Resurrection : the experts

Dick " Bugsy " :
AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) Grand National Champion in '63 and '71, winner of the Daytona 200 in '70 and '71. A dominant rider at a time when professionals raced on dirt tracks one weekend and paved circuits the next; Mann was perhaps the most versatile American champion ever and certainly one of the most popular.

Bob Hansen :
One of American Honda Motor Company's first employees, and one of the very few non-Japanese to be an insider during the secretive development of the CB 750. It was Hansen who convinced Honda to officially enter the Daytona 200 as a factory effort. He managed the American contingent of the '70 Daytona four-bike Honda Team. When Honda announced they would field only European riders with Grand Prix experience, it was Hansen who insisted that one bike go to an American rider. Hansen's choice was Dick Mann.

Ron Robbins, Bob Hansen, Bob Jameson.

Bob Jameson and Ron Robbins :
Chief mechanics for the Mann / Hansen Team at Daytona '70. They were the men at American Honda with the greatest hands-on knowledge of the Honda CB 750 Racing Team.

The two Bobs 33 years later : “Memories, memories”

Jean-Louis Guillou :
Head of Honda France at the time and director of racing. After Daytona, two Honda CB 750 Racing Types were sent to Guillou, who oversaw the conversion of the machines into endurance racers.

Pierre Laurent Chauvet :
Among other duties, initially a mechanic for the racing department, subsequently rose through the ranks to become the head of Honda France. Laurent Chauvet is in possession of the same valuable “hands-on” knowledge as his American counterparts.

Mr. Patrick Bodden and Mr. Pierre-Laurent Chauvet,
Technical manager at Honda France at the time of Honda 750 CR.

Daniel M :
An auto-body repairman and restoration specialist with a two-man shop in the Paris suburbs. Also an avid motorcyclist, 25 years ago he performed auto repairs for a Parisian Honda dealer. When the dealer proved to be short of cash, M. took an obsolete racing motorcycle, disassembled and shoved into boxes, as payment for services rendered.

Patrick Bodden :
Washington area architect and columnist for Motorcyclist Magazine. As the director of Heritage Racing, an enthusiast group specializing in historical research and vintage racing of Honda motorcycles, Bodden maintains a valuable professional relationship with American Honda Motor Company. Of French-American origin and educated in France and in the United States, Bodden is uniquely qualified to organize and direct this project.

The American journalist Patrick Bodden stands here on the right : without him, nothing would have been possible.
He made his friend Bob Hansen come to France with the two mechanics (Ron Robbins as lead mechanic and Bob Jameson as engine supervisor) who then worked on Dick Mann’s bike.

Mark Gardiner :
Writer and photographer, his work has been published extensively in the United States, Canada and Great Britain. Gardiner is a regular contributor to Motorcyclist Magazine and the author of Classic Motorcycles (Barnes & Noble Press). Residing in Paris and fluent in French, Gardiner is also able to provide unique bi-cultural input on this project.

Motorcycle journalists Patrick Bodden, Mark Gardiner are compiling the definitive account of Mann's Honda CB 750 Racing Type, a motorcycle, more than any other, which has to date been defined as much by myth, half-truths, and rumors, as by documented historical fact and technical accuracy. That the motorcycle has been lost for 30 years has made its story intriguing and arduous, if not maddening, to reconstruct, but fascinating to tell.

The Hansen Team in Paris