Over the past 25 years respected classic bike restorer and valuer George Beale, has developed a strong relationship with the Japanese manufacturer and was granted special permission to recreate 10 replicas of the RC174 racer which Mike Hailwood used to cakewalk the 1967 350cc world title.

The book documents George’s fascinating engineering journey to recreate this racing marvel without the help of factory drawings, but by using one of the remaining Hailwood mounts to reverse engineer the ultimate collectors’ items.

The acclaimed volume also tells the incredible story of Soichiro Honda’s obsession with beating the two-stroke threat, posed by rival Japanese manufacturers Yamaha, and how it almost bankrupt the Honda Motor Company.

The back story describes how the company won its first world championship with Mike Hailwood on a privately entered 250 four cylinder machine in 1961 but then destroyed its relationship with the prodigious talent by charging his father for airfreighting the machine to Europe!

Five years later the relationship was repaired when Hailwood returned to Honda after a successful career with MV and delivered the founder's dream.

To coincide with the 60th anniversary of the birth of the Honda Six, the book is available through this website and represents a superb souvenir of the most famous racing motorcycle ever built.

Follow our weekly adaptation of this amazing racing and engineering chronicle (under Moments in Time), starting with Jim Redman’s bitter sweet memories of the machine’s Monza debut in 1964……