Honda‘s company colours have long been red and white/silver, and this is reflected on the liveries of the Japanese manufacturer’s factory motorsport programmes. Beginning with the SCORE International Baja 500 in June, however, Honda Talon Factory Racing will buck that trend by adding some blue.
The off-road team unveiled a new, uniform paint scheme for its trio of Talon UTVs on Tuesday, replacing much of the white on the sides with two tones of blue. Previously, the Talons had predominantly white sides with grey accents that created a checkered flag-style pattern.
The red Honda Racing logo on the side is ditched in favour of the Honda Talon name in white. The Talon’s dual clutch transmission, which uses metal gears instead of a belt like a traditional continuously variable transmission, is also emphasised. Outside of the aesthetic change, the Talon will also sport new forged wheels from KMC.
With all three cars running the same design, the team breaks away from having differing looks. The new livery is modelled after the former ones on the flagship UTVs driven by Zach Sizelove (#1925) and Elias Hanna (#1920), which featured red along the rear and hood. Development driver Ethan Ebert‘s #1999 was exclusively white save for red and silver stripes on the hood.
The reveal also comes in conjunction with Honda débuting the Talon 1000 Sport lineup for consumers.
Ebert wrote on Instagram, “This new livery came out clean!! We are excited to show of these new livery’s down at the Baja 500 brining the red white and blue down to Mexico!”
It is not known if the Honda Ridgeline division will follow suit. The Ridgeline, primarily driven by Honda Off-Road principal Jeff Proctor, won the Class 7 crown at last year’s Baja 1000 but skipped the 2022 SCORE World Desert Challenge opener in San Felipe. The Talon department also did not enter the San Felipe 250 after Hanna won the 2021 Baja 1000’s Pro UTV Naturally Aspirated class. Sizelove and Ebert finished 1–2 atop the Pro UTV NA leaderboard in March’s Mint 400 for Honda’s maiden victory in the event.
Pre-running for the Baja 500 began last Saturday, while racing kicks off on 4 June. Proctor has won Class 7 in each edition of the race since 2018, while Sizelove and Elias respectively placed second and fifth in their class in 2021. Ebert, who grew up in short course racing before joining Honda, is making his Baja début.
