P96
F E A T U R E
Today, it is hard to envision a Grand Prix grid
filled with 50cc racing machines capable of
exceeding 100 mph. But for decades, the 50cc GP
class was one of the most fiercely contested, a
class that inspired Honda to dream up some tasty
technology indeed.
In 1962, the 50cc class was granted World
Championship status, and by the mid-1960s,
the two-stroke competition in the class had
become truly formidable. Some of the two-strokes
resorted to 18-speed gearboxes, a necessity when
achieving peak power resulted in a powerband
only 50 rpm wide.
Honda had been racing in the 50cc class
without a championship until 1965, when the
company won the title on an RC115, the immediate
predecessor of the RC116 seen here. Compared
to the two-strokes, the four-stroke RC116 was
considerably easier to ride, with so much power
on tap that it needed "only" a nine-speed box. With
two cylinders, it shared bore-and-stroke numbers
with the five-cylinder RC149 but revved even
higher, to an astronomical 22,500 rpm.
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