I’m going to start this in an oddball way: kudos to American Honda. Not because the new 2025 Honda Grom is a revelation – it’s a 2024 in different bodywork (which isn’t a bad thing, but that’s a discussion for later). I’m impressed with them because if I’ve learned anything from my experience with startups, no one gets fired doing the usual same bullshit, even if it’s boring. And that’s why press launches are usually the same ol’ stuff. But Honda proved me wrong and made my week (if not month) with an event that was a genuine challenge. Welcome to the Grom Prix, a three-hour endurance race!
You know it’s official when the event has stickers!
Normally when I go to press launches and a manufacturer wants to do something different than the usual guided street time (or open track time if you’re on a sportbike), it’s something a little half-assed. Hell, my first-ever press launch included a “shooting competition” which was basically firing a handgun roughly six times. With that said, the vain part of me is obligated to mention that I still have my trophy from winning that. Because it was my first ever press launch, I got concerned that they would all be so silly.
Years later, I get an invite from Honda for an “endurance race” and I assumed it was going to be a diluted version – everyone rides for 15 minutes or something similar. Turns out, I was VERY wrong.
This was from the Yamaha SCR950 launch back in 2017.
Race Report – The Honda Grom Prix, Part 1
Photos by Drew Ruiz.
So when I got the invite, I thought the event would be so short that I busted out an old helmet that I haven’t used in years just because it had camera mounting equipment on it and I was feeling lazy. If I knew better I would have brought my new Alpinestars Supertech R10 and figured out how to mount a camera to it because it’s my go-to track helmet at the moment. I guess I owe you a review on that helmet soon, though I’m waiting on a couple of extras from A* (chin curtain and extended spoiler) before I write it up.
If I had to guess, the badassery of this event was clearly influenced by Colin Miller. Colin is Honda’s Assistant Manager of Public Relations and he has plenty of prior experience racing little bikes. Slide one photo over to check out one of his race Groms that’s done up in a sweet Smokin’ Joe’s tribute livery!
The Grom Prix was to be a three-hour endurance race (in the “lovely” heat and humidity of Alabama) and the rules were straightforward:
– Le Mans style start
– Five teams of three riders each
– Each rider had to complete a minimum of 45 minutes
– Each team had to come in for a fuel stop
Colin Miller explains how this race is going to work.
Teams were drawn out of a hat at a group dinner the night before – I was one of the earliest riders called to draw, and I picked Team #3. I was the first to pick that number, so I waited to see who my teammates would be and I hoped that they would be quick!
Most of the attendees were the regular reviewers you’re familiar with, folks from Cycle World, RevZilla, Motorcycle.com, etc. There were also some YouTube folks and some ringers from Honda and sponsors of the event like MNNTHBX to make sure there were enough riders to fill up five teams of three.
Eventually everyone had picked a number, and our teams were set. I had never met my teammates before, but I was excited to get to know them. Meet Trevor Watson and Christian Dooley! Here’s a team photo from the next morning:
Trevor’s in the middle, Christian’s on the right. I’m hoping you know what I look like by now.
Among other things, Christian is as fast track guy/racer and part of the team at Chase on Two Wheels, a popular YouTube channel. Trevor is a Senior District Manager at American Honda who made the mistake of falling back in love with racing after he did it as a younger man. The problem is that he’s independent, and he’s also one of very few folks competing with Hondas. He’s riding a 6-year Honda CBR1000RR SP1 that’s basically stock except for Carbonin bodywork. His goal is to place in the top 20 and I was stunned to hear all of this because he self-funds everything and he has to take vacation time from his job with Honda to go racing.
We had to come up with a team name, and I was striking out. But seeing as Trevor’s team name in MotoAmerica was Sloppy Sprockets, I eventually said we should spiff him and call our team the same. That worked with my teammates, and thus we were christened.
After a night of catching up with friends in the hotel…
“Big E” over at Yoshimura is one of my favorite people in the motorcycle industry. His attitude is amazing – if you’re not smiling when you’re chatting with him, you might be dead.
…we attended Honda’s presentation on what’s new for the 2025 Grom and what our plans were for the day. The short answer is “not much,” but I will cover everything in a separate review of that little bundle of joy.
