On 24th October 1965 Honda won their first Formula One race. Far from being content with simply winning the race, Soichiro Honda reflected on Honda's reasons for entering F1: "We have to analyse both our defeats and our victories. We want to use the knowledge we gain for our customers and make our cars better and safer. That's our duty. That's why we entered Formula 1."
There was a reason that even the massively successful Honda powered F1 cars such as McLaren and Williams didn’t sport the famous championship white paintwork with the red badge - they weren’t all Honda, and as such, they didn’t qualify to wear it.
Today it seems as if most motor manufacturers are playing it safe - going for the green or family market and building and selling cars that may not excite us - the faithful of the VTEC.
Perhaps this is the only way modern motor manufacturers can continue to be profitable, but never forget the pedigree of your car. The history of Honda. That red badge with the silver logo, the ‘R’ in Type-R, it stands for ‘racing’ and it has a lengthy and honourable evolution steeped in the pursuit of winning and making a better car, learning from each defeat and each victory and taking those things that were learned and using them to make all Honda cars better cars.
Only someone who has owned a Type-R can know what you know - the feeling that you are part of something special, not an elitist unaffordable club, but a collection of people who want more than just a car, people who want their soul stirred.
Now, in a time when current Euro legislation does away with Honda building high revving high performance engines and cars, the spirit of Type-R will live on with those who have owned or still own one.
Maybe it’ll be an EP3 tucked away in a garage in 20 years time and only coming out at the weekend, maybe just in your memory as you tell your children and grandchildren about that car you owned that made the hairs on your neck stand up, but by owning a Type-R and it meaning something to you, you'll always be part of the family.
Welcome to Type-R.
"Without racing, there is no Honda" - Soichiro Honda
