Neil Tuxworth: Honda motorcycle racing safe

In the wake of Honda’s announcement last night that they have pulled their Formula One project and are selling the team, Honda Racing UK Manager for bikes Neil Tuxworth has spoken about the future of the motorcycle racing side of the company.

Tuxworth, who heads up the entire two-wheeled racing side of things for Honda in the UK, said the F1 decision had a lot to do with the current shortfall in car sales.

“You have to appreciate that the F1 side of things is linked to the car division of Honda,” Tuxworth told MCN.

“Car sales are down at the moment which has a big part to play in this – bike sales in comparison aren’t doing too bad.

“There’s been a drop in big bike sales but, because of the cost of fuel, smaller bike sales are up with commuters turning to two wheels.”

But with the current state of the economic climate Tuxworth confirmed some changes have had to been made, in all departments.

“We’ve had cut backs anyway because of the recession,” he added.

“We’ve had to cancel tests and cut back on our budgets but there has been no talk of stopping the bike racing side of things.

“The recession affects everyone – it’s not a UK thing but something that’s worldwide.

“We’ve cancelled a three day test at Cartagena in January and a test a Croft in April.

“Like everything else, racing will just have to adjust to the economic climate.

What you also have to take into consideration is that the F1 project demanded colossal costs compared to bike racing.”