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RACER TEST Tadayuki Okada's Honda NSR500V 00 By Alan Cathcart· Photos by Kel Edge onda's policy in racing has al ways been to do things differently, and developing a V-twin contender to take advantage of the lower 220-pound weight limit for the 500cc Grand Prix class (compared to 286-pound limit for fours and 253 pounds for triples) has been no exception - even though there were others who had the same idea before them. Bimota was first out of the box six years ago, when the company produced its avant-garde Tesi-framed twin-crank V-twin two-stroke, with the added sophistication of indirect fuel injection. But any ideas the Italian company had of going GP racing with the bike were quickly squashed: probably when It came to the stage of figuring out how much it would actually cost to do so. Instead, the project was transformed into the ground-breaking direct-injection Vdue streetbike now about to enter production. Not a GP racer: false start. Aprilia came next three years ago, spurred on by the fact that its own 250cc V-twin had by then matched 500cc lap times iJ:\ a race, in Jean-Philippe Ruggia's hands at the 1993 British GP at Donington. This time Aprilia saw the project through to the race track, with the rotary-valve RSV400 that was first raced in May of 1994, but in the three seasons since has yet to finish on the rostrum, despite qualifying several times on the front row with some sterling rides by Loris Reggiani. Replacing ltim for tills season with Doriano Romboni failed to deliver the goods eitl:ter, putting a question mark over Aprilia chief engineer Jan Witteveen's original idea of building a jumped-up 250 that is the same physical size and just as nimble as Max Biaggi's three-time World Championship-Winning 250. In its current 410cc form, the Aprilia doesn't deliver the kind of 500cc-class horsepower numbers and especially not the torque that allows it to deal with race traffic, mainly because of Witteveen's conscious decision to hold back on engine capacity in pursuit of revs, so as to make the bike retain the feel and handling of a 250. But now 1996 has seen the debut of the Honda Way to cook a jumbo V-twin, and the record books show that it works. Tadayuki Okada came within a spatter of rain of scoring an upset victory for the half-pint Honda in its GP debut in Malaysia, and in spite of tirerelated handling glitches, the singlecrank reed-valve NSR500V has been on the pace almost throughout its prototype year. This in spite of a midseason slowdown in development when Okada and teammate Srurucru Itoh had to concentrate on pre-Suzuka 8-Hour testing with the RC45 four-stroke. To cap a thoroughly satisfying sea- son which pr ed that though HRC did it differently, they also did it right, Okada first finished a fine second in the final GP of the year in Australia - the top Honda after the Mick 'n' Alex Road Show bit the dust - thus earning himself seventh place in the 1996 500cc World Championship. Then, in a perfect finale to the V-twin Honda's development year, Okada defeated Doohan and Criville on the Honda V-fours, as well as the works Yamaha and Suzuki teams, to win the final 500cc race of the '96 season, the non-championship TBC Big Road race at Sugo in November. Mission accomplished: The big little twin had come good. The chance to test ride Okada's works NSRSOOV at Eastern Creek, the day after his runner-up finish in the Australian GP, underlined just how addictively effective the new Honda is but only after I'd ridden Doohan's Vfour NSR500 first. Stepping off tills twowheeled spacecraft after a handful of barely controlled laps, during which I held the throttle against the stop on the twisty Sydney circuit for a total of about· five nanoseconds, was the best preview possible for riding Okada's V-twin. From hyperbike hell to Honda heaven, in one easy switch. Because the most immediate sensation you get after just a single lap pedaling Tadi's twin hot on the heels of riding Mick's missile is one of relief - followed swiftly by exhilaration, How come? Simple really: You're in charge, not the bike. I'm not ashamed to admit that riding a V-four SOOcc around a twisty track like Eastern Creek, which is better suited to a 125, is just plain daunting if you don't do it for a profession. Learning the art of 200-bhp throttle control on a 286-pound motorcycle, and coping with the mindaltering speed down the straight that a twist of the wrist delivers, is something few of us who race lesser bikes will honestly ever be able to accomplish. All yours, Mick and Alex. But the V-twin Honda - ah, that's another bowl of noodles. . I had a preview of tills when I rode the RSV400 Apritia a year ago and got seduced by its potent, yet practical performance. Any bike that pulls a wheelie in fourth gear while you're cranked over is bound to get your attention, but to do so without frightening the hell out of you, because you feel you're still in command as it does so, is frankly a big turn-on. But there were two things wrong with the Aprilia: One, it was too small for a 6-footer like me to feel comfortable on, and two, it pulled monster wheelies out of pit lane - or off. the grid. The Honda addresses both these problems. First, there's a launch contro