Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Avove) Honda engi neers strip down the Ho nda N S R500. (Below) The V-four uses a V -shaped aluminum radiator that necessitates abrupt exhaust routing. • Riding impression: Honda's NSRSOO Grand Prix bike The ultimate Grand Prix machine? By Peter C lifford I t was the perfect conclusion to a very satisfying end-of-season test period. At Imola, in Italy, I had the good fortune to compare the two works Suzukis of Rob McE ln ea a nd Franco Uncin i. In th e so u th o f Fran ce.a t P au l Ri card I had seen how much faster was C hristi a n Sarrorr' s 20 0 \\'3 1 Yam a h a. a nd fina ll y I was abl e to comple te thi s u nique fou r ma chine compa rison with the master o f them all - Freddi e Spe ncer's World Championship winni ng NS R500 H o nda. To add ici ng to th at sumpt ious ca ke I was a lso a llowed to trv the title win ni ng NS250 R \\' as well 'in a do uble test in j a pan. Once more I had to ba lan ce the req uirements of rid in g a works Grand Pri x special at a mean ingfu l speed with th e dictates o f p ruden ce co nsi deri ng my much less th an works rider stat us. I was refl ecting o n this that su n n y af ternoon as I was a bo u t to test th e NS2 50 RW : Prac ti ce at t he tig h t Tsukaba circ u it was delayed as so me ca rs had j usl spread oi l over a section of th e track before our second practice session o f the da y. T he H o nda facto ry lest riders had been ou t to take a look a nd ge t so me cement du st la id in th e ri ght p lace. I wa ited. and m y co nce rn g rew . Was it reall y going to be a ny fun test ing a pea ky littl e Vvtw in , p ickin g m y wa y between th e slip pery patches o f oi l? It had alrea dy been impressed upon me th at th ere were o n lv fo u r of these litt le jewels in exis tence, rarer even th an th e NS R500s of which the re were SI X . Th e 500s ha d been used for the j a p an ese ch a m p io n s h ip and by Wa yne Gard ne r a nd Ra ndy Ma mol a o n a few occas io ns . bu t the 250 was a Spencer-only mac hine. Ot her H on da riders had to m ak e do with special versio ns o f the RS250 prod uc tio n mach in es. T he tra ck h ad been chec ked a nd I was wa rn ed wh ere to ex pect oi l a nd o nce m ore rem inded to he careful . It ha rd ly n eeded sa yin g . I m ade a ca u tious la p of th e tig h t cir cuit to check where the oi l la v a nd fou nd it well marked wi th cem en t d ust. I wa s just conside ring how I might pick th e best lin e to a voi d when local h ero Sh ungi Yat su sh iro ca me past o n the Moriwa ki RS500. Th e V-fou r engi ne of the NSR500 bolts to the chassis at the rear; not e t he c om pl ex exha ust sys t em . He accelerat ed in sid e me leaving th e tight 1800 righthander a t th e en d o f th e pits. The back tire wa s sp in n in g eno u gh to leave a black st rip of rubber across th e tar mac as he drifted across the ro ad in fro n t of me . I chased him dow n to th e nex t lefthand er wh er e th e on h ad been dropped . Out of th ere h e was even more aggressi ve wi th th e thrott le a nd wi th anot her black lin e o n the ro ad , th e front wh eel of th e H on da pawed th e a ir as it Iu nged towa rds th e next turn wit h Ya tsush iro ap p arently o bIivious o f th e oil a nd dust. As he acce lera ted a way, I sett led down to ge t to g rips wi th th e 250. There wa s litt le to wo rry a bo u t fro m th e tr a ck 's s u rface a n d th e litt le ma chi ne was a joy to ride. Far from being pea ky. th e 250 had a rem arka ble spread o f power. bett er in fac t th an Spencer had enjoyed during the G rand P rix seaso n as H onda was testin g so me flat -sl ide Keihins as a possi ble rep lace me nt for the cylind rica l un its co m mon to both 500 a n d 250cc ma chines. It m ea nt the engi ne p u lled very well fro m 8500 rpm in seco nd a nd 9000 in th ird. T h is su ited th e circu it well an d as yo u would exp ect from a Wo rld Cha m pions hi p win ni ng mach ine , it was difficult to criticize in an y o ther area . Brakin g into th e corn ers was just pe rfect with a m p le feedback to g ive co n fide nce as well as p erfo