HRC has built a race-only Honda MSX125 Grom - and we want one!

THE announcement that the Honda MSX125 Grom was living on in 2021 as a Euro5 machine was widely welcomed by the global motorcycle fraternity. But the cute and cuddle Grom has just been given a shot in the arm, as Honda has just announced an HRC-spec race only version!

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The bike is going to be fielded in a one-make race series called the HRC Grom Cup in Japan. As you’d expect with a race-only machine, the little Grom has been given a thorough going over to improve its on-track prowess.

Gone are all the road-going safety equipment, ABS, lights, horn, and so on. Instead, the bike uses a race harness and ECU, HRC body panels and belly pan, sticky treaded tyres, and the obligatory high-level race exhaust. We can’t find any specific details around the output of the machine, although given the number of changes – and HRC’s magic box of spanners – it’s likely to be significantly higher than the stock bike.

The HRC Grom Cup is not a new idea, it’s been running in Japan for some time now with huge grids filling up venues like Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. The racing is fast and furious too, with huge groups battling for position as they make the most of the all-important slipstream effect along the straights. If you’ve ever seen Honda C90 racing, also called ‘Plop’ racing, you’ll be familiar with the site of huge packs of bikes all fighting for one piece of track.

Sadly we can’t find any information on if these bikes will ever make it out of Japan, although you can bet your bottom dollar there will be aftermarket kits to give your road-going Grom the HRC treatment!