Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Takazumi Katayama's RS500 V-three has a Nico Bakkerframe with adjustable rake and trail , instead of a . works Honda frame. . mu st ha ve sw u ng rig h t across the track just as I brak ed because h e hit me in th e side. I let th e bra kes go and co u ld n' t slo w too fast becau se a ll the wreckage was followi ng me dow n the track." Follow in g riders also had to swer ve to avo id th e wreckage and de Radigu es was lu ck y to escape with some nasty a bras io ns . Both hi s lea thers an d bac k protector were worn thro ugh . Mike Bal d win was eq ually lu ck y to be unhurt after a fa st fa ll on a dow nh ill sectio n whe n a n experi me n ta l front tire slid away from h i m . The bik e slid into the cu rb wi th suc h im pact tha t it bu ckl ed th e l 7-in ch rea r wh eel and p u lled the end o u t of th e sus pe ns io n co n necting rod . Th e wh eel was p u nc hed straigh t up th rough th e sea t. Unlike t he standard RS250R , Spencer's RS250RW has a dualthrottle, single-magnesium-casting carburetor feeding directly int o the' crankcases through t riple-peta l reed valves. Notes from Spain By Peter Clifford There were some horrific crashes during practice for the Spanish G P and Manfred Herweh was pu t o u t of ac tion with a 18 brok en wri st. Gust av Reiner flew home to hav e a broken co llarbone wi red a fte r falling o n Thursday and th e list of less serio us fall ers is len gthy, incl ud ing Alan Ca rter (th ree times) , _ Au gu st Aui nger (tw ice), Martin Wim mer , H aro ld Eckl, Donn y McLeod , Si to Pons, Lor is Reggian i, Wolfgan g von Mur alt, T h ierry Espie, Didi er de Radi gues, Fa us to G ress ini. Dom inique Sarron , Mik e Ba ldw in , Freddie Spencer and ot hers. . Did ier de Rad igues . fell right in front o f the p its a lo ng th e sta n -fin ish straigh t wh en he ran into th e back o f R andy Mamola . T he Ca lifornian co uldn ' t believe wh at was happen ing. " I had pulled in th e cl u tch a nd sta rted to brak e because I was do in g a plu g chop. I had just pa ssed de Radi g ues bu t I had pulled rig ht across to th e righ t o f the track to ge t o ut o f h is way . H e a lways pulls in real fa st. behi nd yo u when you pass and he Spencer's in decisi o n Freddie Spe ncer was n ot impressed w ith th e wa y th ings wen t during tests o n th e V-four R othmans H onda a t the Yu gosl av GP ci rcui t o f R ijek a before the Spa nish GP. I t was stro ngly rumored th a t h e wo u ld rid e the o ld th ree-cy linde r mach ine at j arama bu t a lt hough he practi ced o n it he wa s under a lot o f pressure from th e fa ctory to rid e the four. T hey had gon e to Yugosla via to try a nd so lve th e front-end slidi ng problem s that had co nt ribu ted to him losing th e South Africa n G P. R ijeka will show upan y front-end weakness but it seem s th at H onda did no t ge t th e im p ro vem ent they were looking for. Spencer's works 250 .Ra rher th an being a specia l works version o f th e p rod uct ion RS 250R racer , Fredd ie Spe nce r's GP-winnin g 250 is half a V-fou r. It is ca lle d a n RS250R W and a ltho ug h it is a Vtwin lik e th e prod uc tion bike Spe ncer's machine has the V tipped further forward , like th e 500. T he prod uc tio n bike has a carbu retor on th e back o f each cy lin de r, feed in g th rough a reed va lve to the cyli nder. T he wor ks version feeds th rough reed valves direct ly to th e cra n kcases, just like the V-fou r. It has a si ngle cas ting , tw in- ch oke carburetor sitt ing o n the top of th e gearbox an d feed in g the cra n kcases just like the fou r. Mr. T ak eo Fukui, director of H onda Racing Corpora tio n (H RC) , maintai ns th at th e p ro ject is secre t bu t did co nfi rm th at Spe ncer's twi n an d th e four are part o f the sa me project, share the sa me bo re and stroke and have no parts in co m mon with th e productio n RS250R. This fami ly of engines will for m o Freddie Spencer's RS250RW is nothing like the RS250Rs sold around the world, and shares no parts with the works 250s of Mang and Ricci. th e basi s o f at least a new p ro du ct ion 250, co n fir me d Mr. Fuku i, an d perh aps a 500cc V-fo u r. Both engines have th eir reed valves turn ed thro ugh 90° compared to most reed .en gines. T his mea ns th at with th e reed va lve bank spl it verti call y the ai r flow between th e cra n k Ilvwheels is bett er. The adva n tage or't hese cra n kcaseind uction engines is tha t th ere is far more roo m for a bigger reed va lve tha n in th e back of th e cv li nder. It a lso leaves m ore room in the cylinder for