Hero Honda to enter motorsport?

A circular from FMSCI says that the Hero Honda CBZ X-Treme, the Glamour (normal one) and the Glamour (fuel injected) have all been cleared to participate in Indian motorsport. Okay, who said, 'what's that?' No, seriously. As of April 20, 2007, the Hero Hondas may legally line up on the grids and set apexes and straights afire. According to the ulta-brief news bit I received, and I quote

Worldwide, only those vehicles whose technical details are made available to the National motorsport federation and verified by them are only allowed to participate in motorsporting events, so as to ensure safe and fair competition.

Unquote. The Glamour (124.8cc) and the CBZX (149.2cc) will be in action at the six round 2007 Ucal Rolon NRRC. The first round is between April 27 and 29 at Coimbatore. TVS has long complained that there isn't any manufacturer interest in racing, and it seems they're getting what they want.

On the other hand, manufacturer's routinely use the racetrack to test new ideas which eventually filter down to street bikes. So it is interesting that Hero Honda (the sole motorcycle brand without its own R&D setup; it relies on Honda R&D, which works with/for both Honda and Hero Honda) is entering racing. I would have thought that Honda entering would have made a lot more sense.

But hey, this could be the reason why the CBZX gets a 14.2 bhp engine, while the other bikes from the same bloodline all make do with 13.3 bhp engine. In effect, if all of that conjecture were true, the CBZX becomes nearly a homologation special. Funneeee....

In other news, Shashi Kapoor, who used to head motorsport at Maruti, recently moved to Hero Honda.