Cycle News

Cycle News 2021 Issue 31 August 3

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/1398574

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 125 of 135

VOLUME 58 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 3, 2021 P125 based on its revolutionary CB750 street bike. Yet deep inside the company, a group of engineers, headed by legendary designer Shoichiro Irimajiri, were quietly plotting a GP return with a four- stroke motorcycle. Honda wanted to return to racing in a big way, and in 1977 it announced that it would return to Grand Prix competition—not with a conventional two-stroke racer, but with a revolutionary oval-piston, four-stroke machine that would showcase Honda's enormous engineering and R&D capability. Honda's insistence on tak- ing a chance that it could ad- vance four-stroke technology far enough to contend with the inherently superior two-stroke de- sign was a case of sticking with the horse that got them to the rodeo. After all, Honda had made its reputation and fortune on revolutionary street bikes such as the groundbreaking CB750. Unlike the other three Japa- nese manufacturers, Honda's road lineup consisted primarily of four-stroke-powered bikes. Why should it turn away from its bread and butter? In addition, if the NR were successful, it would prove Honda's utter engineering domination. Honda campaigned the NR with disastrous results in 1979 and 1980. In its debut at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone in August of 1979, neither bike qualified. NR riders Mick Grant and Takazumi Katayama had to be given promoter entries into the race—and neither finished. The NR had twice gone back to Japan for major revamping but was very publicly being humiliat- ed at nearly every outing. Instead of "New Racer," the motor racing press had dubbed the Honda NR the "Nearly Ready." In the United States, Honda had hired a promising up-and- coming racer from Louisiana named Freddie Spencer to race Superbikes. Spencer's talent was undeniable. He could ride and win on anything, and when his bikes stayed together under him, he won more often than not. In July of 1981, Honda de- cided to give Spencer a shot at racing the third-generation NR. The venue would be the AMA National at Laguna Seca. The race, under skilled promotion by Gavin Trippe and Bruce Cox, was supplanting Daytona as the road race in America. With no GP here at the time, Laguna marked the opportunity to see America's stars who were competing on the GP circuit. "Honda wanted the American fans to see the NR before they put it in a museum," Spencer recalled. "Even though the bike was not producing results, it was an engineering marvel, and was so far ahead of its time in tech- nology, it helped give Honda the background it needed to later produce its V-fours." Spencer never had a chance to even sit on the bike prior to Laguna, as his first laps were in practice for the race. The NR was unlike anything Spencer had ever ridden. "It would idle at 6000 rpm," Spencer said with a smile. "It was a weird feeling riding it. It didn't have enough weight on the front. It felt like it had a very little engine turning way up in the rpm range. The powerband was supposed to be from 13,000 to around 19 to The NR500 was too complicated for its own good. How would you like to work on this on race day?

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Cycle News - Cycle News 2021 Issue 31 August 3