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Dual 10-inch stainless steel
front discs are drilled and have a
groove milled around their circumference.
Shown partially disassembled after the race, Honda's new RS250R has an aluminum alloy chassis.
The entire main frame and front end of the RS250R are shared with a new
Japanese-market street bike introduced April 23.
New 249cc 90° V-Twin has carburetors between the cylinders, feeding
through reed valves. Carbs are hidden by a plastic still-air dam.
Close-up
Honda's new
RS250R
FonnulaTwo
V-Twin
Sam McDonald rides the RS250R and his older brother Phil tunes it. Sam
and Phil won the 1982 Formula Two Championship with a Yamaha.
Square-section frame tubes fit between ribs in cast steering head.
Remote knob selects hydraulic
shock spring preload positions.
By John Ulrich
American Honda Motor Co. will sell limited
numbers of the RS250R Formula Two racebike first ridden last week at Riverside Raceway by Sam McDonald. McDonald, the 1982
Formula Two National Champion, finished second at Riverside after a race-long duel with
privateer Dave Busby on a
14
Yamaha TZ250L, the latest version of
the long-time standard of the class.
The new machine has a 90° VTwin two-slrokeengine, water-cooled
with reed valve induction and two
34mm oval-slide Keihin carburetors
placed between the cylinders. Bore
and stroke are 56 x 50.6mm, displacement 249cc. Claimed horsepower
for the bike McDonald rode, which
Honda Racing Manager Udo Ceitl
describes as "mildly tuned, to run on
95-octane race gas," is 66 bhp at
11,750 rpm. Claimed torque is 29.5
-lb.-fl. at 11,250 rpm.
