Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Showa, has helped improve the Honda's ha ndling and traction . But technology allowed HRC to get more from the bike. 'We look for increased power every yea r," Good ison p oints out. " But to keep rel iabilit y as it is, the re's no t an awful 101 to be gained from working on the engine's internal parts anymore. So we' re looking in other a reas. Obviousl y, injection is still new to bikes, and ther e's a lot of horsepower to be gained there." Hen ce the in troduction o f the tw in injector. " It works lik e a p ower-val ve system," explains Goodison. " It adds a second ary jet th a t works throu ghou t the rev ran g e, moni tored by the enginemanagement sys tem. It's placed after Ihe ai r inta ke , w h il e the p r im ar y je t stays in the sa me pos ition ." In it sel f, twin inj ecti on is nothing new . Du cati has even includ ed such a system on a road bike: the 916 SPS, with which the Italian compa ny has hom ologated its 996cc engine for World Superbike racing th is year. But. as Good ison explains, Honda 's sys te m is m ore refined . "Ducati's sy stem may w ork, but it's probably a long wa y off it s o p tim um running. It works, so they've just left it, wh ereas the Japanese are co ns ta n tly searching for improvem ents . 1 mean, yo u can put.a n inject ion system o n a bike and run it, but to run e an injection system is a d ifferent thing altoge ther. I think Du ca ti just bolted every thi ng on a nd it w orked a n d they ' ve left it. They' ve got abou t three or four different chips an d that's about it. Th ey cha nge the w hole range, where we can change absol u tely any pa rt of the rev range. We can change the power curve as a whole, but we can even chan ge igni tion timin g for specific gears!" All thi s mak es for a stronger , more usable engine. (See the Aaro n Slight interview.) It also ma kes for a bike that is incredibly complex to work on an d get the bes t out of - even for those who know it as well as th e Ca s tro l Honda mechanics. 'The bike is becoming so mu ch more advan ced now; it is getting away from basic bike-racing as we might know it," cla im s Good iso n. " Yo u certainly could n't give the bik e to anybody who hadn't worked on last year's bike. You need las t yea r's knowledge to comp rehend this year's changes . We' re in constan t tou ch wi th Jap an, and we really do nee d that backup. To me, it wou ld be im possible for somebod y w ho d id n't wo rk on it last year and wh o hasn 't go t the Japanese backup to operate the bike properly. Eve r y lh in g that we've advanced with this year is to do with the injection or the electricals. So you ne ed to understand th e com p u te r to appreciate th e tiny diffe rences that make all th e differ ence. Th ese ca n go u nno ticed if yo u d on't k n ow what you 're looking for, or if you can' t cross over last yea r's information." ~ So it's Honda's co ns tant effo rts at refining its machin e that has ena bled it reach the Ducati's level. There can be little doubt that Honda finall y does have a p o ten ti al Ducari-b eater in the 1997 RC45. 'r 'The bike may look the same on the outside, but there's so many tiny differe nce s, it's unbelievable." con cludes Goodison. "It's like last year's was a prototype and this year' s is the finished prod uct, It's that d ifferent, that finis hed riff. Every little nigg ling thing tha t we had last year has been sorted out. It's now a very, very good bike." Good eno ug h to take the title? Only (~ ,time will tel!... (Above) Showa has put considerable developm ent into the suspension to improve the machine's sometimes d lfflcu ~ handling. (Right and lar right) Hon da has adapted ns li nked braking system, called Racing CBS, to the RC45. The front and rear braking systems are li nked, with th e rear activated at certa in times by a computercon trolled servo. In the pho to at the far right , the two brake hoses to the caliper ca n been seen , each ope rat ing a different piston. Mr. RC45 No ONE KNOWSTIlE RC45 LIKE AARON5UGHT. THE KIWI'S B EEN wmr HONDA SINCE TIlE BIKE'S FIRST SEASONOF ACllVE DUTY. WHO BElTER rnA.'I SUGHT TO EXPLAL" HOW THERC45 HAS R EALLYPROCRESSED? The Honda has com e a long way in the las t fo ur years. How easy is it to w ork with now? The bike seems to be pretty easy . [ohn (Kocinski) has been able to jum p on it and go fast straight away because .we've done a lot of work to it, and its basic settings are now pretty good. The bike is s till tricky, but now we've also got good record s from past seasons SO that we don't go off in a wrong direction when we ge t to a track for a race. Do yo u think that the Honda is now level with the D ucati? Yes, but I still think the rule that allows a l 000cc V-twin to compe te against us stinks . But our bike is getting better, and now we're takin g advantage of the fact that, this year, Ducati has not been able to increase the engine siz e lik~ they did every year before . The Japanese work on their bikes and improve them slightly every year. But Ducati doesn 't do that; they just rely on boring it out, and now they ca n' t do that anymore. Their bike still has a huge potential. I mean, ever since I've been racing, even back at Kawasaki, we 've been working with a 750. But they have never worked with one size capacity. This is the first time. So they've still got 10 yea r's develop me nt on the 995. But 1do n't see tha t they will develop it, not like the Japanese. Is this year's Honda a lot better than last year' s? It's getting more ridable. We have a new engine pac kage Ihis yea r and, when I go t on the bike at Phillip Islan d, it d idn 't feel all that different. It wasn' t throwin g me back. But it's de finitely go t more torq ue, w hich mak es it smoother. It's go t more midrange, so you don 't get that rush . It's just a smoo th bike , and it's getting better all the time. If the Honda is level w ith the Ducati now, does that make it better than the other Japanese fours? I think th is year we're probably a lot more even than before. You can' t blame Ducati for taki ng a backwa rd step. The r id ers th ey' ve go t ha ve mad e it easier for us, too. (Ne il) Hodgson's a goo d rid er , but he' s still learning. (Carl) Fogarty can only rem ember his win ning bike from a yea r ago, so he's got all the excuses in the book and he's no t wi lling to ge t on with it like Troy (Corser) was last yea r. (Pier-Francesco) Chi li will win, but will also crash. So I think we've got the bes t package in that respect, as well. Is there more informati on fl ow between the two Honda teammates now than there was last yea r? Last year, we used to have team mee tings every Sunday with the two rid ers where we'd talk about how to improve the bike. That's one of my only gripes with [ohn (Kocinski). He's rome in and said he would not do that. I see that as a bad move; it doesn't help development. It's good to get a d ifferent aspect on thi ngs . When we get toge ther, we can work things out easier, because someone wi ll always have a suggestion. How would you like to see the bike improve now? I wo uld still like mo re front grip. Our front grip has improved a great deal ove r the years. Now, I can pull up to a comer and let the brake off and just let it roll through at what feels like two or three more kilometers an hour (one to two mph). Before, I kept the brake on and slow ed it up and only let it off when I had some grip. So it was mo re of a stop-a nd-go thing . Tha t's the real way the bike has evo lved since 1994. The other thin g I would like to w ork on is rear traction, because at the end of a race, we don't have any tire left . The Ducati is easier on rear tires . Does the traction problem come from too much power? I don 't think so, beca use the power delivery is very smooth now, which, if anything, is better for the tire. The power used to be all at the lop, and now we' ve go t a lot of midrange. 50 is this the bike to finally give you that number-one plate? I think so. Th e bike has been stead ily getting better all the time. But it's also the circumstances that are in my favor this year. No .o ne's got a big advantage anym ore. 31 ,

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