rmance . T h e hand ling wa s co m pletely neutra l in a lmost a ll situa tio ns and th e o n ly time I felt unco m forta ble wa s trying to ru n th rough a co rner o n a partia lly closed throttle a t hi g h revs. With th e red lin e set a t 12,500, sweeping throug h a curve tryin g not to accele ra te much a t a bo u t 11 ,000 had th e engine hunting an d su rg ing. I was bei ng timid a nd it was no t reall y a G rand P rix rac ing situa tio n, exce p t per haps in th e wet wh ere th e ri de r m ight not want to accelera te hard . I fou nd it easier to cha nge up so th at the eng ine was low er down the power curve a t a bo ut 9000 or even 8500 . If I had a port io n o f Spe ncer's a bi lity. or even if I was raci ng th e bike in mo re familia r circumsta nces, it wo u ld no t have been a problem . After a bri ef ca ll a t th e p its to n o te down a few of th ese observa rions, I rejoined th e circu it as jun Yamada , test rid er for the japanese mont h ly Gra nd .P rix Illust ra ted , came pa st o n the NS R500. I spe n t a lap mak in g su re tha t th e 250\ tires were sti ll warm a nd the n decided to see if I co uld cat ch th e 500. I had a n idea I co u ld , havi ng a lready ridde n th e bigger machine and found it impossib le to ca tch the 250 wh en th e positi ons were reversed. Th e p ro b lem was tha t the 500 proved a rea l hand ful around the tig ht circu it. Try usin g th e power full y a nd it just wanted to h ead for the trees. Not th at th e machi ne wa s u ncontro llabl e but there were just so few sections a ro u n d th e ci rcu it tha t a llowed me to use a ny thi ng like a ll th e p ow er o n tap. Freddie Spe nce r's rea cti on to th e tigh t LeMans Buga tti circu it ca me back to me. " It is just a joke to rac e a 500 o n this track ," sai d Spencer duri ng p ra ctice for thi s yea r's French Grand Prix. " It is j ust all acceleratio n a nd bra kin g a nd very bump y. It rea lly is too sma ll for a modern 500." La wson had sim ilar views on using his OW81 Yamaha . T h e Tsu ba ka ci rcui t is n ot bumpy but is certai n ly even tig h ter tha n Le Ma ns a nd th e 500's po wer band was critical to m y a bility to ge t it around in sa fety a t a ny so rt o f speed. Tha nkfull y, it was rema rkably and d istinct ly better than the OW8 1 Yama ha o f C hrist ian Sa rron th at I had ridden a t Pa ul R ica rd a few weeks before, T h e Ya m ah a had a defini te su rg e as th e p ow er ca me in pa st 8000 rpm . T he H onda di d n ot a nd while most o f the en gine's tim e was spe n t u p betw een 10,000 and th e red lin e at 12,000, it was very useful do w n as low as 7000, which was importa nt co nsidering th e tight hairpins o n th e ci rcuit. T h e en g ine p ro ved so flex ible th a t yo u co u ld no t reall y say it h ad a power band, a lthough thin gs are happen in g a t an incredi ble rate once yo u get past 8000 a nd the p ow er is unleashed by th e en g ine like wat er from a breached dam whose wall gets more a nd more fla tten ed as th e revs cl im b. The power in creases seem ingly a t a n expone ntia l rat e through th e red lin e at 12,000. Don ' t even try to com pare it with th e fastest roa d bike, turbo-ch ar ged or no t. No th in g wi ll prepare yo u for th e sensa tion of twisting the thro ttle a n d un leashing o ver 140 bhp on a ma chi ne th at weighs a litt le over 100 kg . You j ust have to be pointing in th e rig h t d irectio n a nd well over th e pe trol tan k to keep th e front wh eel on the groun d . On o ne occasion I d id ge t a little too keen wi th th e 500 lea ving a co rne r a nd pou red o n th e power in a seco nd before I h ad th e bi ke uprig h t and po int ed down th e stra ight. T he fro nt wh eel sta rted to climb a nd I had a bett er view o f th e trees at the side o f the trac k tha n I d id th e tarmac ahead. I closed the. th ro ttl e j udiciou sly a nd with a ra ther untidy maneuver tu rn ed th e NSR back o n co urse. That o n ly hap pen ed o nce but it reminded me j ust h ow rare is th e individ u a l wh o ca n p u ll off a Mam ol a whee lie, a

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