Honda gears up once again to promote racing culture Fun Biking in 2010

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI), the 100% owned 2-wheeler subsidiary of the Honda Motor Company, Japan, is all set to conduct five rounds of ‘Honda One Make Race’ in Chennai this year. The round one will be held from June 4-6 has already revived heart-warming enthusiasm among the participant and others alike. Once again, it has brought the racing enthusiasts together to make them experience the adventure, thrill and sporting spirit of the event. Honda had successfully participated in all the five rounds in the ‘Rolon – FMSCI National Motorcycle Racing Championship event series held in Coimbatore and Chennai last year. The “One Make Race” event series last year saw the participation of about 350 riders. We had awarded the CBF Stunner class champion with a New CBF Stunner Bike and Trophy apart from the cash awards and trophy in each round to the winners. Popularly known as the ‘Honda One Make Race,’ the activity is aimed at providing ‘Fun Riding Experience’ to all participants as well as spectators in a safe and controlled environment. Honda keeps on enhancing its product lineup to meet the diversified needs of the Indian 2wheeler customers, with last year’s full model change of the Activa 110cc scooter, one of the company’s best-selling products, and by introducing the CB Twister 110cc motorcycle in February 2010 in the 100-110cc market segment, which accounts for approximately 50% of total motorcycle market. Recently HMSI also launched the new CB Unicorn Dazzler, the 150cc bike, a great combination of style & performance for the young customers. The decision to build the second motorcycle production plant was made to better accommodate a further increase in demand in India. Honda One Make Race is mainly focuses in two categories – CBR150 & CBF Stunner, this year Honda is adding up one more new category with its recently launched 110cc Mass model CB Twister. Now there will be three kinds of races; CB Twister for Novice class, CBF Stunner for Intermediate class and CBR150 (import from Thailand) for expert class. Honda is Technical sponsor of Sidvin- FMSCI National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2010. This year we will be awarding the winners in each round of Honda One Make championship and Race (1st – Rs 7500, 2nd – Rs 5000, 3rd – Rs 2500). We will also be awarding the championship prize at the end of 5 rounds for CBF Stunner Class and CBR 150 class (1st Prize: Bike + Cup, 2nd Prize: Rs20000 + Trophy, 3rd Prize: Rs10000 +Trophy) In addition to the racing sports, participants will have a chance to improve their riding skills through various fun & Safety riding activities, which will further enable them to implement these skills in their day-to-day riding. Many biking enthusiasts and Auto journalists will also participate in the Honda ‘One Make Race’. Honda promoted Safe biking and Gymkhana activities. These activities gave the visitors an opportunity to get tips on safe riding from the Safety Riding Instructor. Honda also spread its belief that fun-biking can also be safe. Safety issue is very close to Honda’s heart. HMSI has taken several initiatives to generate awareness and knowledge about safety. A large number of students, corporate entities and other institutions have been trained for Safe riding and safety education. HMSI has also installed Safety Riding Trainers at its dealerships in order to cultivate a healthy road sense among the riders. HMSI believes in educating young kids about traffic sense and safe riding through fun riding experience using CRF50 bike designed especially for kids. HMSI has also taken initiative to provide special riding education to ladies for them to ride safely on their scooters. Honda had launched its international premium bikes – CB1000R & CBR1000RR Fireblade - in the Indian market last year in order to popularize the fun-biking culture. The bikes have generated good response amongst the Indian biking enthusiasts. We will be taking more steps in this direction. This year we will be introducing our latest International bike VFR1200 to Indian Market. A lot of fun activities at the racing events ensured that all those present at the track had a gala time apart from experiencing the adventure of the racing event. Even the kids enjoyed learning safety riding with the CRF-50 model which has been specially designed to give them an experience and education on two-wheeler & road safety.