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/128644
Colin Edwards' Castrol Honda RC51 B Y ALAN CATHCART P HOTO S BY K O ICHI O HT A NI a k e n o mis take ab ou t it , Ho nd a ' s fe at i n e n di ng a d e cad e of Du c a t i near -do mi nan c e of th e Wor ld S up e rbi k e Ch amp ionship in t h e 2 0 0 0 ra c in g s e aso n with a br and-n ew bi ke , th e SP-1 W V-twin, is o ne o f th e grea t on -t ra ck resea rch-and -deve lopm ent a ch iev em ents of the modern e ra . E v en th ose wh o lam ented the Japan es e g iant 's d e c is io n to je ttison it s un iqu e fam i ly o f V-f o u r four -strokes in fa vo r o f buildin g a b ett e r D u cat i m u s t ap p la u d t he a p lo m b o f the HRC enginee rs led b y Te tsu o S uzu k i (ironic , is n 't it?) in d e s ignin g and d e v e lo pi n g a world -t itl e winn in g ki nd of m oto rcycle t hey h ad no expe rie nce in bu ild ing b e fo re . And they ma d e it wo rk st raight o ut of the box. Fo r the SP-1W (or RC5 1, as it's conf usingly k nown S tate side , wh er e it came wi thin an a ce of winn in g t he AMA Super bike title th e first t ime a round , in the hands of Nicky Ha y d e n ) underlined the wo r th o f Ho n d a ' s achieveme nt fro m th e ve ry sta rt by winning its firs t -eve r Sup e r b ik e race a t the wo rld lev e l at Kyalam i in April , in th e hands of Col in Edwards. After th at , th e re we re seven mo re wins a nd a h a rd -fou g ht World Champio ns h ip c ro wn fo r t he Texas Torna do an d the C a s t rol Honda t e a m . Th e RC51 was a lso fas t and reli ab le e no ug h, t h o u gh , t o win its firs t- e ver 24 -h our ra c e at Le Mans jus t a cou ple of we e k s after Kyala m i - the first t im e in W orld End u r an c e raci ng h is tor y that a tw in had c om bi ned s pee d with re liab ility s ufficie ntly well to win su ch a gru elin g race . Bu t , fo r Hon da , th e ici ng o n t h e c a k e ca me in J ul y , wh en th e Cab in -s p o ns o re d RC5 1 of 250 GP ho ts ho ts Tohru Uka wa and D a ij iro Ka t o h won the J apan es e c o m pany ' s s in g le m o s t im port ant ra c e of th e yea r, t h e ho me -ground sprint m a rathon call e d t h e Suzu ka Eight Ho urs . The a c h ievement of HRC project dir ector Suzuki and h is t e a m in d e v e lo p in g what wa s , for Ho n da , a n in n o v a t ive de s ig n we ll e nough to b e so s uccess fu l fro m t he very b e g in n in g , ca n 't b e app lauded e no ugh - so succes sful , in fa c t , that it e nded u p bea t ing the Ita lia ns at their own V-tw in ga m e. Th e c han c e t o ride E dw ar d s ' RC51 in the comp a n y o f a gro u p o f M 34 JANUARY 3 , 2001 • C II C I E u r o p e a n j o u rn a lis t s c a me a t a d a rk and damp Motegi GP ci rc uit in the depths of the Japa nese winte r a fa r c ry from th e crisp and s unn y con d itio ns that ha d awa ited m e at Valencia j u s t fo ur d a y s earl ie r, where I'd had an e xclus ive do ubl eup duo o f track t e s t s a boa rd th e Hon d a ' s fe llo w V -tw in World Super b ik e riva ls : T r o y C o r s er ' s fa cto ry Apr il ia , and th e w o r k s Ducati o f T roy Ba ylis s. Eve n thoug h tr a c k t ime at Mote gi wa s s e ve re ly ra ti oned , and th e da m p t ra c k meant ra in ti res both "" n e vv s for m y s ho rt ride o n t he Ed wa rd s b ik e a n d o n the a ll b u t id e n ti c al Uk a w a / Ka t o h endu rance ra c er, I ha d long en ough o n the pa ir of Hond a s to d raw some c o n cl usio ns a bo u t t h e ir rela t ive m er it s co m pared t o the Italian V- tw ins - as we ll as to app reciate , o n a hand s on bas is, t he depth of Hon da 's achi ev ement in b uilding a b e tt e r twi n. F o r th er e ' s only o n e wor d t o desc r ib e t he im p re s s io n th e RC5 1 make s on y o u a fter a h andful of laps th at le av e s y o u th irsting fo r The Castrol Honda RCs t: A Wo rld Superbike Champion sh ip winner in its debut season. more : fabu lo us . As you ' d ex pec t fr o m an y factor y Hond a , it' s smo oth and re fined to rid e - but also very fast , and ve ry ba lan c e d in feel. Th e sea ting po sit ion is m ore ra t io na l t h a n t he Du c a t i' s yo u don't fe el you 're sitti ng so h igh up , p resuma bl y because th e Ak ra p o vic si le n cers for the exquis ite ly we ld e d HRC tit anium ex ha us t syst e m are m o un ted on e it her si de o f t h e re a r seat , no t ben e a th it.