► CAR brings together the greatest Hondas
► The Cub is the best-selling Honda…
► …but which thing is the best the brand has ever made?
Sixty-five years ago the Honda Motor Co launched a machine that has played a more significant role in the lives of human beings than any motor vehicle before or since. Launched in 1958 and produced ever since by Honda and under licence by other companies, total sales of the C100 ‘Cub’ have passed 120 million.
Many companies might have been content to stick with making simple utilitarian vehicles but Honda was founded by a man with limitless imagination. Soichiro Honda was a firm believer in proving engineering on the race track and within ten years of launching the Cub he had shown the world what his company’s engineers were capable of both in two- and four-wheel racing. And in particular what they could do with the four-stroke reciprocating piston engine. Jewel-like motorcycle engines, revving reliably to unbelievably high limits, raced during the 1960s and provided Honda with the knowledge to produce equally incredible powerplants for the road.
Honda has a following quite unlike other companies. There is a cult aspect, particularly for individual models like the Gold Wing touring bike and S2000 roadster, but also a deep respect for the engineering behind its vehicles. The late LJK Setright, although he appreciated the work of Ferrari, Porsche and others, had a very particular respect and admiration for Honda and its engineering, and owned many of its products both two and four-wheeled.
To celebrate both the Cub’s birthday and the company that created it, we have brought together a diverse selection of Hondas that perfectly illustrate the technical brilliance shown by the company’s engineers over the decades. What machines to include? It could have provided months of pub debate, especially when it comes to choosing which motorcycles should be included. The original CB750 of 1969 that nearly finished off the British motorcycle industry or the amazing 1978 six-cylinder CBX1000? Of course we must have a Cub, but the bike that we feels encapsulates Honda’s philosophy and technical brilliance is the 2015 RC213V-S. What a machine. It is as close as you can get to a road legal Moto GP racer. Honda boasts that it contains 80 per cent of the parts contained in the grand prix bike. It has steel valve springs versus the race bike’s pneumatic activation and it doesn’t have carbon brakes and the steering geometry is slightly different but that’s about it. It cost £180,000 new and is probably worth more than that now especially as this bike, owned by Honda, is immaculate with very low mileage.
Our choice of four-wheeled Hondas is truly diverse, from the ‘60s S800 with its motorcycle-inspired high revving four-cylinder engine to the NSX sports car, launched in 1989 to show the world that a mid-engined exotic need not be difficult to live with or need a £5,000 clutch replacement every two years.
The roads where we are playing today are currently dry and that makes the running order obvious: best ride the superbike before any showers come. Honda offered a Sports Kit for the RC213V-S that included a revised ECU, a front ram duct, revised exhaust, different spark plugs and a quickshifter. A small increase in horsepower? No.
By modern superbike standards 160bhp is a merely average power output but this bike is the size of a 400 and weighs only 170kg. It is savagely fast and only the first two gears are needed to keep up with an enthusiastically driven Civic Type R on quick flowing country roads and to point me towards a speed awareness course. Truth is I’m past it for riding superbikes fast on the public road. My imagination is better than it used to be, my reactions not so. Still, even with a wide yellow stripe hidden underneath my leathers I can appreciate the magnificence of this machine. It’s lightness, low centre of gravity and ride quality provided by its top spec Ohlins suspension. And then there’s the V4 engine with its gear-driven camshafts, a configuration Honda made its own and used to great effect on the RC30 and RC45 superbikes.
Time for a change of pace where we can be on the lookout for examples of ‘Hondaness’, the characteristics or details that show Honda’s engineering philosophy. Features that rival manufacturers would be hard pressed to copy. There’s no better example than the bijou S800. Successor to the earlier S500 and S600, the S800 was launched in 1967 and was sold as a roadster and a coupe with 1,548 finding homes in the UK from that date until 1970. A swept volume of 791cc, double overhead camshafts and four individual constant vacuum Keihin carburettors. Maximum power of 70bhp at 8,000rpm. That’s not the redline though, that’s another 500rpm across the dial. This is Honda’s own car, recently restored at enormous cost and very precious so we won’t be revving the clappers off it.
For size the S800 reminds me of Suzuki’s Cappucino and its weight of 771kg is not much different to the ‘cino, either. What a joy to drive such a small car on clear roads. We’ve been warned that the brakes aren’t great but if you’re used to ‘60s cars they’re not too bad. The gearbox is a gem, a four-speed with an extremely short-throw gear lever. This is good because you do a lot of gear changing in this car, keeping the little motor on the boil. What’s particularly impressive, apart from the smoothness of the engine, is how clean the carburetion is. I suspect those carbs are from Honda’s 450cc Black Bomber twin which was built around the same time. Imagine what you’d have to do to an A-Series engine to get it to rev to 8,500rpm and how long it would last if you did so.
Gordon Murray owns an S800 as part of his collection that celebrates light weight. A man of taste is Gordon.
