Track Testing the Hurricane

TRACK TESTING THE HURRICANE

Racing with the wind

DESPITE THE IMPLICATIONS OF HONDAS "KNOCK the Ninja" TV commercial, when it comes to production-class roadracing, the Hurricane 600's competition doesn't come from Kawasaki. In stead. the Yamaha FZ600 is the bike to beat.

For evidence, you need look no farther than Willow Springs Raceway, a 2.5-mile road course cut into the barrens of California’s Mojave Desert, within sonicboom earshot of Edwards Air Force Base. In the 10 600cc box-stock races that the American Federation of Motorcyclists ran there last year. Yamaha FZ600s came home the winner in seven. At Sears Point in northern California the tally was even more lopsided: FZs went seven-for-seven.

The FZ600 has three things going for it: handling, handling and more handling. What it is short of is horsepower. With 68 claimed bhp on tap, the Yamaha is 15 ponies down on the Hurricane 600. Surely, with that kind of power advantage, and weighing just 10 pounds more than the FZ, the new Honda looks set to give the class champ a run for its money.

To find out for sure, we attacked our test Hurricane with safety wire, duct tape and numberplates, enlisted the aid of roadracer Doug Toland, then headed for Willow Springs and the first AFM race meeting of 1987.

Toland. co-holder of the 1986 WERA national endurance championship, often helps out with our sportbike testing, and still owns the Willow Springs 600cc production-class lap record, set in 1985 on a Yamaha FJ600. But even with the Hurricane’s power edge. Toland was a little wary of its racetrack capabilities. As part of our test of the bike, Toland had logged about 200 street miles on the Hurricane, enough to know that while it is an excellent streetbike, when pushed to its limits there are some handling quirks, chiefly a tendency for the front end to push while cornering at racelike speeds.

In an effort to alleviate that problem, we pried off the stock tires and replaced them with a Michelin Hi-Sport rear and a Pirelli Phantom + 1 front. The Pirelli effected an immediate improvement. Stickier and slightly wider and taller than the stock tire, the Phantom gave a more positive feel, allowing the bike to be ridden harder and faster into turns. In addition, the bike braked much more predictably. The Michelin worked well with the Pirelli, permitting peg-scraping speeds through high-speed corners and controlled drifts out of them. By the end of Saturday’s practice, Toland had the suspension dailed in (no air in the front fork, highest spring preload and damping in the shock) and was feeling good about the Hurricane’s chances on Sunday.

Unfortunately, the desert threw a monkey wrench into our plans. With sunrise came 40-mph wind gusts that would later play havoc with the Hurricane. Toland was gridded in the fifth row for the start of the race, but a slingshot launch and some gutsy moves had him in second place as the pack shuffled through Turn One. Seven corners later, however, the Hurricane’s sleek plastic body panels were broadsided by a blast of wind, and Toland and the Honda almost parted company. “It

was serious enough that I could see myself going down the asphalt,’’ Toland would say later about his 120mph encounter.

For the remaining laps, Toland was forced to cut his speed drastically through Turns Eight and Nine, allowing the FZs (most of which had their lower cowlings removed in deference to the wind) to catch up. At the checkered flag, three Yamahas and one hard-ridden Honda 500 Interceptor had edged past, relegating Toland to sixth place.

Toland felt that in calmer weather, he could have protected his second-place spot and even pressed for the win. Furthermore, additional set-up time would have reaped significant benefits. Certainly, an aftermarket shock is in order; the stock unit is pressed to—and even beyond—its limits on the racetrack. And a wider front tire (both Michelin and Dunlop now have 17-inch fronts), plus some work with fork-spring rates, would help the front end stay more firmly planted on the asphalt.

With those improvements on the Honda, Toland would have a tough time choosing between the FZ and the Hurricane. Without those changes and on a blustery day at Willow Springs, the Hurricane’s chances of winning were simply gone with the wind.

David Edwards