VOLUME 57 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2020 P75
Go ahead, stare.
They don't get much
prettier than this.
To be fair, a blind man could have recognized
the RC30 as an instant classic from the moment it
made its public bow. It's a prime example of what
Honda does from time to time; create something
with a single purpose in mind and spare no effort or
expense in doing so. In this case, the single purpose
was to win the inaugural World Superbike Champion-
ship in 1988, which it (narrowly) achieved thanks to
Fred Merkel's skill and a small degree of luck.
But a win is a win, and a championship—a World
Championship, thank you—is even better, and
Honda's svelte V4 had earned its stripes in con-
summate fashion. Just to rub it in, Merkel swept
to a second consecutive (and far more dominant)
World Championship the following year on a devel-
oped version of the same machine. In fact, it was a
Honda RC30 1-2, with Belgian Stephane Mertens
filling the runner-up spot to the flamboyant Merkel.
