Superbikeplanet & Dennis Noyes comment on the Japanese factories' various philosophies. Was a great read.
BTW, Jumkie you're a ....... legend ... but a very nice rain jacket says says J Lo is getting a title on a Duc!
Soup :: From '04: The Best of Dennis Noyes :: 09-04-2014
Here's an abbreviated summary...
I once had the pleasure of hearing now retired HRC racing boss Youichi Oguma speak through a real translator and not through one of the company minders usually assigned to filter out Oguma's more magnificent turns of phrase to try and make him sound like he represented a factory that raced for all the usual, commercial reasons.
But what happened that day in Holland was that the HRC translator was caught in the Dutch TT traffic on a Friday morning and the intimate little press conference went ahead without her when a well-intentioned Japanese-American was brought in to translate.
I will never forget what he said at the highest and most lyrical point of his flight:
"The other manufactures do not know why they race. They race because they understand the conviction of Honda and they follow the Honda and sometimes they even pass, but when they pass they cannot lead because they have no vision. Then Honda passes again and they are grateful again to follow because they know Honda sees the light of discovery that they cannot see."
And then the official translator came in looking horrified as she heard the last words of all that in English. She took over and although Oguma-san seemed to speak with the same evangelic zeal, the words were not the same, ever again.
But that brief glimpse, that sound bite of Honda's true internal monologue, convinced me that, at the most important level in the company culture, Honda really is the NASA of motorcycle racing.
And Ducati, and to a certain extent, under-funded Aprilia, are "dreamers" in the best sense of the word.
Yamaha: "Pure marketing."
Suzuki: "Crazy people racing."
Kawasaki: "Rich boys racing."
Honda: "NASA."
I asked him how European manufacturers were regarded and he said, "Dream racing."
BTW, Jumkie you're a ....... legend ... but a very nice rain jacket says says J Lo is getting a title on a Duc!
Soup :: From '04: The Best of Dennis Noyes :: 09-04-2014
Here's an abbreviated summary...
I once had the pleasure of hearing now retired HRC racing boss Youichi Oguma speak through a real translator and not through one of the company minders usually assigned to filter out Oguma's more magnificent turns of phrase to try and make him sound like he represented a factory that raced for all the usual, commercial reasons.
But what happened that day in Holland was that the HRC translator was caught in the Dutch TT traffic on a Friday morning and the intimate little press conference went ahead without her when a well-intentioned Japanese-American was brought in to translate.
I will never forget what he said at the highest and most lyrical point of his flight:
"The other manufactures do not know why they race. They race because they understand the conviction of Honda and they follow the Honda and sometimes they even pass, but when they pass they cannot lead because they have no vision. Then Honda passes again and they are grateful again to follow because they know Honda sees the light of discovery that they cannot see."
And then the official translator came in looking horrified as she heard the last words of all that in English. She took over and although Oguma-san seemed to speak with the same evangelic zeal, the words were not the same, ever again.
But that brief glimpse, that sound bite of Honda's true internal monologue, convinced me that, at the most important level in the company culture, Honda really is the NASA of motorcycle racing.
And Ducati, and to a certain extent, under-funded Aprilia, are "dreamers" in the best sense of the word.
Yamaha: "Pure marketing."
Suzuki: "Crazy people racing."
Kawasaki: "Rich boys racing."
Honda: "NASA."
I asked him how European manufacturers were regarded and he said, "Dream racing."
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