'"
Radical? Nobody defines radical more than Elf, with the latest RS500powered Elf 2 taking up where the four-stroke Elf endurance racers left
off. Elf has no frame, tank under engine.
(Continued from page 58)
caused Spencer to be off the pace in
AusLria and the handling difficuhies
that caused him to be only fifLh fastest at Assen.
Honda were not helped by the false
stan they made to the season in South
Africa where the carbon·fiber rear
wheel of the four collapsed in practice and Spencer did not race. Aluminium wheels have been used on the
rear inee then, although carbon-fiber
wheels are still on the fronL.
At the first round in Europe, at .
Misano, Spencer was in fine form on
the four. beating Eddie Lawson by a
clear margin. The win seemed easy
but the margin might have been flattering to the four as Lawson, by his
own admission, made the wrong choice of rear tire.
Spencer missed the Spanish round
because of his Donington Park crash
but later events suggest that he might
have had Lrouble beating Law on,
who was in superb form. At the next
race, in AusLria, Spencer was in LrOUble, or at least the machine was.
Spencer was fastest in the first session
but afLer that struggled to get within
haJf-a-second of that time.
The race was something of a disaster for Honda as Spencer only
reached second place thanks to some
unsubtle team riding from Mamola
and the bike cenainly did not sound
sLrong. The following weekend at the
new N urburgring Spencer seemed to
be having similar difficulties and
with the poor weather conditions
there was no time for experimentation. An overnight dash back to the
Belgian race headquaners retrieved
a mothballed '83
500 three-cylinder
for Spencer to race.
"I had forgotten just what a good
machine the three was," said Spencer,
"Especi
