Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above ) The Sunday Final begins w ith a LeMans start on the track at Lag una Seca. (Below) Honda's "Eagle" won the Real Motorcycle class. Thoug h he finished second to Dan Hanebrink i n the Saturday qualifier, Matsu Matsuzawa (ri g ht) got a better start on Sunday to w in the t rophy. The 1.985 Vetter Fuel Eeonom~Run By Jim Wolcott MONTER EY, CA, J ULY 14 " I wo u ld sa y that the most important thing is to take it easy; to ride like a spud!" When his m achine finall y co u ghed to a haIt on the track a t-Laguna Seca , Matsu Matsuzawa h ad piloted his " Sp ud " streamliner to victory in the O p en class of th e 1985 Vetter Economy R u n with a n impressive 470 mpg. Th e event was th e fifth runn in g of C raig Vet ter 's a n n ua l milea ge co n test; co nceived as a real -world test o f fu el eco nomy. "The co ntest is important ," said Vetter, " beca use there's a fin ite a m o u nt o f fuel on thi s planet , a nd it 's being used up fast er th an th e s u p p ly is being repleni sh ed . Fuel eco n omy doesn 't seem like a n important issue right n ow because gas is pl entifu l an d ch ea p - but who' s to say wh at wi ll happen in the futu re?" T hi s year . the Ve t ter Econom y R u n wa s co nd uc ted in two divisions: th e Open class, and th e Real Motorcycle class. The O pen class is for noholds-barred h i gh - m il ea g e machines, with about the only stipulation being th at the y ar e street legal : headlight. turn signals and a license p la te are required o n all entries. So what does it take to bu ild a win- ning Open -clas s m achine? Matsu zawa 's ma chine was co nstruc ted a s a n aft er-h ours project by Ken Mi yak o a n d Larrv Sebas ti an ; both are em pl oyees ot Honda Research of Am erica ( H R A). T he b ik e wa s a lo wbudg et p ro ject bu ilt with o ff- t heshe lf parts, rather th an co ns truc ted as a o ne-off m ega-d ollar factory effort. The cran kcase a nd cra n ksha ft are from a Honda ATCI 85; th e el ect ric start feature being desir eable for resta rt in g the engin e aft er coas ting. A C BI25 barrel and pi ston were gra fted o nto the ca se, resulting in a di splacement of 145cc. For th e top end , Miyako and Sebasti an chose the cylinder head and ca m from a TLI25 tri a ls bi ke; the mild ca m timing and sm a ll va lves bein g co n d uc i ve to torque and fue l economy at low en gine speeds. According to Miya ko, nothing was sp ecia lly fabricated for th e en g ine. "We didn't want to use an ything exotic, like ceramic pistons or carbo n fiber - aft er a ll , thi s bike wa s Ii- nanced o u t o f our pocket. Pro ba bly the mos t exotic pa rt is th e fa ir in g , a nd even that 's avai la ble to the pu blic: we bough t o urs from Rifle Fa ir in g ." Ironi call y. whi le th e winnin g Open class mach in e wa s buil t from off-the-s helf p arts, th e Real Motorcycle cl as s wa s won by an ela bo ra te HRA proj ect bik e ca lled th e Eagle. Th e Rea l Motorcycl e class was intended to represent wh at co u ld be ac h ieved by motorcycl es ridden u n der " rea l " co n d i t io n s. Minimum engine size is 650cc, th e engine m ust ha ve at least two cylinders, a nd the bike must be ridden with a passenger. Th e class wa s intended to a tt ra c t co n tes ta nts who co u ld n' t afford to build an exotic Open-class machine. . Th e H RA Eagl e is based on a Honda 700 Shadow , run with special lightweight pi stons that upped th e co m p ressio n from 9.6:1 to 10:1. The ca ms ha fts wer e ground to decr eas e valv e o verla p, a nd th e exha us t system wa s n e ck ed d own fr om 42mm to 32m m. T he clutch was m odified to co m p letely di sen ga ge. Sin ce h eat is a form o f energy, th e ideal for a high-mileage en gine is to run it slo w a n d h ot . Th ough t h e Sha do w en gine is water-cooled, the Eagle's en gine is run dr y; th e water pump a nd th e radiator have actua lly been removed from th e en gine. Likewis e, th e short coo ling fins on th e o u tside of th e eng ine's wat er-jacket were ground off to help retain hea t within the engine. The most visibl e effort for the Eagle project was the fai ring, designed by Mr. Y. Oshima o f H RA. Based on his design , a clay mock-up was built. and th e fiberglass body parts were made in J a p a n by To kyo R&D, an independent firm hired by Honda. A custom paint job completed the projec t , a nd the resul t wa s a vis ually impressive - and incredibl y expensive - Real Mo tor cycle class entry. The Vetter Economy R u n is he ld in two parts: a qualifying heat held o n pu blic h igh wa ys, foll o wed by a fi na l run o n the racetrack at Lagu na Sera . O pen class machi nes ar e su pplied with two cents wo rt h of gasolin e, (th e Real Mo to rcycles ge t three ce n ts worth ), a n d between th e two segme nts o f th e Formula One event , . th e vehicles parad e around th e ra cewa y until th ey run o u t of ga s. When Matsuzaw a fin ally sp u ttered to a halt , hi s ma chin e h a d ed g ed a rch-riva l Dan H anebri nk , turning in a ca lc u la te d 470 mpg. Kiyoshi Aizawa and h is passenger H el e n Kanda ha d ri dd en th e Eag le to victory in th e R ea l Motorcycle class with a figure of 139 mpg, beating the n o ble second-place effo rt of Chris and Cathleen Hodgson a boa rd their heavi ly -modified Go ld Wing (I) at 115 mpg. And whil e th e contestants were locked in this miserly combat, th e spec ta to rs a t the tra ck waited impatient ly for th e seco nd leg of th e Formula One event. Now that the Vetter Economy R u n ha s been run for th e fifth tim e, promot er Craig Vetter feels th e event is due for an o ver ha u l. " Whe n I sta rte d this thin g , m y id ea was to see wh at kind of mi leage co u ld be o bta ined with motorcycles. But I wanted re al, rideab le motorcycl es that co u ld be used as transportation at highway speeds. At first I thought that would req uire about a 250 cc engine; now it seems th at even an 85cc engin e will do th e job. Aerodynamics is the key - in the fu ture maybe even a turbocharged 50cc en gine wou ld be a winner. " Bu t there h as to be a way to genera te more interes t in the eve nt; we ha ve th e same people ent eri ng year after year. Nex t year I ' m goi ng to cha nge the event: I do n 't kn ow h o w just yet. I'd like to ma ke it more inter esting for th e spectators. The int ent was to create a contest for rea l, rideable motorcycles that peop le co u ld use on the st reet . And the ma chines we saw th is year just aren't being used as transportation. " •

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