One of the hottest favourites to win the Formula 1 crown back for Honda, which it held for 17 years until 1999, will be Flying Scotsman, Jim Moodie. The seven-times TT winner became the fastest man ever around the Isle of Man’s 37.73-mile Mountain Course last year with an average speed of 124.45mph on his first, standing start lap of the Blue Riband Senior TT. Moodie was heading for a 125+ second lap when tyre problems forced his retirement.

The 34-year-old Glaswegian, however, consoled himself with a dominant victory in the Junior event on board the same Castrol Honda CBR600 he took to three race wins in last season’s British Supersport 600 Championship. Moodie will also contest the Production and Lightweight TTs on Honda machinery in 2000.

Honda’s TT effort would, of course, be incomplete without 23-times TT winner, Joey Dunlop, and the perpetual road racer returns in 2000 hoping to add to his record number of victories on the Isle of Man. The Ballymoney publican, who was 48 in February, set his fastest ever TT lap at 123.06mph in the six-lap Senior race during the 1999 Festival, scotching any notion of his retirement.

Dunlop plans to contest the Formula 1 and Senior TTs on the factory-engined VTR1000 SP-1 and will ride a CBR600 in the Junior event. He will also be looking to regain the 250cc Lightweight title he won from 1994 to 1998 and the 125cc Ultra-Lightweight crown he has won four times.

Scotsman, Iain Duffus, returns to the Honda squad for the 2000 TT and will race in the Formula 1, Senior and Production races on the new FireBlade. The 37-year-old from Fife will also be aiming to add to his 1994 and 1995 TT victories, both in the 600cc Junior event, in which he will ride a Honda CBR600 this year.

Ulsterman Adrian Archibald, who will ride a FireBlade in the Formula 1, Senior and Production events and a CBR600 in the Junior race in 2000, has shown his TT potential for several years and displayed it graphically with fourth place finishes in both the Junior and Production events last year. The 30-year-old joiner from Ballymoney – the same County Antrim town as Joey Dunlop – enjoyed a spectacular season in 1999, winning both the Regal 600 and Lambert & Butler Challenge series and taking the Irish 600cc Road Race title.

Morcambe’s John McGuinness also enjoyed a hugely successful 1999, winning the Daytona 250cc race and dominating the British 250cc Championship. He also realised a long-held ambition by winning his first TT in the Lightweight event on his Vimto Honda RS250. The 30-year-old aims to retain his title in 2000 and add to it by contesting the Ultra-Lightweight event on a Honda RS125. McGuinness will also ride the Vimto Honda NSR500V or VTR1000 SP-1 in the Formula 1 and Senior TTs.

New Zealander, Paul Williams, who has won the 400cc class for Honda in the Lightweight TT for the past two years, will also ride a Vimto Honda RS250 in 2000. The affable 29-year-old is also hoping for rides on Honda machinery in the Production and Junior races this year.

With last year’s Sidecar Race ‘A’ winner and lap record holder, Dave Molyneux, competing in the World Sidecar Cup this year, Honda’s Rob Fisher and passenger Rick Long will be hoping to add to their win in the second Sidecar race in 1999. Their CBR600-powered outfit took them to victory after the dominant Molyneux was forced to retire on his second lap with a broken oil filter.

Honda’s motorcycle racing co-ordinator, Roger Harvey, is optimistic about the team’s chances of success at the 2000 Isle of Man TT Festival: "There’s no doubt that losing the Formula 1 race after 17 years hurt in 1999," he said. "But Honda’s commitment is as strong as it’s been since we started racing on the Island in 1959 and for this year we’ve assembled a squad full of talent and many years of TT experience.

"Our riders have won 35 TT races between them, with one man obviously way out in front," continued Harvey. "But Joey showed with his fastest lap last year that he’s as hungry as ever. And, in the Senior, Jim Moodie shattered Fogarty’s seven-year-old lap record from a standing start. With the new FireBlade and other race-proven Honda machinery I believe we have a good chance of dominating the TT once more this year."