Report From Japan
REPORT FROM JAPAN
W. B. SWIM
THE FIRST JAPAN Grand Prix was a most successful event, with both undecided championships going to riders for Japanese factories, leaving motorcycle enthusiasts in Japan about as happy as they could wish to be.
It would have been a bit more satisfying if the top contenders in the 50cc and 250cc classes had given the champions a better run for their money, but still people here are happy to see Jim Redman grab his double crown for Honda and Hugh Anderson do the same for Suzuki.
Now eyes around the hot stove league are turning toward next season, which should be a hot one along the Grand Prix trail. Suzuki will be out in force for sure, and everyone here expects Honda to field a factory team again after their impressive showing with new equipment in the Japan G.P. and Yamaha to send a full crew to Europe as well. The feeling now is that no maker has a walk-over cinch in any of the four classes Japanese machines contest, unless it is Honda in the 350cc race. The smaller three classes are definitely up for grabs.
Suzuki has signed double world champ Hugh Anderson of New Zealand to ride in 50cc, 125cc and 250cc races, Ernst Degner of West Germany to ride the same three classes, Frank Perris of England to handle 125cc and 250cc racers and Bert Schneider of Austria to participate in these two events. In addition, Suzuki will field some Japanese riders, and a full crew of mechanics — one per machine and two each for the 250cc Suzuki Fours.
Yamaha signed Phil Read to a contract after the Suzuka race and are fishing for other foreign riders. Fumio Ito, who came within 10 yards of grabbing the 250cc event at the Japan G.P. from world champion Redman, will head Yamaha's Japanese team. Both are expected to ride not only in the 250cc class but in 125cc events as well.
Honda is expected to stick with Redman and Luigi Taveri, both of whom did well this season, but they are weak in back-up members for their squad as neither Japanese act Kunimitsu Takahashi or Tommy Robb did as well this year as expected. There aren't too many top riders available either; in fact, it's hard to list more than Alan Shepherd and John Hartle, who might ride for someone else in larger classes and a Japanese factory in the events for smaller machines.
Included with this column are pictures of new Japanese machines shown at the tenth Tokyo Motor Show which weren't listed in the show report in the last issue. That report should have noted that Tohatsu, as well as Yamaha and Suzuki, showed an automatic oil/gas mixer.
Australian Tim Gibbes, a top international moto-cross rider in England and Europe for the past six years, came to Japan to report the Motor Show and Grand Prix for British publications.
Japan's Motorcyclist magazine president Fumito Sakai and your CYCLE WORLD reporter took him under our wings and showed him a moto-cross race at Tamatech Nov. 3 and held an hour-long discussion with three of the top Japanese riders, Kazuo Kubo and Seiichi Suzuki, who ride Suzukis, and Tohatsu rider Kazuyuki Miyoshi. Later we took him to the factories of Tohatsu, Honda (two), Suzuki, Yamaha and the NGK spark plug plant. He had long and interesting discussions of international moto-cross racing with Suzuki and Yamaha executives and engineers, and your correspondent wouldn't be too surprised to see one or both of these build a real scrambles machine.
Kawasaki Aircraft has shaken up the motorcycle manufacturing end of their business recently, setting it up into a separate division and installing new executives. The word is that the firm now intends to place much more emphasis on motorcycles than in the past, and we may be seeing a lot of news coming out of this plant in the near future. Some 80 dealers were given the news at a Tokyo conference Nov. 4. To date, motorcycle making has been considered a pretty minor sideline by the huge aircraft maker and shipbuilder.
Pacific Basin Trading Company sales manager Henry L. Koepke was in Japan for an extended stay recently, talking business, and he told CYCLE WORLD of some pretty interesting ideas which will be good news for motorcyclists if they pan out. This column hopes to be able to report success shortly.
Official figures just released show that Japanese makers turned out more than 1,000,000 two-wheelers during a six-month period for the first time in history during April-September of 1963. The total of 1,019,670 includes 988,610 motorcycles and 31,060 scooters, and is a jump of 10.6 percent over the same period in 1962. Most of the big spurt was accounted for by the popular 60cc and 90cc class machines, which went into mass production in most factories during this period. In fact, every other category except scooters showed an increase as well when compared to 1962. The 51-125cc classification accounted for 531,980 motorcycles, as compared to 446,220 last year. Other classifications are: Over 251cc, 17,614 (11,768 in 1962); 126-250cc, 61,901 (54,263); Up to 50cc, 377,115 (375,780); and scooters, 31,060 (33,760). The total produced during the same six months in 1962 was 921,791. The increase in the Over 251cc size is attributed mainly to increased exports by Honda, which produced 94 percent of the total. A three-year steady decline in 126-250cc class motorcycles was reversed during this six months, mainly because of increased overseas sales by Yamaha and Honda. The production of 61-90cc size motorcycles was 4.4 times the same period last year, showing clearly the trend of the market.