Meet the new bike (stock).
Our plans for the day were to have a practice session in the morning, a tour of the museum, some free time to relax, and then the race. Colin had one tip for us during his information session for the race: unlike most race bikes, the Groms still had the horns on them so we could use them to signal our teammates when we needed to come in for a rider switch. He also mentioned that timing would be provided by Sportbike Track Time, an organization that was simultaneously hosting a track day on the big track at Barber.
Colin also clarified that bikes would have some modifications, namely:
1. Ohlins suspension at both ends (FDK112 cartridge kit in the forks and a HO 047 Mini S36 shock)
2. MNNTHBX triple clamp with Driven clip-ons and Woodcraft rearsets
3. Yoshimura RS-9T stainless full exhaust
4. Kenda KD1 Kwick tires
All-in, these modifications would set you back about $2,000 to turn your Grom into your own budget racer.
Thanks to all of those companies for helping make this goofball event happen!
Honda granted us a 45 minute practice session in the morning to get familiar with the bikes and see if we wanted to make any minor changes to ergonomics and suspension. We all took about 10 minutes each with the bike and came in to discuss with each other. My main takeaway was that all three of us were bigger guys and were heavier than the suspension (despite the upgrade) was designed for. The Ohlins cartridge kit was not adjustable. The shock was partially adjustable, so we took out 2 clicks of rebound and added 2 clicks of compression. The other two guys got some practice laps but by the time I tried to go out after the change I was shut down because we had run out of time. Seeing as the next time I’d be able to ride the bike would be when I was racing, I asked Trevor what he thought so I could have some idea of what to expect when and he said that the rear end was more stable but the front was more prone to “knifing.”
“So I’ll probably tuck the front in that corner, then?”
That wasn’t particularly reassuring but I genuinely didn’t know what to expect so I figured I’d just wait till I could ride the bike and then go from there. Honda took us all to the museum for a fun tour which happend to be organized by my buddy Robert Pandya – more on that later. I haven’t had the time to write up that experience yet so I’ll stall with some shots from a previous visit to Barber and I’ll do an updated Picture Intermission soon!
After the museum visit we all got some free time so my team had a strategy session. This was primarily driven by Christian and Patrick, and I liked what they had to say. We spent quite a bit of effort poring through the Speedhive app looking up everyone’s timing and figuring out where our advantages could be. Based on the times, there team that most concerned us was: “Old Testament“, which was led by Bradley Adams from Cycle World. The general idea was to match rider against rider: we figured each team would be sending riders out for 30 minutes at a time or so and we’d just try to use averages to win. Christian was well matched up against one of their members as they had raced against each other before – during the practice session Christian was keeping him at bay. We then decided that I would square off with Bradley with the expectation that I would lose 1-1.5 seconds a lap and then Trevor would match up aginst their last teammate as we thought he could put 3-4 seconds on him a lap. My goal was clear but nervewracking – try to minimize the amount of damage Bradley could do to our team.
With our strategy in mind, we wanted to stall a bit and see who the other teams would be putting out first. Honda reps wanted each team to send one rider out to the start as they apparently were planning for the bikes to be on side stands, but I said that we should have all the team members out for the start as traditionally, you have a teammate hold your bike up and it would be better for social media/content purposes. But I guess I can admit now that I didn’t care about any of that. We just wanted an excuse for our whole team to be ready to go depending on who our rivals sent out. It worked, and it let us know that we should send Trevor out first.
If you’re not familiar with a “Le Mans Start“, the idea is that riders start on the other side of the track from their bike and have to sprint over to it, start it, and then commence the race. I’m going to have to do the same with my Honda CB160 race bike in AHRMA this season, though I don’t have the benefit of an electric start.
The horn sounded, Trevor ran over and made the Grom his new home for the foreseeable future, and I gave him a push to help with our start. Here’s some slow-mo (no audio) of the start. Trevor’s in the “Ride Red” suit:
It was time to race. In three hours, some of us would be winning trophies and some champagne – but only first place would get the bonus of a promotional foam Honda hat that had been signed by three members of Honda factory motocross team:
