Cycle News

VOL. 53 ISSUE 7 FEBRUARY 23, 2016 P103 needs. The treacherous fronts of last year's tests have been signifi- cantly upgraded. Though their good edge grip might seem to favor the wheels-in-line Yamaha, the much different Ducatis were also able to make good use of them. Loris Baz's exploding under-inflated Michelin did cast a shadow over proceed- ings, however, shaking everybody's confidence somewhat, and trigger- ing a minimum-pressure decree and the withdrawal of the softer option. Honda's problem seems laugh- ably simple to an outside observer, and with so much precedence that doing it all over again is almost incomprehensible. In short, the Honda's V4 engine is a wild thing, making oodles of engine, and leave the rider to do the rest. At least he'll never run short of horsepower. It's his job to find a way of using it. One pungent example came in the early days of the V4 two-stroke NSR500. Unlike its rivals, the Honda was a true single-crank V4 as opposed to the conventional twin-crank Yamaha, Cagiva and Su- zuki V4s, which were really splayed square-fours. This wider engine with a pro- nounced torque reaction and savage horsepower brought many handling problems. Then the chas- sis engineers made them worse, with a clever but ultimately stupid geometry change, building in signifi- cant swing-arm droop. In theory, un- Mike Hailwood stripping the rear dampers off his pre-season test 500 and throwing them into the Suzuka lake. It was the only way of convincing the still-green factory engineers that they needed to find something better. Neither Marquez nor Pedrosa went that far at Sepang. Nor is there a lake there. I fancy, however, they would have had little trouble in determining which component to throw away—the supplied "unified" Magneti Marelli electronic hard- ware and software, new this year, and inherited from the Open class. (Where it was far from universally popular.) The thing is, both Yamaha and Ducati have been customers of the unified electronics suppliers, Magneti Marelli, for many years. Their boffins are intimate with the hardware. Furthermore, each has extensive experience of the new unified software, through close con- nections with Open-class teams as it was developed over the past two or three years. They are starting from a position of strength in adapting to the one- size-fits-all programs. Honda is starting from scratch. In typically defiant HRC style, they stuck with their in-house software even with last year's control MM hardware. Now they are feeling the cost. Never forget, however, that while HRC is manifestly capable of making pig-headed mistakes, the company is also capable of timeless masterpieces of race-bike engineer- ing. Which one will be on the grid when racing starts for real? CN "HISTORICALLY, HONDA HAS ALWAYS PREFERRED TO CONCENTRATE ON THE ENGINE, AND LEAVE THE RIDER TO DO THE REST. AT LEAST HE'LL NEVER RUN SHORT OF HORSEPOWER. IT'S HIS JOB TO FIND A WAY OF USING IT." untamed horsepower. Enough to overwhelm the chassis, the elec- tronics, and the riders. Especially the electronics. This sort of oversimplification, however, may not serve well. Apart from anything else, there is still time for Honda's clearly brilliant engi- neers to solve the problem before engines are frozen when racing begins. Whether they can achieve the focus to do so is of course, another matter altogether. Historically, Honda has always preferred to concentrate on the der power chain pull would extend the rear suspension, combating wheelies and improving traction. In practice, the bike threw defending champion Wayne Gardner off with frightening force and regularity. Significantly, however, the NSR would eventually become the de- finitive 500 GP racer, taking Mick Doohan to five consecutive titles, and successor Alex Criville to one more. Honda's wayward engineering streak goes back to earliest times, hence the famous 1960s story of

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