7 of the most legendary MotoGP Honda liveries of all time!
Fans think that the 2024 Hondas blew them away. Wait till you see my list of all time greats…
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Honda is one of the most iconic brands in MotoGP – if not the most iconic. The success story of the Japanese brand spans more than 40 years, winning no less than 20 constructor’s world championships.
It’s a dream of many riders to one day end up behind the wheel of what is considered the jewel in the crown in the MotoGP constructor’s echelon. Many greats like Rossi, Marquez, Doohan, and Stoner have ridden the iconic HRC machines in their route to MotoGP glory and many riders try to follow their footsteps to emulate their success on the Honda.
Although it might be refreshing for some fans to see a change of look in Honda’s livery, I still think it is quite far from the great designs of the past. For me personally, the 2024 Repsol Honda design looks a bit busy and doesn’t provide the coherence needed to make it an all-time great.
On the other hand, Johann Zarco’s LCR livery looks decent, but the late 90’s WSBK Honda Castrol VTR theme on an aero-heavy RC213 seems a bit off.
Had they gone for a more modern 2011 style WSBK Castrol Honda CBR livery or the ones that Cal Crutchlow used when he was with LCR Honda, then they would’ve gotten full marks for their efforts.
So here are seven of the most iconic Honda liveries of all time!
7- Freddie Spencer’s Rothman Honda NSR500 (1983)
This one is an icon for many reasons. For starters, it was the bike Freddie Spencer used in 1983 to become the youngest ever 500cc class world champion at twenty-one years of age. It also boasts to be the first-ever Honda to win a world championship, which ultimately kickstarted Honda’s ambitions towards dominating the premier class.
Beyond its success, it is also one of the most beautiful-looking Hondas to have ever existed. With its iconic diagonal layout of navy blue and white, a clean placement of sponsors, as well as a contrasting use of chrome yellow as background for the numbers, it stands out as one of the dashing liveries from the early 1980s.
The Rothman liveries would become quite synonymous with the motorsport culture in years to come as it would also feature as the title sponsor for Williams in their dominant 90’s era in Formula 1. But for 500cc grand prix racing, the Rothman Honda’s partnership would yield four world championships in total and will remain one of the biggest milestones in Honda’s racing history.
6- Repsol Honda RC213V (2013-2023)
Now this one’s gonna bring a lot of disputation!
Despite getting a lot of shtick for not changing their theme for up to ten years, I still think that from 2013 to 2023, Repsol Honda had one of the most iconic liveries of all time.
For me, the simplistic orange, white, and red wash of Honda will always be synonymous with Honda’s true glory days. Something that fans will come around to in years to come.
A lot of recent antagonism towards the livery stems from the fact that it encompassed one of the most dominant eras in MotoGP, with Marc Marquez becoming Honda’s most successful rider in history by bringing in six premier-class world championships.
This era marks an acme in Honda’s racing history, as the Japanese brand has never gotten close to this level of success since Mick Doohan’s run of five world championships in the late 90’s.
So with the dominance shown by Marquez, along with Honda’s unwillingness to change its livery, fans do get a bit agitated, but I reckon that in a few years time, people will come around to realize how stunning the RC213V looked for those ten years.
A change in design and Marquez leaving Honda for Ducati in 2024, marks the end of what will be remembered as one of the most successful partnerships in history.
5- Camel Pramac Pons Honda RC211V (2003)
The early 2000s era had some of the most beguiling Honda liveries of all time, with the next three of five entrants coming from this era.
I just had to put the bright yellow Camel livery from 2003 on this list. It’s a stunning yet simplistic combination of blue and yellow, a proof that designers don’t necessarily need to go hard on the palette. Just choosing the right two colors will do!
Another reason why this bike sticks to mind is because of how well Max Biaggi’s iconic #3 and helmet design matched with the Pons livery. It was the year when Biaggi decided to switch to Honda from Yamaha.
The Roman Emperor would ride the RC211V to finish third in the rider’s championship with two wins and nine podiums.
4- Telefonica Movistar Honda RC211V (2004)
The early 2000s Movistar Honda liveries were lit, but it is the Telefonica version that does it for me.
In addition to the already flagrant blue and green, the introduction of Telefonica brought in a much-needed neon to the palette – especially for the wheel rims!
The 2004 Telefonica Movistar Honda achieved immense success as Sete Gibernau would go on to endure a season-long battle with Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha. Ultimately, it would be a second year in succession where the Spaniard would end up short of the title in second place.
3- Nickey Hayden’s Repsol Honda RC211V (2006)
2006 was a momentous year for MotoGP as it would mark the first year where Rossi’s iron defense of five world championships would come to an end, and what better rider to do it than the American Nickey Hayden.
The Kentuck Kid overturned a seemingly insurmountable 12-point advantage in favor of Rossi to win the world championship in the Valencia finale, making his RC211V a nostalgic memory for the fans.
The pictures of the late Nickey Hayden getting emotional with his helmet off, and the American flag wrapped around himself has to be one of the most memorable moments in all of sport’s history.
But beyond such milestones, the 2006 livery is also one of Repsol Honda’s very best-looking bikes.
I like the efficient use of blacks to make the numbers and Repsol colors pop. Also, the wavy line separating the red from the white was also a nice touch, making it less straightforward than the ones we’ve become used to in recent years.
The 2006 Repsol Honda is a simple design, but it’s the slight graphical deviances from the recent designs that make it livery masterclass.
2- Wayne Gardner’s Rothman Honda NSR500 (1989)
The Rothman liveries from the 80’s to the early 90’s were an absolute gem, but none of them came close to this marvelous 1989 championship-winning Rothman Honda, ridden by none other than ‘Steady’ Eddie Lawson.
With mostly similar design features to other Rothman Hondas, it’s once again the little details that make it a step above the rest – like better spacing of colors and resizing of logos and number spaces.
The livery along with the rider numbers are very distinguishable, making it one of the most recognizable liveries from the 1980’s. This design would go on to inspire later models of the NSR500 going into the 90’s when Mick Doohan entered the fray.
1- Nastro Azzurro Honda NSR500 (2001)
At number one, we have the Nastro Azzurro Honda, which Rossi took to win his first premier-class world championship. This NSR500 is also 500cc’s last-ever championship winner, making it one of the most prestigious machines in history.
It also became a point of contention between Rossi and Honda in recent years when the Italian claimed that Honda was ‘supposed to give him the bike,’ but the bike ‘never arrived’.
Being Rossi’s first world championship-winning machine as well as Honda’s last 500cc winner, whilst also being the first and only satellite machine to ever win a world championship, the Nastro Azzurro Honda remains the most sought-after machine in sport’s history – and it looked like an absolute prize!
