Honda Archives - CARS // MOTORBIKES

Honda VFR750R-RC30

In many ways, Honda’s VFR750R – better known as the RC30 – was the ultimate ‘race replica’. Visually, at least, there was little to distinguish it from the RVF 750 racer, on which it was based. Technically, too, it was along the same lines – allowing for the fact that no roadster is ever really going to compare with its competitive sibling. The RC30’s exhaust note, for instance, could never compete with that of the racer’s super-light, free-flowing set-up. Not if it was going to make it through the next MOT, anyway!

Nor, of course, was the RC30’s V4 engine going to be anything like on a par with the race version. That said, it still managed to output 112bhp – at 11,000rpm. Which gave a top speed of 153mph. More than enough for most wannabe GP stars! In like manner, the RC30’s handling was not going to get close to that of the apex-slashing track tool on which it was modelled. Again, though, optimal tuning of its suspension enabled a passable emulation of the race god of your choice!

American rider Fred Merkel took two consecutive WSB titles on the RC30 race bike – in ’88 and ’89. Briton Carl Fogarty did the same in motorcycling’s Formula One series. Endurance racing, too, was meat and drink to the RVF 750. So far as Honda were concerned, the RC30 was first and foremost a racer. There was little doubt, though, that the roadster benefited hugely from it. Certainly – with its low-slung front end, aluminium twin-spar frame and single-sided swingarm – the street bike looked seriously stunning. Honda’s commitment to the project, then, had paid double dividends. On both road and track, the VFR750R-RC30 did the business – in every sense of the word!

Honda NSX

For a car maker seeking feedback in the late Eighties, Ayrton Senna was probably first on your wish list! In ’89 – with the NSX in the pipeline – that was the enviable position in which Honda found itself. As luck would have it, Senna was in Japan, at the time. Honda wondered whether he would like to take the NSX prototype for a spin? What could the world’s finest F1 driver do, but accept! On returning the NSX to its technicians, Senna declared it impressive – but delicate. That could be remedied. In short order, Honda had made the car half as strong again.

A new NSX bagged you £5 change from £60K – which you, of course, used to tip Ayrton Senna! As supercars go, sixty grand was cheap. Assuming you considered the NSX a supercar, of course. Not everyone did – among them, some with pronounced European tastes. But – if you could stand a few withering looks from more ‘discerning’ drivers – the NSX gave you plenty of sports car bang for your bucks. Or indeed, yen. For a start, a top speed of 168mph was not to be sniffed at. It came courtesy of Honda’s VTEC V6. Said engine was fixed to the first all-aluminium chassis and suspension set-up installed in a production car. The result was fast acceleration – plus, firm but finely-tuned handling. Especially when Honda’s Servotronic steering system was added to the mix.

The design of the NSX was inspired by the F16 fighter plane. Good aerodynamics, then, were a gimme! With so much going for it, it is no surprise Honda held a special place in its heart for the NSX. Only their best engineers were allowed anywhere near it. Okay – so Honda did not have quite the cachet of supercars’ past masters. That said, the NSX still had plenty to offer less picky connoisseurs … particularly ones who liked a bargain!

Honda NR750

Few road-going superbikes are quite so race-bred as the Honda NR750. It was a direct descendant of Honda’s NR500 GP bike. The NR roadster was released in ’92. That was a decade or so on from when the four-stroke racer had been slugging it out with Suzuki and Yamaha ‘strokers’. Well, trying to, at any rate. The plucky Honda was always disadvantaged against its free-revving two-stroke rivals. As a result, Honda’s NR500 race bike was retired in ’81.

The feature for which the NR is famous is its oval pistons. Technically, they were not, in fact, oval. Rather, they were lozenge-shaped. At any rate, the ‘ovoid’ pistons were the NR’s most clear-cut connection with its racing ancestry. End of the day – whatever form they took – they obviously worked! The NR delivered 125bhp – at 14,000 rpm. Top speed was 160mph. That was notwithstanding the NR’s weight – a tubby 489lb. While the NR’s performance was impressive – it was not earth-shattering. Honda had done its best to pull a V8 rabbit out of a V4 hat. Effectively, to double it up. With that in mind, the NR’s V4 engine was fitted with eight fuel injectors and titanium conrods. Four camshafts depressed thirty-two lightweight valves. Sadly, though, the modifications did not equate to twice the speed!

