Honda having decided to make it inaccessible the video of the press conference presenting its 2023 season, here are the main points, with the points which seem most interesting to us concerning motorcycle speed.
We already took note yesterday of the frustration of the president of HRC, Koji watanabe, and therefore the absolute priority given to MotoGP, as well as the message de Marc Marquez.
From the second half of the 2022 season, Honda began to integrate knowledge from its motor racing divisions in the area of aerodynamics into motorcycles and began to see synergistic effects between motorcycle racing experience and automotive, including improved aerodynamic performance. In the future, Honda will also strengthen its competitiveness by leveraging its knowledge in the field of combustion technology in motor racing thanks to the links between the motorcycle and automobile divisions.
Basically, the F1 has already brought aerodynamics to the RC213V, it will soon bring the engine. Evil tongues will nevertheless point out that the last test in Valencia above all showed aerodynamic solutions very strongly inspired by the Ducati and the Aprilia, both innovative in the application of ground effect to the motorcycle.
This connection between the car and motorcycle departments is nevertheless confirmed by shinji aoyama, Director and Senior Managing Director of Honda Motor Co. Ltd., and is now two-way
« In 1959, Honda entered the Isle of Man TT race for the first time, in our company founder Mr. Soichiro Honda's quest to become the world's number one technology company. Since then, Honda has participated in various motorcycle and automobile races around the world. Many generations of Honda engineers and motorsport team members who came before us encountered difficulties time and time again while competing on the world stage, but they overcame those difficulties and racked up victories by overcoming challenges. without giving up. In motorsport, this attitude is essential to developing our people and technologies, and it is the foundation of Honda's motorsport activities. We will continue to strengthen this “spirit of challenge” and evolve our motorsport activities with our fellow drivers.
In the meantime, Honda has another essential mission to pursue in motorsport. This is the realization of carbon neutrality. Honda has already carried out research and development of technologies for carbon neutrality while proactively exploiting the motorsport field. From now on, we will strengthen our initiatives to put these technologies into practice in our racing activities. Additionally, starting with motorcycles, we will explore the possibilities of introducing electrified vehicles into the real-world races we participate in.
Additionally, this year, in an effort to become an even stronger running brand, we established a new structure in which Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) assumes responsibility for automobile racing activities in addition to its existing functions for motorcycle racing activities. As a result of this change, we began to see positive effects from the mutual collaboration of technologies and know-how accumulated by Honda in the respective fields of motorcycle and motor racing. »
Finally, the 2023 Honda teams have been confirmed and, in this regard, the only (very small) surprise is the return of the Tokyo giant to Supersport, with the MIE team of Midori Moriwaki, thus confirming the rumors that had been circulating for several days. Tarran Mackenzie et Adam Norrodin will be the pilots of the CBR600RR and will complete the Japanese structure which also aligns Eric Granado et Hafiz Syahrin in Superbike.
Here is the summary of the Honda teams lined up on the speed circuit: the stars indicate a team, a motorcycle or a factory contract...
