELOCETTE KTT MARK I
VINCENT H·R·D GREY FLASH
It was soon 4.30 p.m. and the collection closed. The staff was very nice and ordered me a taxi to Motegi, where I
had a delicious bowl of Udon soup, and retraced my journey back to Tokyo on the three trains.
While working in Tokyo, I noticed that Honda did not just copy the “classics”. They copied the Ariel 3! Today on
the streets of Tokyo there are two types of bike called the Honda Gyro, one has a flat back store are of approx 2
square feet. The other called the “Gyro Canopy” has a roof with windshield wiper, and a storage cabinet behind
the driver seat. Unlike the Ariel 3, I did not hear of any tipping up, or see any broken down.
I saw a few other Japanese sites while on assignment, such as Sumo Wrestling, Japanese Gardens (not many
Cherry Blossoms in February), and ancient homes and temple, but these are not stories for a CVMG magazine.
I strongly recommend that anyone who gets the chance to go to Japan to visit the Honda Collection. Give yourself
more time than I had and you will have a very interesting day.
For information on the Honda Collection go to:
http://world.honda.com/collection-hall/info/index.html
To see the complete listing of exhibits go to:
http://world.honda.com/collection-hall/search/index.html
Patrick Hampson
.
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