Along with increased production, exports zoomed to nearly double the AprilSeptember 1962 figures during the same six months this year, 215,503 as compared to 123,272 last year. The United States took 69 percent of the exports for the big machines (over 50cc) with Southeast Asia getting 17 percent. In the smaller jobs, it was 35 percent to Europe, 31 percent to the U.S., 24 percent to the Middle East and 14 percent to Central and South America. Exactly 100,976 of the Over 50cc motorcycles were exported during this six months, under 50cc accounting for 1 12,623 and scooters for 1,904. The United States and Canada bought 32,808 under 50cc Japanese machines, 69,234 larger motorcycles and 590 scooters for a total of 102,632. Europe got 45,947, with 39,958 of them being under 50cc. Other totals were: Southeast Asia, 43,430; Central and South America, 17,391; Africa, 7,172; Middle East, 3,025; and Oceania, 2,906.!
One of the best moto-cross events in Tokyo in months was the one which international moto-crosser Tim Gibbes saw at Tamatech Nov. 3, which was named the 12th Technical Run, for some reason or other, although it was an out-and-out Japanese scramble race. Some 200 riders and machines entered, and Gibbes had a chance to try a Suzuki 250cc and a Honda 250cc during practice time bèfore the races. He commented that both were too heavy, the engines were too wide and the suspension systems left much to be desired for international events. The course, he told CYCLE WORLD, is more similar to American scrambles than European and British moto-cross layouts, which are completely unimproved and feature much rougher terrain than the Tamatech circuit.
Two Suzuki riders and one Tohatsu man had something of a field day for themselves, doing well in the elimination heats and collecting an armload of cups each in the finals. It was a good day for Seiichi Suzuki, Kazuo Kubo and Kazuyuki Miyoshi, and all three later had a lot of questions for Gibbes. One or more of them may be in Europe trying his hand at international moto-crossing before too long. Suzuki, who rides Suzuki machines, won the Open and took 2nd in the 125cc. Tohatsu-mounted Miyoshi won the 125cc, took 2nd in the 250cc, 3rd in the Senior 50cc and 4th in the Open. Kubo, a Suzuki rider, had a 2nd in the Open and 3rd in the 125cc. A 50cc Junior race was run, and Tohatsu riders swept through all top five places. In the Senior 50cc Kinjiro Yajima (Suzuki) won followed by two Tohatsus, another Suzuki and a Tohatsu 5th. The 125cc checkered flag was waved at a Tohatsu, three Suzukis and a Kawasaki, in that order. Three Tohatsus were 1, 2, 3 in the 250cc (a rather surprising development) followed by a Honda and Yamaha. In the Open it was three Suzukis, a Tohatsu and another Suzuki for 5th.
Some 300 entries turned up for one of the last big scrambles races this year, as did more than 5,000 spectators, at the Fifth Tokyo Moto-cross held at Abiko on Nov. 17. It was a clean sweep for Suzuki, for a change, and riders on the firm's racers won all six events. Suzuki-riding Kazuo Kubo was going well and showed the hot end of his tailpipe to all competition in three races, the Open, 250cc and 125cc. Tohatsu rider Kazuyuki had an off day (for him), garnering only 2nd places in the Open, 125cc and 50cc and a 4th in the 90cc and 7th in the 250cc. In the Open, after Kubo's Suzuki and Miyoshi's Tohatsu two Kawasakis copped 3rd and 4th, followed by a Suzuki and Honda. Kenji Tohira on a Suzuki won the 251cc and after him it was Tohatsu, two Hondas, Yamaha, Honda. Suzukis took 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th with a Honda 3rd and Tohatsu 6th in the 250cc. It was Takeo Enomoto on a Suzuki, Tohatsu, Suzuki, two Kawasakis and Honda in the 90cc and Kinjiro Yajima's Suzuki followed by five Tohatsus in the 50cc.
