Intermot: Honda's CRF450 Rally

THIS is the bike that Honda hopes will take it back to the era of Dakar dominance, returning to a race that Honda won five times in nine attempts during the 1980s.

Based on the production CRF450X, the Rally gets the usual rallye-raid alterations: more space for fuel in panniers and low-mounted side tanks, a fairing and a navigation system in the form of a back-lit map roll on electrically-powered rollers. Who needs sat nav, eh? In fact it's designed to carry the 'road book' that all competitors get – a set of standardised pace notes that competitors can make their own notes on top of.

There will be five riders in the Honda team – 11-time Baja 1000 winner Johnny Campbell (USA), along with Helder Rodrigues (Portugal), Felipe Zanol (Brazil), Sam Sunderland (UK) and Javier Pizzolito (Argentina).

Already tested in Japan, the bike is due to compete for the first time in the Morocco Rally from October 14 as a warm-up to next year's Dakar.

You will be able to see this bike at the NEC Motorcycle Live from 24th November to 2nd December.