Honda and the RC181, the first wild 500 cc that Hailwood hated

Honda has unveiled its commemorative livery for the Motegi GP. The first 500cc, but not the most beloved... A brief history.

For the Japanese Grand Prix, Honda is taking a deep dive into the past with its commemorative RC213V livery. This isn’t just any moment, but the starting point in the premier class, then 500cc: the RC181 is in fact the first bike ever fielded by the Golden Wing in this category. We’re not talking about lightweights as riders, Mike Hailwood and Jim Redman, who immediately brought victories, even coming close to the World Championship.

Although it must be said it certainly wasn’t the most loved bike—Hailwood in particular used some rather colorful phrases to describe its problems! After this first attempt Honda withdrew for a decade, before launching a new assault and truly kick-starting its successful history. For today’s MotoGP it’s an important evocation of the past, even if alas the present is quite different from those moments of glory... And there’s no shortage of high hopes for the 850 revolution, a golden opportunity to climb back up, further bolstered by Red Bull’s return.

Inline four-cylinder four-stroke, in 1966 displacement 489.4cc then raised to 499.6 the following year, power 85 hp then up to 93 hp... A marvel of an engine, but a nightmare when it came to the frame and chassis in general. Mike Hailwood didn’t take long to say it: we quote the blunt and crystal-clear "bloody awful", or more diplomatically, "a real piece of junk." It seems that, exasperated by this Honda’s truly wild behavior, at Suzuka he removed and threw the rear shock absorbers straight into the circuit’s lake, demanding radical changes from the Japanese (source Motorcycle News). He even tried to force in “foreign” frames, with which he raced non-World Championship events and won them, but Honda issued a strict ban. Thus losing two world titles... "You needed guts like this; that bike was always out of control," said Luigi Taveri. It was nevertheless a full-on entry into the 500cc class, with wins recorded from the very start.

In fact, right from the very first Grand Prix contested in the category. It’s 1966 when the RC181 (less commonly also known as the RC 181 500) debuts in the premier class of the World Championship, and certainly not just to make an appearance. The West German GP at Hockenheimring, the season opener, sees the first triumph by the debuting RC181 ridden by Jim Redman, with a margin of 26 seconds over the super duo Giacomo Agostini–MV Agusta. But it was above all Mike Hailwood, despite what was said earlier, who shone, to the amazement of his rivals: in ’66 he finished 2nd in the world standings, 6 points behind Agostini, with Honda taking the constructors’ title, and in ’67 he finished with the same points as Agostini (drops included), but was 2nd in the world only because he had one fewer podium than the Italian champion. Honda withdrew from the World Championship for a few years, returning in 1979 with the NR500, but the cantankerous RC181 would remain the “first attempt,” the trailblazer of their premier-class adventure.

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