First the quit Formula 1 last year, and this year they seem to have the car to beat, just not a Honda a Braun, Now they plan on pulling out all support in their US racing effort!!! I guess in order to sell on Monday you have to show up in the first place on Sunday!!! Their sales are in the tank now, just how are they going to be in the next couple of years??
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"Your out of your element Donnie"
First the quit Formula 1 last year, and this year they seem to have the car to beat, just not a Honda a Braun, Now they plan on pulling out all support in their US racing effort!!! I guess in order to sell on Monday you have to show up in the first place on Sunday!!! Their sales are in the tank now, just how are they going to be in the next couple of years??
"Exercise restraint and discipline, only responding to posts from legit customers and those with constructive positive intent, you will find that the handgrenades explode harmlessly. You have many satisfied customers who are happy to have the parts you've made. My suggestion to you is keep making good parts, keep getting more customers, take care of them and let them speak for you."
First the quit Formula 1 last year, and this year they seem to have the car to beat, just not a Honda a Braun, Now they plan on pulling out all support in their US racing effort!!! I guess in order to sell on Monday you have to show up in the first place on Sunday!!! Their sales are in the tank now, just how are they going to be in the next couple of years??
F1 was a mistake for Honda to enter again. I've been an F1 fan for decades and when I heard Honda was re-entering with a factory effort I couldn't see the bottom line to be gained even if they won a title. Esp. since they dropped their entire sportscar lineup (RSX, NSX, S2000) and they have MGP and all those titles. Focus on MGP and get back to winning ways.
Secondly the Braun is not a Honda. Braun bought the Honda F1 effort but he didn't just slap a Braun sticker on it and went racing. Braun showed how much of a difference the technical lead/ technical team make in a season and has taken full advantage of the new rules which have caught many napping this season. All the Braun effort proves is you can't be out of the game as long as Honda was and expect to win no matter how much yen you toss at it. Don't forget Braun is like Burgess in MGP in terms of titles; all Braun is doing is replicating the Burgess/Yamaha feat of a few seasons back.
What US racing effort? I say good move Honda. The series sucks. Honda's effort has sucked for the last decade (RC51 title by Hayden excluded) and the 600 Extreme titles don't count imo. the only thing I cared about in the US series was that Duhamel didnt get the Mr. Daytona title based on a bunch of trick pony wins on a 600. My wish is fulfilled. Focus on BSB and IOMTT in terms of production racing. The US effort needs to pull the DMG plug out of its ... before enticing Big Red back imo.
Honda sales are weak but they are still probably good for smaller companies. What Honda has going for it is incredibly insane funding reserves. This is the time for Honda to revisit its image and determine where it wants to go in future. Honda is likely not going to be the enthusiast company it was when the RC series were in their heydays. The risks are too huge and Honda doesn't need to take any risks. Subaru made the same decision when they walked away from WRC; their reputation has been established long enough to not need the costly racing effort anymore. Audi did the same with its LeMans efforts. Contrary to popular opinion racing doesn't really sell on Monday.
Honda makes more from making economical, relatively cheap, long-living civics than from superbike sales probably all bike sales; all without having to do bi-yearly upgrades. Want to know why Suzuki, Ducati, Kawasaki etc are taking Honda to task on the excitement angle of the superbike/supersport race? Look at their bottom lines and the % that motorcycles esp supersport/superbikes sales account for the overall bottom line compared to Honda. and yet Honda still puts out a class-leading superbike in the pug-ugly CBR1000RR; read the latest BIKE. I wonder if Honda bike sales even rival its generator sales - and no I'm not joking.
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2006 BMW HP2
2011 Husqvarna TE630
Sour grapes are a lesser man's fruit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy Little Shop The [fact] that the RC45 was a "relative failure" is what matters most...
F1 was a mistake for Honda to enter again. I've been an F1 fan for decades and when I heard Honda was re-entering with a factory effort I couldn't see the bottom line to be gained even if they won a title. Esp. since they dropped their entire sportscar lineup (RSX, NSX, S2000) and they have MGP and all those titles. Focus on MGP and get back to winning ways.
Secondly the Braun is not a Honda. Braun bought the Honda F1 effort but he didn't just slap a Braun sticker on it and went racing. Braun showed how much of a difference the technical lead/ technical team make in a season and has taken full advantage of the new rules which have caught many napping this season. All the Braun effort proves is you can't be out of the game as long as Honda was and expect to win no matter how much yen you toss at it. Don't forget Braun is like Burgess in MGP in terms of titles; all Braun is doing is replicating the Burgess/Yamaha feat of a few seasons back.
What US racing effort? I say good move Honda. The series sucks. Honda's effort has sucked for the last decade (RC51 title by Hayden excluded) and the 600 Extreme titles don't count imo. the only thing I cared about in the US series was that Duhamel didnt get the Mr. Daytona title based on a bunch of trick pony wins on a 600. My wish is fulfilled. Focus on BSB and IOMTT in terms of production racing. The US effort needs to pull the DMG plug out of its ... before enticing Big Red back imo.
Honda sales are weak but they are still probably good for smaller companies. What Honda has going for it is incredibly insane funding reserves. This is the time for Honda to revisit its image and determine where it wants to go in future. Honda is likely not going to be the enthusiast company it was when the RC series were in their heydays. The risks are too huge and Honda doesn't need to take any risks. Subaru made the same decision when they walked away from WRC; their reputation has been established long enough to not need the costly racing effort anymore. Audi did the same with its LeMans efforts. Contrary to popular opinion racing doesn't really sell on Monday.
