Team G-Cross Honda mountain bike at Silverstone
Published: July 10, 2004
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 |  Team G-Cross Honda mountain bike & B.A.R Honda 006 |
Silverstone, UK - July 10, 2004 -- In the lead up to the British Grand Prix, Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda's home race, Jenson Button and Takuma Sato got to grips with a Honda racing machine of a different kind. A Team G-Cross Honda RN01 mountain bike, which won the opening round of the 2004 UCI World Cup, made its debut appearance in the Formula One paddock at Silverstone on Thursday. Button and Sato posed for photographs with the mountain bike, the only racing machine produced by Honda without an engine, alongside their usual ride, a B.A.R Honda 006.
Silverstone, UK - July 10, 2004 -- In the lead up to the British Grand Prix, Lucky Strike B.A.R Honda's home race, Jenson Button and Takuma Sato got to grips with a Honda racing machine of a different kind. A Team G-Cross Honda RN01 mountain bike, which won the opening round of the 2004 UCI World Cup, made its debut appearance in the Formula One paddock at Silverstone on Thursday. Button and Sato posed for photographs with the mountain bike, the only racing machine produced by Honda without an engine, alongside their usual ride, a B.A.R Honda 006.
Honda began development of the RN01 in 2002 and entered mountain bike downhill racing for the first time in its history in 2003, gaining a victory in its first year of competition in the JCF Japan Series. The RN01 is developed at Honda R&D Co., Ltd. Asaka R&D Centre in Japan and is the only racing machine produced by Honda without an engine. Honda riders Greg Minnaar (South Africa) and Cyrille Kurtz (France) compete in the UCI World Cup and the NORBA National Championship on Honda RN01 mountain bikes. Greg Minnaar got Honda's 2004 season off to a promising start in June by winning the opening round of the UCI World Cup at Fort William in Scotland. The next and final round of the championship takes place at Livigno in Italy on 18 September.
The bike will be on display all weekend at Silverstone in B.A.R Honda's paddock club suite and will continue its tour to a selection of European F1 races this season.
Jenson Button commented: "I think the bike looks great - I haven't been able to ride it very far as it's set up for downhill racing but it seems pretty cool. It's interesting to see a different kind of racing machine from Honda and the F1 paddock is definitely a good place to show it off if you want to raise awareness. I hope the Honda riders continue to do well in the mountain bike championship."
Takuma Sato was equally impressed: "I used to race bicycles before racing cars so I am very interested that Honda is now competing in downhill mountain bike racing all over the world. I'm sure everyone will enjoy seeing a different kind of Honda racing machine in the F1 paddock. The bike is very unique especially the gearbox which is only designed for downhill - a very specific type of racing. No one else has made such a mechanism; technically it is very advanced. Honda is the first company to take on this unique challenge." |
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