c.1962 Honda 125cc CR93 Racing Motorcycle
Frame no. to be advised
Engine no. to be advised

• Iconic privateer racing motorcycle
• First raced by the current vendor
• Reacquired in 1996
• Restored condition

'It was robustly reliable, steered and handled to perfection, was, if anything, over-braked, and would exceed 100mph. At a stroke it made all other 125cc machinery in Britain obsolete. The CR93 was not cheap but it was, quite simply, built to exactly the same high standard as Honda's own racing machinery.' - Brian Woolley, Classic Racer magazine.

Just one year after its breakthrough first success at World Championship level in 1961, Honda made its state-of-the-art Grand Prix technology available to privateers in the form of the 50cc CR110 and 125cc CR93 over-the-counter racers. Like their works equivalents, the 50cc single and 125cc twin employed gear-driven double overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder, this combination of tiny cylinders and minuscule valves enabling them to rev safely well into five figures, the CR93's ceiling being a then stratospheric 13,000rpm with maximum power of 16.5bhp arriving at 11,500 revs. Both models employed a tubular-steel frame, devoid of lower rails, to which was attached a conventional set of cycle parts, and while the '50' boasted no fewer than eight gears in the 'box, the more tractable '125' made do with six. The duo immediately achieved a dominance of their respective classes that would last for many years, and countless stars of the future, including Bill Ivy, Jim Curry, Rod Scivyer and sidecar champion Chris Vincent, gained their early experience aboard the diminutive CRs. Just 40-or-so CR93s were imported into the UK and today they are highly sought after by classic racers and collectors alike.

One of the first of its kind delivered to Europe, this CR93 was provided for Giuseppe Visenzi by his sponsor. Giuseppe collected the Honda from Hamburg, Germany where it had been delivered by ship, and on the way home to Italy, took in a race meeting at Tubergen in Holland. Despite deliberately unhelpful starting 'advice' from another CR93-mounted competitor, Giuseppe finished a brilliant 2nd on his first outing with the Honda, having been last off the grid.

Many years later Giuseppe tracked down 'his' CR93, which had gone to the USA and was owned by William Harding of Gainesville, Florida. Giuseppe purchased the machine at an auction in 1996 and had it shipped back to Italy (see purchase and export paperwork on file). It is presented today in wonderful restored condition, and comes with period photographs of Giuseppe competing on it back in the 1960s.