The NR’s styling was almost as adventurous as its engineering. Its screen was titanium-coated, for instance. That was backed up by a brilliant finish – in every sense of the word. The paintwork and polished aluminium frame were particularly lustrous. The bike’s build quality was equally dazzling. In every department, then, the NR delivered. Above all, it oozed charisma – mainly on account of its unique engine configuration. Bikes like the NR tend not to clock up too many owners. And not just because of high price tags and running costs. Such a machine grants access to motorcycling’s inner sanctum. Arguably – more than any other roadster – it mixed visual and technological exoticism. For the Honda NR750, then, glamour was never going to be an issue!

Honda CB77

The CB77 was a landmark bike for Honda. The firm began in Hamamatsu, Japan. In a wooden shed! Just as Harley-Davidson had done, in Milwaukee, USA … except theirs was made out of tin! Okay – so sheds is where similarities end between the two marques! Of course – like Harley-Davidson – what Soichiro Honda’s company went on to achieve is the stuff of motorcycling legend. Not surprising, really. That small shed was home to the Honda Technical Research Institute. In its early days, that is!

Three years in and Honda produced its first bike. The 98cc machine was dubbed the Dream. Sales were sound. That set the scene for the two bikes which put Honda on motorcycling’s map – the CB72 and CB77. The larger of the two – the 305cc CB77 – was launched in ’63. It was up against the ‘Brit bikes’ of the early Sixties. They ruled the two-wheeled roost, at the time. Not for much longer! Next to the likes of Triumph and Norton, the ‘Jap bike’ came supremely well-equipped. In engineering terms, it blew them away. While it did not quite clock up the mythical ‘ton’ – the 100mph so beloved of British riders – its acceleration was scorching. By comparison with Brit bikes, at any rate. And anyway – with a top speed of 95mph – it came cigarette-paper close! The CB77’s parallel twin motor revved out to 9,000rpm. The bike weighed in at just 350lb dry. Do the math!

Several factors gave the CB77 the edge over similarly-sized British bikes. Top of the list was engine design. A 180° crankshaft allowed the two pistons to move up and down alternately – balancing each other out. That took the smoothness of the ride to another level – at least, relative to the Brit bikes. The engine was held securely in situ by a tubular steel frame. Telescopic front forks – and twin rear shocks – raised the suspension game, too. Two sets of solid, sure-stopping drum brakes were fitted. The net result was that the CB77 accelerated smoothly, handled well and pulled up in short order. On top of all that, it was oil-tight and reliable. Not something that could be said of every British-made bike! In the States, it was sold as the Super Hawk. The CB77, then, was Honda’s first attempt at a full-on sports bike. Suffice to say – there were more to come!

Honda RA302

Honda’s RA302 car was a while in the making. The Japanese giant arrived in F1 in ’64. It brought with it a transversely-mounted V12 motor. A complex masterpiece of engineering, it was the talk of the GP world. It took Honda nearly two seasons to make it to the top step of the podium. The first win came in Mexico – in the final race of the 1.5-litre era. If Honda thought they had cracked it, they were ahead of themselves. In ’66 and ’67, results were lacklustre. At the time, all F1 engines were heavy. Honda’s exotic V12, though, tipped the scales at 100lb more than its rivals. Not ideal!

Thankfully for Honda, John Surtees was on the driving roster. By the start of the ’68 season, he had helped develop the RA301 car. It was tidier of design than its predecessor. It was also more powerful. Surtees was assured that a lightweight V12 was on its way. At that point, head honcho Soichiro Honda threw a spanner in the works. Well, it was his works, to be fair! Honda-san’s priority was selling N600 saloon cars. Their engines were still air-cooled. Honda’s increasingly successful motorcycles were also on Soichiro’s mind. They, too, were air-cooled. For Mr Honda, bread and butter business trumped motorsport. He instructed the race department to come up with an air-cooled motor – to match the roadsters’ powerplants. The lightweight V12 Surtees had been promised was mothballed.