tra nsfe r po rts . To ni Man g . the four-t im e 250cc an d 350cc World Cha m pion, is n ot thr illed with the fact th at Spence r h as a co mp letely-d ifferent machin e whe n h e th ou gh t h e ' had sig ne d on as a wo rks rid er. H e suggests th at th e reed va lve bo x in th e in let co n ta i ns a trip le reed a nd tha t the ATAC box es co n ta in ova l val ves in stead o f th e ro u nd butterflies found in th e p roduct ion . bikes. Th is h elps th e works bik e p ro duce m or e power tha n h is own ma ch ine. Spe ncer was ret ice n t a bo u t th e 250 a nd pointed ou t that it was on ly third fastest th rough th e speed tra p a t Kya la m i, Wh en it was sugges ted that it was half a V-four he sa id with a grin. " May be th at 's wh ere th e trouble sta rted ." At ' Suzu ka ci rcui t in j a pa n , H onda test rid er Takeo Abe fo und o u t ho w much bett er th e Spe nce r 'mach in e is: Aft er testing the bik es to be ridden by Ton i Mang a nd Fa us to R ica he im med ia tely went one seco nd a la p fas ter o n th e spec ia l machine. Katayama 's trick frame Ta kaz urni Kat a yama just a bo u t mad e hi stor y at j arama by testing a Nico Bakker fra me on hi s works Rothmans H onda . H e co n fir me d hi s specia l sta n di ng with the fact or y as their most loyal a nd lo ng sta n di ng G P rider by bein g able to make tests with such a ver y non-Honda co mponen t. , Most of the fra me loo ks like a works re p lica bu t the steeri ng head is a ll Nico Bakker with th e adj us ta ble a ngle tha n ks 10 the p ivot bar across ih e bottom behind th e steeri ng he ad a nd th e adj usting bolts runni ng forward a t th e to p. To co m p lete th e adj us table steering th e tr ip le cla m ps have adj us ta ble o ffset so th at th e trail as we ll as th e ra ke ca n be cha nged. At th e back , a Whi te Po wer unit rep laced the nor m al Showa shock to ca re fo r the suspe ns io n, Dutch privat eer Boe r van Dulmen uses a si mi la r frame. N ieto to quit7 Angel N ieto seemed p o ised to retire fro m rac ing a t th e Spa n ish Gra nd Prix with ou t ac h ievi ng hi s a m bitio n o f beati ng Giacomo Agosti ni's record o f 15 World Cha mpions hi ps . Having won 13 cha mp io ns h ips in th e 50cc a nd I25cc classes Ni eto has swi tche d to the 250cc class to ri de the new Vtwi n Gare lli but he is still su fferi ng from th e effects of the wr is t h e brok e a t Mu gell o at th e end of 'S4. H e failed to q ua lify in So uth Africa an d Spai n but ins tead o f a n no u nci ng h is certai n retire me n t he ga ve a press co n ference to say th at he would be taking a ho liday to give h is wris t a cha nce to heal a nd th en ho pefull y ridin g a t H ocken he irn i n two weeks. H e is ha ppy ' wit h th e way th e Gare ll i is improvin g. T he handli ng is ge tt ing better and th e 'ear ly overh eat in g proble ms ha ve been cured . Rainey back in GPs7 Wayn e Rain ey co u ld well mak e h is debut on th e j org Moller designed Pa ri si enn e di sc va lv e tw in in a m on th's time if th e tea m 's number o ne rider , .j acq ues Co rn u . does not find h is form . Swiss ace Corn u , the ex-E n d ura nce Wor ld Ch amp ion. had a bad ca r cras h in th e closed seaso n and a ltho ug h he seems fit ca n not ride as fast as he d id last year. It is strongly rum ored that Ca lifornia n Rainey will be invit ed to test th e bik e soo n wit h th e idea o f him fi nis h ing off th e seco nd half of th e season . At t he moment th ough Rai ney is rid in g for Bob MacLean 's racin g team in th e sta tes a nd won the 250cc race a t Willow Sp ri ngs o n his 250 H onda having recovered from th e cras h th at kept h im o u t of Daytona and the Mat ch races . Dunlop 80 and 125cc t ires Dunl o p is back in th e sma ller classes, mak ing tires for both th e SO an d 125cc classes. It ha s been so me five years since Dunlop mad e Gran d P ri x 125cc tires a nd far longer si nce they were invol ved in th e sma lles t class . . In the SOcc class T hea T imer and H an s Spaa n, riding th e Huvo Casa ls, are th e two Dun lop-contracted riders a nd Au gustAuinger rid es th e Dunlo p-sh od MBA i n th e 125cc class. Gardner hurt Wa yn e G ardner was sport ing a well -bandaged elbo w even before he went o ut to practice a t j arama . He h ad in fla med the a rm jo int wrest ling with hi s. mech ani cs o n th e Ierrv on th e wa y to Spa i n . One of the mechan ics was sport ing a sim ilar dr essing but Gardner still q ua lified th ird fastes t an d sa id th at hi s "ten n is elbow" on ly hun wh en he though t a bo ut it. • 0

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