We don’t have an S2000 here today, which is the obvious successor to the S800 roadster, but we do have an Integra Type R. High revving engine, fantastic gearchange and astonishingly good to drive. Our stunning red example is a DC2 which is the only version officially imported into the UK and one of only 500 that were.
The 1.8-litre four-cylinder VTEC-equipped engine produces 187bhp and revs to a redline set at 8,700rpm. That peak horsepower arrives at 8,000rpm and peak torque 700rpm before that. You really do need to rev the engine and that’s what makes it so much fun to drive. The kerb weight is only 1,125kg thanks to a thinner windscreen and less sound deadening than the regular car and also lightweight alloys.
I’d put the Integra at the podium end of the list of best handling front-wheel drive cars in history along with the Renault Clio 182 Trophy and the Stevens-penned Lotus Elan. Not just best handling in terms of outright grip, but for driving pleasure. The steering is quick and has lots of feel and picks up messages from the road via relatively narrow tyres.
Stepping from the Integra Type R into the Civic Type R is thought provoking. It’s a FL5, the current model and with the preceding FK8 version, the first Type Rs to use turbocharged engines. Make no mistake, the 2.0-litre 325bhp engine is very impressive but adding forced induction removes a key element of Hondaness. It is an engine that could have come from any manufacturer.
The current Civic Type R is a formidable machine. No doubt it holds a Nürburgring lap record but is many years since I have paid any attention to manufacturer willy waving at the ‘Ring. What matters is that the Type R is not only very quick around a circuit, but also civilised on the road. With more power than the Integra R and more grip it would be faster point to point, but no more enjoyable. The older car’s narrower tyres give a more immediate sensation and the revviness of its engine raises the hairs on your neck. The Integra certainly beats the Civic for Hondaness.
Our yellow 1975 Civic has a fairly staid engine compared to the S800 and Integra Type R, no upper ceiling rev limits for this simple 1,169cc single overhead cam engine which produces a modest 50bhp at 5,500rpm. While the Civic’s engine doesn’t perform heroics or have any technical marvels, it is nevertheless smooth and quiet. More refined for sure than would be the equivalent Ford crossflow pushrod engine fitted to a rival Escort or later, Fiesta. The Civic was also a car that introduced many customers to the concept of an engine that wasn’t only reliable, but that wouldn’t need a decoke or a rebore after a few years of ownership.
Like the Civic, also a member of Honda’s heritage collection is this white CRX Mk1. This is the one with a 1.6-litre 16v engine (when sixteen valves were worth a badge and shouting about) and just under 140bhp. A good power output for this displacement in the mid 1980s. It’s a compact, stylish coupe with character but it’s a shame that we don’t have a Mk2 instead. When I was at Car in the late ‘80s we had a long-term test CRX and that one had a VTEC engine; the first that any of us had experienced. What a pocket rocket that was, so different in character to contemporary 205 GTIs, Golf GTIs and the Renault 5 GT Turbo.
But what of our Honda Cub? What memories. A schoolfriend’s family-owned Rye’s of Fulham, a well-known Honda bike dealership and there was always plenty of bikes at his house to play with including a Honda 50 with its leg shields removed. I would have been one of many teenagers whose introduction to powered two wheelers was via a Honda 50 field bike. Then there was the C90 that I owned. Bought for £40 and ridden around London when I was a motorcycle courier seconded to Thomas Cook’s visa department. With only short journeys between the office in the Barbican and embassies the C90 was perfect. I seem to remember it cost less than two quid to fill up and that lasted more than a week.
Cub enthusiast Chris Crawford’s highly original C100 Cub is the first I’ve ridden since that C90 almost 40 years ago. You don’t forget though. The rocker gear lever, prod the back end for first and then a double press up front to pass through neutral into second. There’s no rev counter of course but helpfully the word ‘Top’ is inscribed on the speedometer just before 30mph at which you prod again for third gear. It is virtually impossible to blow up one of these engines but it sounds a bit frenetic over 30mph so I don’t push it. What wonderfully relaxed motoring it is to thrum along on a Cub. I feel like I’m on holiday. The Cub has a centrifugal clutch but it’s quite an art to set the tickover so that it’s not so fast that the bike tries to go off without you but high enough for the engine not to stall. Kickstarting the engine is easy but Honda also sold a model called the C102 which had electric start. Part of Honda’s philosophy to bring motorcycling to everyone, regardless of sex or age.
The NSX that we have here is a series two. Obvious from the lack of pop-up headlamps. It also has a 3.2-litre engine whereas the original car had a 3.0-litre motor. I’ve loved the NSX from day one and since it was launched in 1989 have never missed an opportunity to drive one. And always, when getting in one after a break, I am surprised at how small it feels. The view over the bonnet is superb with flat tops to the wings that make the car very easy to place on the road, The gen 1 car had a very modest 270bhp which seemed adequate at the time, the 3.2-litre motor has 290bhp. The rather ordinary trim inside the NSX was criticised when the car was launched but Honda intended that its sports car be used everyday so that proven and rugged cabin furniture was used. Besides, the aluminium chassis and bodywork was very novel at the time.
