Honda at 700 MotoGP wins: Remembering Australian rider Tom Phillis, who took their first win

HONDA has amassed 700 race wins across MotoGP’s classes. But it was an Australian rider, Tom Phillis, who took their first.

Will Dale

3 min read

August 11, 2015 - 5:40PM

THEY were the two letters that would lead to an Australian putting his name to a milestone moment in world motorcycle history.

The first letter was from a Japanese man, Soichiro Honda. His dream was to see motorcycles bearing his name winning races around the world.

The letter addressed the employees of his growing company in 1954, advising them Honda was readying to take its first step towards that dream by sending a team of bikes and riders to the Isle of Man TT, then the greatest litmus test for a racing motorcycle in the world.

The second letter was from an Australian man, Tom Phillis. It was addressed to Soichiro Honda himself: he wanted to help Honda’s dream become a reality.

Within weeks of the letter being posted, Phillis would be signed as Honda’s first non-Japanese rider.

In 1961, he took the first of Honda’s now 700 race wins at world championship level. Six months later, he became a world champion for Honda.

Phillis winning the 1961 Spanish 125cc Grand Prix.

Phillis’s victory in the 1961 Spanish 125cc Grand Prix ensured Phillis’s name still lives front and centre of what is now a sporting powerhouse.

Greats such as Mick Doohan, Valentino Rossi, Mike Hailwood, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Gardner and Casey Stoner have since raced and won aboard Hondas. Last weekend, Marc Marquez notched up Honda’s 700th race win in taking out the Indianapolis MotoGP.

But Phillis, a 27-year-old from Marrickville in Sydney’s inner west, will forever be recorded in MotoGP’s history books as scoring victory No.1.

Tom Phillis.

He started racing in local events in the mid-1950s, and by 1957 was fast enough to beat the Aussie riders returning home from the European scene to tackle Australia’s summer season.

Suitably enticed, Phillis and young wife Betty sold all their possessions and headed to Europe so he could compete on the world stage in 1958.

After two seasons of logging impressive performances on privately-entered machinery, Phillis wrote his letter to Honda.

He had his answer soon enough. Phillis would take his signature white and red helmet with the kangaroo on the peak to Honda, where he would become the first in a long line of Australians to uphold the factory’s honour, a line that continues today with rising MotoGP star Jack Miller.

Phillis (L) shares a smile with Honda teammates after a race.

Success was not instant. Honda were far from the goliath of today, and Phillis and his teammates initially struggled through a painful development phase.

Their faith was rewarded in 1961, when Honda rolled out a fleet of its best machines yet to tackle the 125cc and 250cc championships.

The new bikes dominated. Honda swept all but four wins in 22 races across both classes and romped to both world titles.

Along with the first race victory for Honda at the season-opener in Barcelona Phillis romped to three more wins, clinching the world championship with victory over teammate Jim Redman in Argentina.

Phillis beats Redman to the line to clinch the world title.

Phillis returned home a hero to a civic reception in Sydney, and was beaten to the ABC’s prestigious Sportsman of the Year award only by Richie Benaud.

Tragically, Phillis’s time at the top was fleeting.

Chasing good friend Gary Hocking in the 1962 Junior TT race at the Isle of Man, Phillis crashed heavily at the fast Laurel Bank curve. He died on the way to hospital, aged just 28, leaving behind Betty and two young children, Debra and Bradden.

But he will always be remembered as the first rider to win for a company who would become synonymous motorcycle racing.

HONDA’S MILESTONE WINS

No. 1 — 1961 125cc Spanish Grand Prix
Tom Phillis (AUS)