Are Orange Wheels On Team Repsol A Thing Of The Past?
Repsol has been teamed up with Honda Racing as the title sponsor of their factory MotoGP team since 1995, a since then the Repsol livery has become a staple of in the motorcycle industry, both on and off the track. Its frequent domination of the podiums kept it in the spotlight, so much so that Honda slapped the livery on almost every CBR street bike they offer to the cheers of buyers and dealers across the world. In fact, we actually have our very own 2013 CBR600RR Repsol Edition here at Gear Up / Knee Down offices. The bright orange wheels have always been a pain to keep clean, but when they are, there is no comparison to any other wheel we’ve seen.
Orange wheels on the Repsol Honda make it easy to spot almost anywhere and have become synonymous with the team. In fact, since their partnership began, there has only been one race season that the livery didn’t sport full orange wheels and opted for orange pinstripes along the lip of the wheel. That season being the 2002 team with Valentino Rossi.
The reign of orange ends in 2023 however. Repsol Honda have traded their signature orange powder coat for a fluorescent red that matches that of the other vibrant red within the livery and have thrown fans for a bit of a loop. As the orange elements within the livery get smaller and smaller, the red seems to be taking over.
We’ve yet to see if the new race branding will spread to Repsol’s other racing efforts in other motorsports, all of which have used orange wheels for decades.
As interesting as dissecting a race livery can be, the one thing that fans are clamoring for the most is a fast machine for Marquez and Mir to ride to the podium on. With a troubling testing season and uncharacteristically harsh words spoken from the factory riders about Honda’s efforts to improve the machine, fans are worried that the 2023 season will see the Honda riders fighting to maintain with the middle of the pack. With so many Ducati’s on the grid, it’s easy to see how this could happen as they continue to dominate the time sheets and gain massive praise as being the best bike on the grid.
Regardless orange or red wheels, if you have a Repsol Honda machine, just know that you have a homage to racing history.
