Report From Japan

REPORT FROM JAPAN

JACK YAMAGUCHI

HOT RACE ON HOT DAY

The 10-hr. endurance race at Suzuka is a summer festival of motorcycle sport annually held by the Motorcycling Federation of Japan (MFJ). As one of the most important sport events organized by MFJ, it was entered by most top class riders which in turn attracted some 12,000 enthusiastic spectators.

The favored pair M. Sumiya and T. Hishiki again rode a Honda 750 Four, but were not able to claim a win for the third consecutive year. At the start, H. Kanaya, riding a 350-cc Yamaha, made a clear getaway, but was closely followed by a couple of other Yamaha riders and Sumiya's Honda. Kanaya and co-rider Kawasaki upheld their lead for the first half of the race. In the meantime, Sumiya's Honda 750 climbed to 2nd place ahead of T. Owaki's 350-cc Yamaha.

When the race was just half over, Sumiya's Honda made a pit stop for oiling trouble, and the leading Yamaha also had to stop to adjust the clutch. Owaki's Yamaha, which had been lying 3rd, took over the lead for the first time.

From then on, Owaki and his corider I. Takai lost their lead to none, though Kanaya's Yamaha made desperate efforts to close the gap after restarting.

So, Owaki and Takai on a 250-cc Yamaha finished 1st at a record time of 10 hr., 46 sec., covering a total of 209 laps. Second place was taken by the pair of Suzuki and Kakutani on a Honda 500-cc Four.

"NOT SO SERIOUS"

President Nixon's recent announcement of a 10 percent surcharge on goods imported to the U.S. has been a big shock to the Japanese industry as a whole. But, much to our consolation, motorcycle makers here are upholding the rather optimistic view that such a shock will be much less serious, so far as the Japanese motorcycle industry is concerned, as compared with other industries in Japan.

A 10 percent surcharge means a net increase of four percent, as a six percent tariff had already been the policy for Japanese motorcycles imported to the United States so far.

It has been announced that all four of the Japanese makers will add this increase to retail prices in the U.S., thus reflecting a firm confidence in their own products, which are now very competitive on an international level. Further more, a four percent increase in FOB price is virtually equivalent to only a two percent increase in retail price.

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RAKU RAKU DRAWING CONTEST

Yamaha has recently been heavily promoting the Raku Raku Campaign (easy ride campaign) all over this country. The campaign is designed to publicize the merits of the newly marketed V series by giving a free drawing contest for children.

Children by nature like everything speedy and eye-catching, and compact, brisk motorcycles seem to attract their particular interest. By sponsoring the contest, Yamaha hoped to accentuate the "safe" and "easy handling" qualities of the V models through the viewpoint of children. Children's dreams and fan tasies of motorcycles so often prove amazingly rich.

Entries from every part of Japan came to some 300,000, which surprised and delighted the famous artists and television talents who served as judges. Those children whose works were highly praised were awarded deluxe prizes in cluding Yamaha stereos.

GT750 FOR DAYTONA

Suzuki's mighty GT750 Three hit the Japanese market in September with a price comparable to that of the Honda CB750 Four. The final production ver sion has been changed slightly from the prototype. Its suspension geometry has been modified to further improve low speed maneuverability, and the engine mounts have been altered to reduce low-rpm vibrations (the engine is rubber mounted to the frame). Obviously, their aim is to make this superbike a true Gran Turismo on two wheels.

Several selected journalists were of fered rides on the GT750 before its official release date in Tokyo, and I have received several contradictory re ports from my fellow testers. One from the Japanese monthly, Auto-By, said the ride was stiffer than the Honda CB750. Another reported that the Suzu ki rode like a Rolls. I have a feeling that those crafty development men were using them as guinea pigs.

Incidentally, Suzuki officially con firms its intention to enter a team of GT75Os in the 1972 Daytona 200, and the Ham amatsu competition depart ment that has given life to many a grand prix winner is already in high gear tuning this potent machine. Suzuki will also continue its international moto cross activities.

Will Honda, the 1970 Daytona win ner, meet Suzuki in sunny Florida? Not likely. How about Kawasaki with its brand new 750 two-stroke Three, which puts out a whopping 75 bhp? And will Yamaha stand still?

HONDA TWO-STROKE?

We weren't looking. Most of the press corps were at Suzuka attending a car race meeting. Honda's amiable press chief and his friendly assistant were there, greeting every visitor. A Honda 360-cc single seat racing car won its class, and we all had a day's fun. But a few days later, we were delivered a jolt. A Honda-built two-stroke single-cylin der motocrosser was said to have raced in a minor meeting! As there were no professional journalists there to see and analyze this interesting machine, the report is still unconfirmed. And hurried inquiries to an R&D director as well as to the Honda Press Office produced grins that neither confirmed nor denied the story.

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A year ago, I would have dismissed a Honda two-stroke motocrosser as a bad joke, but Honda today is not Honda a year ago. The matured and reorganized Honda no longer displays open contempt for the two-stroke school. In fact, Honda has agreed to finance a twostroke project by a private inventor, who is reported to have found a way to "purify" the exhaust. The basic concept of this Ohnishi "clean" engine has something in common with Honda's own compound vortex combustion chamber in which the incoming charge is stratified and burned progressively, thereby controlling undesirable pollutants.

A well-informed observer speculated that this mysterious motocrosser might have been the doings of a band of enthusiasts called "Blue Helmets." They are an active group comprised of men transferred to a Honda subsidiary which assists private drivers/riders, and retired Honda factory testers, who actively participate in sports and competition. If anyone can get an experimental factory machine, a Blue Helmeter is most likely, with full blessings from R&D.

What's more, if you trace back Honda history, you will discover that they did, at one time, build a couple of highly successful two-stroke motors.

I also had a very informative interview with Yoshio Nakamura, now technical director of Honda Motor Co., who is better known for his Formula One car activities and for serving as the head engineer in charge of Honda's 1970 Daytona assault. He confirmed that Mr. Honda and his engineering team had not lost their burning enthusiasm in motor racing, although their official return to the racing world will not occur until after 1975.

DRY STATISTICS

In the first half of 1971, the Japanese motorcycle industry has produced 1,727,735 motorcycles, representing a gain of 20.9 percent over the same period in 1970.

The highest growth rate is in the over-25 lcc class, which showed an increase of 63 percent. Healthy home market demand for bigger machines as well as booming export business contributed to this extraordinary growth of the class.

In June, Honda produced 170,728 motorcycles, the runner-up Yamaha 45,089, Suzuki 20,133 and Kawasaki 17,849.