Quite a few journalists crashed or spun NSXs in the day and several of them were pretty tasty drivers. I think people thought that they couldn’t come unstuck in a Honda and forgot that it is still a mid-engined car. Also, the high revving engine and lightness of the car encourage exuberant driving. Today the NSX feels as surefooted, light and very manageable. I’d forgotten how special this VTEC engine is and how good it sounds when revved hard. Its power output looks ludicrously lame compared to the Civic Type R let alone a modern supercar like a McLaren 720S, but the car is every bit as pleasurable to drive and more rewarding.
So which is the greatest Honda here? The Integra Type R is a wonderful car and is one of the best cars the company has made to show off its prowess at building great and exciting engines. But it’s the NSX that takes the laurels. It’s the first car that Honda put as much effort, thought and ingenuity into the chassis as it had the engine. It also has the greatest amount of Hondaness of all the cars here because it encapsulates in a sports car the company’s philosophy that a Honda must be easy to operate and live with. The Honda Fireblade, a multiple race winner, is the easiest one-litre superbike to ride and live with on the public road.
But we finish a remarkable day with a final thought on the Cub. Chris Crawford reports that his ’64 Cub will happily do 120 miles on a gallon of petrol, proving that the machine that motorised millions is still relevant today as affordable, economical and traffic-busting transport.
The great Hondas that couldn’t be here
1 The HondaJet
First thing that strikes you about the HondaJet is its engines. The main reason for mounting them on the wings is that it removes the need for a complex mounting structure that would take up space in the fuselage that instead is used for luggage storage.
The HondaJet is certified for single pilot operation with the idea that the owner will actually fly the aircraft. Which means that it needs to be uncomplicated to operate. The starting procedure (press a button labelled START for each engine) is automatic with the engines warming themselves up and settling down to an idle that you can’t even hear with noise-cancelling headsets in place. There are no bulky manuals or multipage lists; you simply call up a check list on the screen and scroll through it.
The HondaJet is a real hot rod with a cruising speed of 420kts and a maximum climb rate of 4,000ft per minute. The ceiling is 43,000ft which puts it above airliners and also most weather. When I flew it, the controls were light and responsive. It is, without pushing the point too hard, an NSX for the skies. CG
2 The Mean Mower
116.575mph. On a mower. That was the figure Honda achieved for a Guinness World Record, on a machine that could actually cut grass. And me in the driver’s seat.
I’d been on a Civic diesel launch when an idle chat with the PR, sans alcohol, cooked up the idea for building a daft mower. Honda duly squirrelled some budget away, spoke to Team Dynamics (then Honda’s BTCC outfit) and a few months later we’d got a Honda HF2620 ride-on mower but now with a Honda VTR1000 engine in it.
Driving it required faith and gentle inputs – with the power-to-weight ratio of a dragster and the wheelbase of a housefly, it wasn’t overly stable.
Daft and off-the-wall – Honda-ness distilled.
By Piers Ward
3 ASIMO
Maybe it was the cute face. Perhaps it was the humanoid machine’s diminutive stance. Whatever the reason, I was entirely unprepared for my meeting with ASIMO, the public face of Honda’s hugely ambitious (and expensive) robotics programme. At a deliberately modest 4ft 3in, ASIMO should not have been unnerving. Crisply rendered in light grey plastic and with the facial expression of a stoned kitten, it’s as far removed from the horrors of dystopian sci-fi as it’s possible to imagine. But unnerving ASIMO was. As soon as he loped across said stage at almost 4mph and fired a football into a hastily erected goal at the other end, I freaked out.
By Ben Miller
4 The TT and the Honda RC166 (CG)
In 1959 the Honda team arrived in the Isle of Man for the annual TT races. With them they brought four Japanese riders, an American, their own doctor and cook, plus supplies of rice and bean paste.
Two years later, Honda won its first TT race when the legendary Mike Hailwood ripped across the line. In 1964 it produced a 250 with six cylinders to tackle Yamaha’s two-stroke machines. The RC166 was an incredible machine that produced 65bhp at 18,000rpm. That’s a mind-bending 260bhp per litre. Pre-computers, pre-CAD, the RC166’s crankshaft was made from 13 pieces and was so delicate it could be bent by hand. Some of the oilways in the engine were less than a half a millimetre wide.
By Colin Goodwin
5 Stirling’s Acty
It’s a little-known fact, but Sir Stirling Moss had a relationship with Honda that lasted over 20 years. It didn’t involve screaming VTECs, Formula 1 or even a car, instead it’s this Honda Acty and its predecessor. Apparently, Moss struck up a relationship with Honda in the late 80s/early 90s and arranged an extended loan of a 2nd generation Acty for his property business. Such was Moss’s love for the Acty, he requested a third-generation model on its announcement, Honda UK specially importing this one before loaning it to the family for another decade. One wonders how hard Sir Stirling was able to hustle this 656cc contraption, although its size makes it perfect for London.
By Alan Taylor-Jones