In due course, Soichiro got his air-cooled F1 car. Parked in Silverstone’s paddock, the Honda RA302 looked a dream. Light and compact, its 120° V8 sat snugly at the back of a monocoque chassis. When the time came to fire it up, Innes Ireland was at the wheel. The erstwhile Lotus legend was now a journalist. Ireland was about to take the RA302 out for its first test-drive. When he returned to the paddock, it was not with good news. Handling-wise, he said, the new car was all over the shop. Surtees’ mood that day was already testy – and Ireland’s report did not improve it. Surtees had not even known the car was coming, until the last minute. Never mind that it was already entered in the upcoming French GP. Surtees declined to have anything further to do with the RA302 – which was clearly way underdeveloped. Honda France duly stepped into the GP breach. Jo Schlesser – looking to move from F2 to F1 – would do the driving at Rouens. Come race day, the French weather was dreadful. Schlesser – and the RA302 – started towards the back of the grid. Surtees, meanwhile – driving the RA301 – was vying for the lead. On only the second lap, Schlesser’s new air-cooled engine let go. The RA302 careened into a bank and caught fire. Tragically, the French ace died in the blaze. Later that year – in the Italian GP, at Monza – Surtees did finally drive the recalcitrant RA302. But, to no avail. At the end of the ’68 season – perhaps chastened by the RA302 experience – Honda withdrew from racing. It did not return until the Eighties!

Honda RC166

6-cylinder bikes – like the Honda RC166 – are a rarity on the road. Even more so at the racetrack. Motorcycles are suckers for straight lines. To the motorbike mindset, corners are burdensome things – involving the manipulation of mass. And, the more mass there is, the less keen on cornering the bike becomes. More cylinders mean more mass – which means more meandering through the twisty bits. Well, according to the standard laws of physics, that is. The Honda RC166, however, obviously did not do things by the book. Having half a dozen cylinders strapped across its frame did not seem to bother it one jot. Numerous race wins – and world championships – were testament to that.

The writing was on the wall back in ’59. That was the year in which the Japanese first took part in the Isle of Man TT road races. As it turned out, that season brought Honda only modest success. Subsequent visits to the island, though, saw them decimate all-comers. The Sixties were a heyday for Honda. In ’66, Mike Hailwood won 10 out of 12 GPs – on the 250 RC166. On top of that, he took the 350 title – on a bored-out 297cc bike. The following year – in ’67 – he blitzed the latter class again.

As befitted a bike with a ‘six-pack’, the RC166 was enviably slim. Its fuel-tank was vintage-style slender. It was clearly designed with ‘flickability’ in mind. A dry weight of just 264lb was perfectly aligned with that. As well as its petite proportions, the RC166 brought raw power to the table. 24 small valves – 4 per cylinder, by my maths – spun up 18,000rpm. 60bhp was the much-cherished result. Certainly – combined with its skinny physique – it was more than enough to get the job done. Throw a rider like Mike Hailwood into the mix, and it was a cinch. To racing’s cognoscenti – especially those of a musical bent – the bike’s exhaust note was a six-cylinder symphony. For many fans, old school shots of ‘Mike the Bike’ Hailwood on an RC166 are as good as it gets. Hurrah for Honda and its high-speed six-pot … bike racing had moved up a gear!

Honda CB750

There is a case to be made for considering the Honda CB750 to be the point at which motorcycling’s modern age began. Technically, it was released in ’69 – but its presence so suffused the Seventies that it cannot but be grouped with bikes of that decade. Kawasaki’s Z1 is often thought of as the first Japanese ‘superbike’. Timeline-wise, though, it was the CB750 that was first out of the traps – and by a full four years, at that.

The CB750’s four across-the-frame cylinders were a clear signal there was a new kid on biking’s block. The shiny quartet of chrome exhausts reinforced the message. The CB750 was a muscular-looking motorcycle. But, it was stylish muscularity. The rounded tank was sleek and shapely. The multi-spoked wheels were a latticed delight. Paintwork and chrome vied for attention. At the time, the CB’s front disc brake was technologically advanced. Highish handlebars – and a well-padded seat – were tailor-made for long journeys. So, it made sense for the 750 to be pitched as the perfect all-rounder.

Unsurprisingly, the CB was a big success in the showrooms. That was only to be expected from a bike which topped out at 125mph – and also handled well. Honda’s rivals duly fell over themselves to try to match it. Over time, then, the CB750 furthered motorcycling’s cause. By setting a benchmark, it forced manufacturers worldwide to follow suit. In the form of the Honda CB750, the day of the modern Jap classic had dawned!