Honda The Power of Dreams

European Endurance Racing: The History of Invincible Honda 1976~1979

Honda Endurance Racing and F.C.C. TSR Honda are participating in the 2016/2017 FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC) series with Honda CBR1000RR bikes. The series stages a total of 6 races, ending with the Suzuka 8hours FIM EWC. The European Endurance Championship series is the predecessor to the FIM EWC series. In the 1970’s, Honda won both the riders and the constructors titles for four consecutive years. The team was so strong, it was known as “the invincible.”

1976 Fans Turn Interest to New Records the Now-invincible RCB1000 could Achieve

(From left) Stan Woods, Charlie Wiliams, Hubert Rigal, Maurice Maingret, Pierre Soulas, Gary Green (1977 Nurburgring 8 hours)
(From left) Stan Woods, Charlie Wiliams, Hubert Rigal, Maurice Maingret, Pierre Soulas,
Gary Green (1977 Nurburgring 8 hours)

Christian Leon / RCB1000 (1977 Nurburgring 8 hours)
Christian Leon
(1977 Nurburgring 8 hours)

Honda Britain's pit-work (Stan Woods / Charlie Williams (1977 Nurburgring 8 hours)
Honda Britain's pit-work (Stan Woods / Charlie Williams
(1977 Nurburgring 8 hours)

Gary Green / Japauto (1977 Nurburgring 8 hours)
Gary Green / Japauto
(1977 Nurburgring 8 hours)

The RCB1000’s third race was Round 2 of the European Endurance Championship in West Germany, the Nurburgring 8 hours. The undulating 22.835km Nurburgring track was known to be a hard circuit, but it was an ideal stage to show the performance of the RCB1000 (481). On the opening lap, Leon who started the race in pole had managed to build an advantage of five seconds over his closest rival, and held his pace for the first hour until he crashed. Eckert riding a modified CB750 took over the lead, with Woods/Williams close behind. By the third hour, Soulas/Hubert Rigal were in third position. The race continued without event until Eckert in the lead began to lose pace, conceding to Woods/Williams. Soulas/Rigal followed close behind hoping for a breakthrough, but Soulas crashed minutes before the finish. He soon returned to the pits and Rigal took over, but that crash gave Woods/Williams breathing space to complete the race in front comfortably. Green/Maingret of Japorto came in 3rd to once again give Honda all three podium places.

The team's fourth race fpllowed in July, in Round 3 of the European Endurance Championship, the Montjuick 24 hours. Early in the race, Christian Huguet/Pentti Korhonen of Honda France led teammates Jacques Luc/Benjamin Grau and five other Honda teams. Eight hours into the race, Woods/Williams moved into first place and the Honda teams continued to be strong through the night. Half way through the race at around 8 am, Woods/Williams suffered from mechanical problems and pitted, which let Huguet/Korhonen into the front, and this time they not only held their position but built a 4 lap margin by the end of the race. In second place were Luc/Grau and Leon/Chemarin on the same lap fiercely fighting for 2nd position. With three hours to go, Leon/Chemarin started to pull away to finish second, resulting in a 1-2-3 finish for Honda France. Huguet/Korhonen, who won the race, had set a new record of 760 laps (2880.89km) which was 13 laps more than the previous year. Japauto, Dholda, Honda Britain (Norman White/Neil Tuxworth) followed the top three making the top six all Hondas. Another perfect win for the RCB1000.

Christian Huguet / RCB1000 (1977 Montjuic 24 hours)
Christian Huguet / RCB1000
(1977 Montjuic 24 hours)

Pentti Korhonen / RCB1000 (1977 Montjuic 24 hours)
Pentti Korhonen / RCB1000
(1977 Montjuic 24 hours)

Nine days later at a non-title event in Paul Ricard, RCB1000s were once again dominant. Leon/Chemarin kept a steady pace and achieved their second victory of the year. Halfway through the season, Honda had won all the races so far.

Benjamin Grau / RCB1000 (1977 Montjuic 24 hours)
Benjamin Grau / RCB1000
(1977 Montjuic 24 hours)

Neil Tuxworth / RCB1000 (1977 Montjuic 24 hours)
Neil Tuxworth / RCB1000
(1977 Montjuic 24 hours)

Fans now turned their Interest to new records the now-Invincible RCB1000 could achieve. Round 4 of the European Endurance Championship was the Liege 24 hours, which took place on the August 15-16. There was so much attention on this race that the local newspapers ran headlines such as "Will the Honda machines achieve an average of 190km/h and a top speed of 300km/h?” Once the race began under a dark and angry sky, Leon/Chemarin took the lead from pole position with other Honda teams following. Although the rain fell hard from time to time, Leon/Chemarin held their pace and continued to lead the race into the night. Nine hours into the race at 1 am, Chemarin in the lead crashed, giving Huguet/Korhonen the top spot with Luc/Soulas in second place. After the crash, Chemarin picked up his bike and pushed it back to the pits. In 35 minutes for repair, for a total of 40 minutes out of the race, Leon was back on the track. At this stage they were down to 20th place but with grim determination were in tenth place by 8 am. Luc/Soulas were still leading but Huguet/Korhonen had crashed and retired, and the crowd's interest was on how many positions Leon/Chemarin could gain back before the finish.

(From left) Jean-Claude Chemarin, Christian Leon, Pierre Soulas, Jacques Luc (1977 Liege 24 hours)
(From left) Jean-Claude Chemarin, Christian Leon,
Pierre Soulas, Jacques Luc (1977 Liege 24 hours)

At 1 pm the rain to storm, and all except one rider had reduced pace. Leon, the exception, pushed on, gained positions until, with two more hours to go, he had moved up to third. The crowd in the stands were stunned at the announcement, but that was not all. Leon was determined to gain another position and was catching up to the Meyer team, gaining 30 seconds each lap. With only one minute remaining in the race, Leon caught up with Meyer, moving up to second place, sending the 60 thousand fans into a frenzy. Luc/Soulas won, with Leon/Chemarin 2nd, Meyer in 3rd, and Swiss Honda 4th. It was another complete victory for Honda but the stars of the race were Leon and Chemarin, and the crowd praised their riding and congratulated them.

Christian Leon / RCB1000 (1977 Liege 24 hours)
Christian Leon / RCB1000
(1977 Liege 24 hours)

Continuing their top form, Leon and Chemarin dominated the Metit 1000km. Although having problems with an engine that refused to start, losing places on the get-go, they were nonetheless back to first place within 90 minutes. From then on it was an easy race for the pair, recording an average of 167.783km/h in 5 hours 59 minutes 57 seconds to conclude another victorious race for the RCB1000. In 2nd and 3rd places were the two Honda France machines, Luc/Soulas and Korhonen/Jack Buytaert (substituting Huguet who was still healing from the crash in the previous race), and in 4th position was the Honda Britain Woods/Williams pair who were in second place to the very end, but lost positions for mechanical issues. This was yet another success for the Hondas, and was a good omen for the Bol d'or 24 hours two weeks ahead.

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