Rare Honda VTR1000 in Beautiful Castrol Colours Costs £26,999

A very rare Honda VTR1000 SP-1 motorcycle, featuring the Castrol racing colours used by Colin Edwards in 2002, is available in the UK for £26,999.

The bike was originally commissioned by Honda to be designed in the SP-2 Castrol Race team colours that would go on to be used by the former MotoGP rider, and it was showcased across the Honda UK dealer network to promote the release of the VTR1000 that Edwards would ultimately win the championship with.

The 2002 title win was Edwards’ second aboard a Honda VTR1000 machine, after already winning the 2000 superbike championship, and in doing so he halted Ducati’s success with its famed 916 and 996 motorcycles.

Honda’s success in WorldSBK since 2002 has been nothing to shout about, as James Toseland in 2007 is the only rider to win a title with the manufacturer since Edwards.

But Toseland achieved his success with the CBR1000RR, not the Castrol VTR1000 that featured a V-twin engine. Until 1999 Honda had been using a 750cc V4 power unit in the WorldSBK championship, however, Ducati held the advantage thanks to its thumping V-twin that Carl Fogarty was busy winning championships with.

American rider John Kocinski did win a title for Honda in 1997, but with Ducati bouncing back straight away to win in 1998 and ’99, Honda used an ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ approach, as it built its own V-twin.

And the results were impressive as Edwards took the VTR1000 to the title in Honda’s first season using the new engine.

The bike that’s on sale from The Bike Specialists features the number one logo that Edwards used and includes the American flag. It is unregistered and has just five miles on the clock.

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