Honda preparing Dakar assault

[Brodovitch]

Originally Posted by doyle

A little (unconfirmed) bird told me that under the covers, the BF team is not quite as put together as their outward appearance suggests. I've heard rumblings of finance issues, unpaid staff, designers walking out, and production stoppages. I've been reluctant to mention it because it's been difficult to confirm but I heard from a very reputable source. No comment from BF themselves when I inquired.

One part of me was afraid of that. The other me wants them to succeed... on the Mi1 no less

Weird / possibly unrelated conspiracy tidbit. A week ago Renato (mr. Ferrari) had a facebook profile. We cyber-friended, what the hell I thought, good for some wacky announcement or whatever.

Checked my friends list today, his account is de-activated. Read into that what you want.

OK, tinfoil hat coming off, back to HRC...

[too old]

Originally Posted by Brodovitch

One part of me was afraid of that. The other me wants them to succeed... on the Mi1 no less

Weird / possibly unrelated conspiracy tidbit. A week ago Renato (mr. Ferrari) had a facebook profile. We cyber-friended, what the hell I thought, good for some wacky announcement or whatever.

Checked my friends list today, his account is de-activated. Read into that what you want.

OK, tinfoil hat coming off, back to HRC...

Well with Vlladomes on the Pharoans schedule and the rest slated for Morroco we should find out soon.

With the strength of Honda, HRC have been working on their bike for over 4 months now, with another 3 to go and with a budget of? - But as speculated previously it must be $7 million or more, so not a venture without very deep pockets; Italianism or poor financial planning won't wash!

[doyle]

Originally Posted by Brodovitch

One part of me was afraid of that. The other me wants them to succeed... on the Mi1 no less

Weird / possibly unrelated conspiracy tidbit. A week ago Renato (mr. Ferrari) had a facebook profile. We cyber-friended, what the hell I thought, good for some wacky announcement or whatever.

Checked my friends list today, his account is de-activated. Read into that what you want.

OK, tinfoil hat coming off, back to HRC...

I connected with Renato Ferrari too, probably after seeing that you did but I hadn't noticed his account gone. I figured that same thing, perhaps it was a good connection for information. I inquired a few times to the team for a comment on the rumors, but I never heard back any reply.

Interestingly Chaleco has confirmed that he is buying a factory KTM out of his pocket for 2013 and not running the Mi1. I heard he had built the option to run a KTM into his contract with BF and it looks as though he is exercising that option.

BF had great results in 2012 and they were an exciting team to watch. Even though some comments were made about them seeming very disorganized in the bivouac, I so want them to prosper and be successful.

Thomas Oldrati was sacked from the enduro squad after making some references to the teams financial issues and the team admitted a financial "revaluation", but didn't expand much beyond that. I thought it was interesting that they made no push toward the ISDE as a team. A lot of these rumors came out of the Baja de Espana.

[wrk2surf]

word is Renato is in Japan for a couple weeks and doesnt know whats up with his FB ..

[doyle]

[Brodovitch]

whoa!

nice scoop...

OK let the nit-picking commence

I see no rear tanks?

[doyle]

Originally Posted by Brodovitch

whoa!

nice scoop...

OK let the nit-picking commence

I see no rear tanks?

Typically Honda conservative design?

[Brodovitch]

Yup. And what's with the huge black monolith of a navi tower?

I take it back on the rear tank, it's just that I could see no filler cap

[troy safari carpente]

Originally Posted by doyle

Typically Honda conservative design?

Well done "scoop" Doyle...

[LukasM]

Definitely a rear/subframe tank or they would have tucked in the exhaust under the rear fender.

[doyle]

Originally Posted by troy safari carpente

Well done "scoop" Doyle...

A friend of Joan Barreda has been a great source for me. It's really his scoop, he gave me the heads up early this morning. Looks like some sort of Honda meeting or press conference in Japan. I'm assuming photo security wasn't too tight.

[wilkinsonk]

Originally Posted by Brodovitch

I see no rear tanks?

I can't imagine that you'd need the low exhaust if you didn't have rear tanks. Looks nice.

[too old]

Originally Posted by troy safari carpente

Well done "scoop" Doyle...

http://world.honda.com/news/2012/c12...ech/index.html

It was from a company presentation - full details on this link

"With the best and brightest gathered from Europe, South America, the U.S. and Japan, together as one “works” team, Honda is getting ready for participation in the Dakar Rally in January 2013, for the first time in 24 years. The prototype machine, which is being developed based on the CRF450X, has been demonstrating high fighting performance on rough road surfaces such as the desert and rocky hills in various tests on engine performance, endurance and long-distance riding. In October 2012, this machine will be put in actual racing in the Morocco Rally to further refine its fighting capability. Honda will strive to win in the Dakar Rally from the first year of returning to the Rally."

No pics though!

[too old]

[QUOTE=too old;19654934][url]http://world.honda.com/news/2012/c120921CEO-Speech/index.

"With the best and brightest gathered from Europe, South America, the U.S. and Japan, together as one “works” team"

US? - now is that testing support or something else

[too old]

[QUOTE=too old;19655006]

Originally Posted by too old

[url]http://world.honda.com/news/2012/c120921CEO-Speech/index.

"With the best and brightest gathered from Europe, South America, the U.S. and Japan, together as one “works” team"

US? - now is that testing support or something else

http://solomoto.es/1348308274/enduro-y-raids/primeras-imagenes-de-la-honda-del-dakar#.UF4BZ2thiK0

Got no Spanish, but 5 pilotos I can work out - who is #5???