Honda's Spanish GP memories.

It was even before the Beatles made their first recording and the idea of a Man on the Moon was still regarded as science fiction, that history was made at the Spanish Grand Prix.

It was not at Jerez where today's MotoGP stars do battle on Sunday, but at the closer confines of Montjuich Park overlooking the magnificent city of Barcelona. The tight parkland circuit staged both motorcycle and Formula One car Grand Prix but today is better known as the venue for the Barcelona Olympic Stadium that staged the games in 1992.

Forty years ago on 23 April 1961 spectators at the 3.790km Montjuich Park circuit had no thoughts of athletics or hammer throwing but were firmly focussed on the 27-lap 125cc race in which history was made.

Australian Tom Phillis, who later lost his life at the TT races in the Isle of Man, won the race from East German legend Ernst to record Hondas first ever Grand Prix victory. This Sunday Honda arrive at Jerez for the first European event of the season with 502 Grand Prix victories to their credit in a remarkable 40 years of grand prix racing that saw the power switch from the European factories to the Japanese manufacturers.

West Honda Pons Team Manager Sito Pons was not even two years old when Phillis won that first race for Honda but since then he's played a major part in their grand prix success, first as a rider and then as a team manager.

"I feel very proud that myself and the team are in the same history books as Honda," he explained, before leaving for Jerez. "I think we have contributed 22 wins towards that total of 502. I won 15 Grand Prix and two world titles for them as a rider. The team has won seven Grand Prix for Honda including three last year and we aim to have plenty more for them before the end of the season."

Current West Honda Pons rider Loris Capirossi has also played a major part in the Honda success story. Capirossi, who was second in the MotoGP 500 race at the Africas Grand Prix last week, is one of only four riders that have brought Honda victories in three separate classes, 125, 250 and 500.

The other three riders are grand prix legends, Mike Hailwood, Jim Redman and Ralph Bryans. A total of 60 riders have brought Honda those 502 victories and Capirossi has won an impressive 19 races for the Japanese factory. Eight of those victories came in the 125 class when he won the World title in 1990 and 1991. He won ten 250cc races but actually secured his 1998 World title on the Aprilia. Last year despite a series of injuries he won the Italian Grand Prix and has shown in the opening two MotoGP 500 races this year that another victory is not far away.

Australian Michael Doohan is the most successful Honda rider in those extraordinary 40 years. The fives times World Champion won an amazing 54 500cc races for the Japanese factory which is nine more than Jim Redman, who was an interested spectator at the Africas Grand Prix at Welkom last week. Capirossi's 19 victories make him the sixth most successful Honda rider behind Doohan, Redman, Mike Hailwood, Freddie Spencer and Luigi Taveri.

Brazilian Alex Barros' love affair with Honda started a lot later than Capirossi but like so many successful personal and business relationships it took a long time to flourish. However, once established it proved a very fruitful partnership. His initial Grand Prix success came on a Suzuki back in 1993 at the FIM Grand Prix at Jarama. He started riding Honda machinery two years later but it was only last year that his considerable talent and experience finally bore fruit with two superb victories for the Honda Pons team in Holland and Germany.

Honda's 500th victory fittingly came at their home track of Suzuka when Italian Valentino Rossi won that opening MotoGP 500 race of the season. He followed that up with victory 502 at Welkom after a tremendous battle with Capirossi and who know's what Honda's grand prix victory tally will be by the time the 2001 season draws to a close in Brazil on 3 November.

"At the end of the season that record of 500 Grand Prix victories will be forgotten because Honda will be then thinking about 600 wins," explained Sito Pons, who won the World 250cc title for Honda in 1988 and 89. "I have worked hard as a rider and a team manager to bring Hondas success. Everybody at West Honda Pons will continue working hard and we're confident that we can bring Honda further success this season."

It was back in 1954 that Soichiro Honda committed his factory to racing in Europe after visiting the legendary TT races on the Isle of Man. It was five years later in 1959 that he returned to the Isle of Man but this time to race with four Japanese riders, one American and five beautifully engineered 125cc twin-cylinder machines.

The riders had no experience of the unique Clypse road course on the Isle of Man and the machines were slower than the MV Agustas, Ducatis and MZs but Honda still won the manufacturers prize. It was just under two years later that Phillis brought them their first grand prix success and the rest is history. The same year Kunimitsu Takahashi brought Honda their first 250cc success at Hockenheim in Germany but they had to wait another five years before Redman brought them their first victory in the 500cc class.

The Isle of Man and Montjuich Park will seem a long distant memory to the majority of the 150,000 fans that will cram Jerez on Sunday. A long time ago it may have been but it was at those two very different locations that the Honda legend began.

With their new five-cylinder four-stroke machine already being tested for 2001 who knows where the Honda story will end.