Honda Trip to Tokyo Motor Show Day 1
Monday 17 October 2005 – Greetings from Twin Ring Motegi Circuit, Japan. Eleven motoring journalists from Malaysia are guests of Honda Malaysia, here in Japan to attend the once-in-two-years Tokyo Motor Show. The Motor Tokyo Motor Show is Japan’s biggest motor show, and attracts visitors from all over the world. This year will be the 39th Tokyo Motor Show, and we are all very excited overthe prospect of going ga-ga over all the models being put up by automotive manufacturers from all over the world.
Not only are the Japanese automotive manufacturers showcasing their new products, the car makers from Europe and the rest of the world are also putting up their latest offerings on show here too.
One of the highlights of this year’s motor show will be the launch of the new Honda Civic; be patient, and keep your eyes on this site, because we will be beaming in the pictures as we take them. Press Day is on Wednesday 19th and Thursday 20th October.
Of course we will also be seeing many new and interesting models from not only the Honda stable but from other makers as well, and we will also be sharing them with you.
Yet another big attraction of the Tokyo Motor Show is another kind of model, the motor show queens. Cars and girls always seem to go well together, and this year will be no xception. If you don’t like cars, you can also keep yourself occupied by viewing all the pictures of the beautiful Tokyo Motor show girls.
Today, we arrived at 6 o’clock in the morning, and traveled about 4 hours by coach to the Twin Ring Motegi Circuit, a famous Japanese race circuit. It’s a Monday, and the track is very quiet. We are staying at the Hotel Twin Ring, which has a splendid view of the race circuit.
As part of the program lined up for us, we visited the Honda Collection Hall, which is in fact a small museum for Honda bikes and cars, situated just next to the Twin Ring Motegi Circuit. Most of the cars and bikes are Hondas, except for a few other vintage race cars and bikes.
I got to see a Civic similar to the model that I used to rally and race way back in the late 1990’s and early 1980’s. I also got to see one of my dream cars, one tht I liked very much, but unfortunately never got to own, and that car is the Honda S1300. The S1300 was way ahead of its time. Made in the 1970’s, it had a 1300 cc engine that was capable of doing fantastic lap times at Batu Tiga circuit. With 4 carburettors, and capable of revving in excess of 10,000 rpm, these little sports cars had needle roller bearings, and twin cams when everybody else had pusk-rods or SOHC at the most.
At that time, I was racing the Datsun 1200, and every time one of these Hondas appeared, it made my life miserable, because there was no way my car could keep up with them. In a straight line, the Honda S1300 would leave me for dead. Fortunately, not all the drivers were that good, and I still managed to cope.
Enjoy the pics!
Editor.
