Honda Worldwide

Cultivating a Field of Dreams

<<	1. A Passion for Excellence
<<	2. Initiative Turns the Tide of Development
<<	3. Corporate Ideals: Keeping the Faith
<<	4. Fostering the Ties of Trust
<<	5. It's Your Dream. Don't Ever Give Up!
<<	6. Passion Brings Down the Walls
<<	7. A Constant Search for Challenges
<<	8. Sharing the Dream
<<	9. Cultivating a Field of Dreams

Chairman Andrew Craig of CART, the organizing body in charge of the Indy Car Race series, visited Twin Ring Motegi in March 1996, while it was still under construction. "Are you crazy?" Craig said, clearly awestruck by the scope of construction. "It looks as if you're building a dam." However, he followed that remark with an expression of high hopes for the project. "We want to bring our race to Japan," he said, "just as we've done in Brazil and Australia. And we'll see it happen right here." Craig could not have been more correct, for in November of that year an agreement was signed to hold Japan's first Indy Car Race event in the spring of 1998 at Twin Ring Motegi.

Forty-five enthusiastic people joined Twin Ring Motegi in April 1997 as the new company's first employees. The grand opening was drawing near, and the recruits would have to do their very best in order to prepare for it . Then, on July 31, more than 2,000 people including, the landowners, local residents, government officials, construction personnel, and staff and representatives from Honda, gathered at Twin Ring Motegi. Kawamoto spoke before a large audience following the cutting of the tape:

Twin Ring Motegi is surrounded by a great abundance of nature. Let's make it a creative place with an eye toward the values we hold dear, in trust for the future. It will be a meeting place between people and vehicles, people and nature, and people and people.

The project team formed in February 1986 was dissolved on October 1, 1997, when Twin Ring Motegi Co., Ltd., began full-scale operations. In March 1998, Japan's first Indy Car Race was held on the oval course there. A crowd of 55,000 cheered as this classic American motor-sports got under way, galvanizing them with thunderous sound, awesome speed, and the constantly changing positions of professional drivers.

A great series of plans had thus been brought to life by the employees of Honda at a place known as Twin Ring Motegi. These included the opening of the Honda Collection Hall and Hotel Twin Ring, along with the introduction of the Side-by-Side Formula Car beginners' track and ICVS futuristic traffic system. Today, Twin Ring Motegi continues to evolve as a giant mobility park that mirrors the possibilities of the future.

A goal is established beneath a great and inspiring dream, and with determination the people of vision strive toward that goal in order to realize the dream. This is the spirit of Honda; a spirit of endeavor that has been kept alive for fifty years.

Without that spirit, a project the size of Twin Ring Motegi would have quickly overwhelmed any effort to conquer it. Today, Twin Ring Motegi stands as a new mission for the next generation of Honda employees to fully and earnestly utilize a facility to mark the 50th anniversary of Honda's founding.

Twin Ring Motegi is a field of dreams where dreams are sown and nurtured. It is truly Honda's gift to the 21st century.

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