Honda makes more from making economical, relatively cheap, long-living civics than from superbike sales probably all bike sales; all without having to do bi-yearly upgrades. Want to know why Suzuki, Ducati, Kawasaki etc are taking Honda to task on the excitement angle of the superbike/supersport race? Look at their bottom lines and the % that motorcycles esp supersport/superbikes sales account for the overall bottom line compared to Honda. and yet Honda still puts out a class-leading superbike in the pug-ugly CBR1000RR; read the latest BIKE. I wonder if Honda bike sales even rival its generator sales - and no I'm not joking.
oddly enough class leading and ugly makes for them sitting at dealers selling for $7500 new
"Exercise restraint and discipline, only responding to posts from legit customers and those with constructive positive intent, you will find that the handgrenades explode harmlessly. You have many satisfied customers who are happy to have the parts you've made. My suggestion to you is keep making good parts, keep getting more customers, take care of them and let them speak for you."
I strongly suspect they are cutting all their racing efforts.
They didn't field an official team for the Suzuka 8 Hours (in the past years it was the only race that mattered) and Ten Kate has to make do with Ohlins suspensions since Honda didn't include super-trick factory Showas in the deal.
All of this would be good and well if they concentrated their efforts on the bike we people can buy: after all BMW started to sell truckloads of R1200GSs the day it came out in 2004, well before they entered WSBK. But they didn't: their present sportsbikes are nice but they cannot move them from the shop floors and, on top of that, they built many, many more than the market can stomach. I don't know if they are doing this on purpose (to keep price down and/or to keep the factories in Japan going at full steam) or they simply miscalculated. The other models are selling so well that operations of their two European plants have been shut down temporarily to allow for unsold stock to be flogged away. The lack of an attractive large trailie from the company that brought us two masterpieces like the Transalp and the Africa Twin is particularly weird: I refuse to believe that Honda with all its engineering potential cannot come up with something better than the overweight, underpowered and underachieving XL700V and the gas guzzling, completely outdated Varadero. They just don't care.
I disagree slightly, as I think the Brawn GP car was basically the same car that Honda would have started the season with, had they not sold the entire operation to Ross for $1! It seems a lot like the Kawasaki decision to pull out of MotoGP just as they finally developed a competitive bike, but whatever...
When it comes to American roadracing, I think Honda is doing the right thing. I wish Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki would follow... just to show DMG that they can stick it up their a**, and see how many people show up to watch a Buell weekend. This first DMG/AMA season was a disaster, in no uncertain terms (although it was nice to see a good crowd in NJ). You can't expect the manufacturers to keep footing the bill for this mess. It's time to regroup.
Brawn (with a "w") was the Honda F1 team. When Honda pulled out, they sourced motors from Mercedes, and with the new chasis and rules, came out swinging.
When it comes to American roadracing, I think Honda is doing the right thing. I wish Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki would follow... just to show DMG that they can stick it up their a**, and see how many people show up to watch a Buell weekend. This first DMG/AMA season was a disaster, in no uncertain terms (although it was nice to see a good crowd in NJ). You can't expect the manufacturers to keep footing the bill for this mess. It's time to regroup.
Hilarious that guys here actually try and dog on Honda..... for pulling out of the shittiest, most backstabbing, POS series in the world/history of motorcycle racing as if its a "Honda thing", not a DMG thing.
The fact that they even raced in 2009 was amazing to me.
the second AMA gets their shit together and make a REAL racing series, Honda will be the first to line up and race again, dont worry...same with all the other manufacturers that WILL pull out for 2010.
Honda does seem to have lost its mojo some time ago, but pulling out of DMG is a no-brainer.
I had hopes that the Daytona group would take US roadracing to new heights, with it becoming unquestionably the best national series in the world and possibly a rival to WSBK. But what we've got now a year later is a complete joke with pissed off manufacturers, confused (former?) fans, and apathetic racers willing to retire rather than spend another year in this cluster**** series. And before anyone starts blaming Buell, it would have been just as bad had they never turned a wheel in either premiere series.
Edmundson could not have handled this past year more poorly. If you set out to destroy a series, I don't know what you would do differently than he has by pissing off everyone involved. If he were the CEO of a regular corporation, he would have been removed by this summer for gross incompetence.
Ironically the racing has actually been pretty good in Superbike and Sportbike, it is just that everything else (TV, safety, scheduling, etc) is completely screwed up.
It is really sad, these are the dark ages for US roadracing.
I wonder if Honda bike sales even rival its generator sales - and no I'm not joking.
I bet you're right. It's amazing how big they are. Anything you can think of that is small and gas powered, Honda makes an engine for it. From generators, to water pumps, to compressors, to mowers, they make 'em all!
Roger Edmundson is the Anti Christ. Hand's down he could have brought the series to something respectable but instead he turned it into the laughing stock. Sorry the NASCAR formula simply doesn't work in Motorcycle (and you wonder why he was drummed out of the AMA). I wonder how quickly others begin to pull out. Honda isn't dumb; this is a business of win on Sunday sell on Monday and they simply cannot do that with the current rule set. But look at Buell - They are giving the bikes away and no one wants them.
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2006 Ducati 999S Mono in black.
Honda and their wandering ways!!!
Focus on BSB and IOMTT in terms of production racing. The US effort needs to pull the DMG plug out of its ... before enticing Big Red back imo. 
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