December 1977: Declaration of Return to the World Grand Prix
The impact of this decision was apparent when the Honda transporter, marking the NR500's debut race, appeared at the 1979 British GP. The team name, proudly displayed on its side panel, announced Honda's return to the World Grand Prix road racing. (Photo/Shigeo Kibiki)
This resurgence in racing, fueled by RSC's achievements, set the stage for Honda's return to factory racing in the World Grand Prix. Honda formalized this with a public announcement on December 10, 1977, placing an ad in Japanese newspapers declaring their "Return to the World Grand Prix."
While this announcement outlined their ambitious return to the 500cc class in 1979, no details about the actual machine were shared, as development was still undecided.
On the same day as the declaration, Honda internally received a new racing project proposal focused on three themes:
1) Create innovative technology,
2) Develop human resources, and
3) Become a world champion within three years.
This is the Honda pit at the 1979 British Grand Prix, Silverstone. On the right, Soichiro Honda and Shoichiro Irimajiri are present. (Photo/Honda)
The organization aimed to develop the new GP500 road racer, led by a clear hierarchy: Shoichiro Irimajiri, chief of motorcycle development, served as head of the organization; Takeo Fukui, later president of Honda, was overall project leader; and Koichi Yanase, head of the Suzuka Plant's 1st Engineering Department, managed manufacturing. Fukui led design and testing by recruiting engineers from motorcycle and automobile teams. Yanase assembled a block (Honda's term for a department) of about 100 engineers from plants across Japan to handle manufacturing and assembly for the project.
