Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128026
(Opposite page) Stili dominant at er all these ,ears. Honda won a ~inth 500cc World C ampionship with its NSRSOO in 1'99 - this time in the capable hands of Spaniard Alex Crlville. (Above) State of the art: The, d n't get much prettier, and the, d finitely don't get an, tricker t*n the 188-horsepower NSR500. This ,ear's model used 180-degree "Screamer" e glne, mos1ly because of the loss of power caused b, the +Ch to unleaded fuel. u+ ture~ a new sound playing on the GP jukebox - the sound of the 'Big Bang' engine format with closed-up engine firing. On the new NSR500, all four cylinders sparked within around 66 degrees of crank rotation. By comparison with the old l80-degree screamer, which required a high degree of skill to be ridden to its rearwheel steering limits, this was an Eticket ride to the promised land in terms of improved grip, traction and rideability. It was so good that it was quickly imitated by Cagiva, Suzuki and Yamaha, and is still adopted by the latter two today on their twincrank V-fours (compared to the 112degree V-four Honda's unique singlecrank layout). But then, for reasons only Doohan eally knows - but which probably ad a lot to do with winding up the ompetition (including his own teamnates), he switched back to the creamer format in 1997, against the dvice of HRC engineers. Still, he 'f0n the world title again for the tt'Burth time - so what did they know? ut then, in ] 998, with the advent of nJeaded fuel, suddenly the screamer started to make more sense, and hat began as a Doohan dare ended p being the hot tip for flying faster on green gas. That's because the 5percent power loss inflicted by unleaded fuel took the razor edge off the screamer format's power delivery. Coupled with the vastly improved electronic engine-management systems developed in the past decade, the changes allowed the HRC R&D team led by Kazuo Honda (no relation) to tame the screamer's power delivery while reaping the benefits of its smoother power delivery and more direct throttle response. This past season, for the first time since] 99], all Honda riders were equipped with screamer engines. So back to my wet day in the Motegi murk. While properly respect- ful of the bottled-up performance of this mega-motorcycle at all times (especially in the rain) I unexpectedly relished the chance to ride it in the wet - well, apart from the huge slide I had exiting tum two one lap, when I got a little overeager with the right hand while still cranked over, and was rewarded with the big dose of power that comes on tap at 10,000 rpm chiming in hard and spinning the otherwise incredibly grippy rear Michelin rain tire like a roulette wheel. Fortunately, my number wasn't up - having taken the precaution of backing the steering damper off for the rain, all I got was a lock-tolock slide that eventually straightened itself out. Phew! That little reminder aside, the Honda was incomparably better behaved in the rain than I remember its '9l-vintage predecessor as being and that's entirely due to the smoothed-out power delivery and more controllable throttle response of the current model. Back then it was a matter of survival for Joe Average racer to be planted aboard a hardedged all-or-nothing rocketship without the benefit of a decade of electronic R&D, nor a lot of power in cue I e four-figure territory. That meant, if you wanted to make any pretence of lapping quickly, you had to use a lot of revs - but then the sudden way the power came in was hard enough to master in the dry, let alone with little rivers flowing down the Suzuka hillsides. Criville's new NSR was a different proposition, pulling cleanly from as low as 7000 rpm out of the tight top hairpin, before coming on strong around ]0,000 rpm, when the exhaust note hardens and there's a strong rush of midrange power that fast forwards acceleration in a way no other motorcycle short of a top-fuel dragster can match. Then suddenly it's time to think about stopping for the downhill right-hander at the end of Motegi's main straight. You need to start worrying about how much grip the front Michelin will give you under braking and on turn-in in the rain. No worries: The screamer motor doesn't have as much engine braking as the big bang version - like, none at all, to speak of! But the cast stainless Brembo metal brakes fitted for the rain stop the Honda well enough - as well as a Superbike weighing 25 percent more, even without a four-stroke n _ VII' S FEBRUARY 2,2000 21