Science Fiction On Wheels

SCIENCE FICTION ON WHEELS

RACE WATCH

Honda’s Science Fiction Road Racer; Lackey’s Golden State Series; and Two More Racewatch Contests

Mike Baldwin called his 1024cc V-Four Honda four-stroke “Science fiction on wheels.” Honda officials admitted that the bikes cost $1 million each considering R and D time and materials, and one observer suggested that the main material used in their construction was compressed $1000 bills. Nothing like them has been seen on a racetrack before, the frame stuffed full of a lump of an engine. The engine isn’t as heavy as it looks, according to a man who helped a Japanese mechanic lift a spare motor out of its packing crate. “It was light," he said.

The V-Fours raced at Daytona weighed about 390 lb., or 50 lb. more than Roberto Pietri’s inline Four with an aluminum Moriwaki chassis. The big difference came in accelerating off the corners. Not because the V-Fours made radically more power, but because they had better traction.

“Bike for bike they’re out of the turn he same,” said Baldwin, “but the V-Four isn’t trying to spin the tire all the time.” The trickiest part of the bike? “They

have a disengager to declutch it when you back off, to make it easier to ride. Because the thing has a lot of engine braking and

you can get into trouble, back off the gas and go over the bars. So they built the declutcher.”