Left : Factory kitted CB750 race bike for Daytona 1970
Bottom : Victory at Daytona 200 in 1970
other refinements , had been seen on bikes before , but the CB750 brought it all together in an accessible , and affordable package . The story is on record that Honda ’ s masterful engineer , Soichiro Honda , a man not given to excessive praise , was in America at the time of the final testing of the CB750 prototype . A Honda employee said Mr Honda announced that he would ride the bike , and blasted off into the desert . He returned after a while and had only one thing to say , “ What a terrific machine ”. He then walked away laughing .
It was reported that it was the first time anyone there had heard words of praise from him for almost anything . Almost as soon as it was released , the CB750 was in demand for racing , At Suzuka in Japan in 1969 it won the ten-hour endurance race for production machines . Next came a victory at the Bol d ’ Or 24- hour race in France . By 1970 the urge to race a fully factory supported , race-kitted bike became apparent . The obvious place to do it was at the most prestigious road race on the calendar at the time , the
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