Speech by Honda Senior Managing Director - Takeo Fukui

Excerpts from an announcement made at the 2002 Motor Sports Activities Press Conference & Reception:

I would like to begin my speech today by talking about the Suzuka Circuit. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Suzuka, the first authentic racetrack in Japan. Construction of the racetrack was the brainchild of Mr. Soichiro Honda, our company founder, who at the time declared, "We need to have a racetrack. Technological improvements in our vehicles won't be made without racing!" It was September, 1962 when his dream came true in the form of Suzuka Circuit. At the time, a highway hadn't even been constructed in Japan. At the end of last year, the number of visitors to Suzuka Circuit approached a cumulative total of 100 million. Honda has taken part in various race events held in Suzuka over the years, as well as Twin Ring Motegi, which will celebrate its 6th anniversary this year. We have continuously sought to provide dreams and thrills through motorsports in response to the enthusiastic support, and at times, critical reviews of our customers.

Our motorsports activities epitomize our corporate philosophy and challenging spirit. Last year, we established the unified banner of "Honda Racing" for both motorcycle and automobile racing. At Honda, we hate to lose more than any other company and through our racing activities this season, will do our utmost to provide our customers with a dream. Together with all of you here today, we would like to share the powerful appeal of motorsports with more and more people.

At this time, I would like to discuss Honda's race program for the 2002 season.

Prior to this, however, I would like to review last year's achievements. Last season, thanks to your support, we achieved a commemorative 500th win in Motorcycle Grand Prix racing, three Manufacturer's Championship titles in as many categories, as well as two rider's crowns in the 250cc and 500cc classes. As you know, due to changes in the regulations, the 500cc class is to be named the MotoGP class where four-stroke and two-stroke racing motorcycles will both now race head-to-head. For the coming season, Honda has introduced a new four-stroke challenger, "RC211V" which features an entirely new and unique V5 power unit. This represents a new technical challenge that we must clear. The NSR500, the well-known two-stroke counterpart, has been further upgraded for the 2002 season. By exploiting the potential inherent in its light weight, the motorcycle now features drastically improved overall performance, including enhanced cornering capability.

Five two-stroke contenders will be supplied to satellite teams. The battle between the two-stroke and four-stroke machines will, without doubt, entertain and provide greater excitement than ever before.

In the area of developing riders and drivers to compete on the world stage, we have already brought up several world-class riders who do battle in world championships; Tohru Ukawa and Daijiro Kato in road races, Takahisa Fujinami in the trial series and Yoshitaka Atsuta in Motocross to name a few.