Honda Rc211v-Rr
Honda RC211V-RR
Will a V-5 wail on the street?
FROM MOTOGP CIRCUIT TO STREET MACHINE, WILL that be the course of the all-conquering RC211V? While we don’t know the answer to that question yet, there are plenty of hints and reasons to believe that Honda will replace the RC51 with a V-Five GP replica.
The point of MotoGP, after all, was to bring racing technology closer to the street. The extreme end of sporting streetbikes, the reasoning went, were almost racers already, so why not concentrate racing development on the four-stroke technology that could be transferred directly.
And why not justify all those dollars spent on fielding exotic racers even more directly as an advertising expense, a “race on Sunday, sell on Monday” excuse.
While the rumor line buzzes that a Honda GP replica is coming, the exact form is not certain, with some rumors claiming a true replica, while others argue for a V-Four lookalike. Count us in the V-Five camp. Only the very first V-Four VF750F Interceptor truly set the sportbike world on fire, and later Honda V-Fours, from the VFR800 to the RC30 were better reviewed than they sold. No, if Honda does a “Rossi Replica,” expect it to truly replicate, looking very much like our artist’s conception coverbike. It will be the full V-Five, 75.5-degree cylinder angle and all. And expect Honda to worry about getting Superbike rules changed to accommodate it, rather than the company building a bike to the rules-after all, Superbike is going to struggle for prestige with MotoGP as the most prominent fourstroke series. Superbike promoters and sanctioning bodies will be fighting to make sure that Honda is included.
With 200cc cylinders and conventional valvegear, a streetgoing V-Five could displace 989cc, running a 74mm bore and a short,
46mm stroke-the 1.6:1 bore-tostroke ratio common in current motorcycle racing engines. In a streetbike, such an engine could easily be tuned to make peak power at 13,500 rpm, an average piston speed of 4000 feet per minute, nothing exceptional these days. Redline could easily be 15,000 rpm, with the rev-limiter kicking in another 500 rpm or so higher. Running to those engine speeds, the Honda could readily make in excess of 160 horsepower, way more than competitive with current liter-class leaders such as the GSX-R1000 and YZF-R1.
Overall, the engine design of the RC211 GP racer is so conventional that the streetbike engine could indeed be a close replica, even utilizing the semi-dry sump design-which isn’t entirely unique. (After all, Harley FLs have had an integrated dry-sump oil tank in the engine/transmission package for several years now!) And the same goes for the chassis: While aluminum alloys for the frame might change for mass-production as opposed to one-off construction, the basic layout is a twin-beam design straight in the evolutionary line of other Honda racers and race replicas. Expect a streetbike to maintain the relatively long 57.75-inch wheelbase, the attention to mass centralization that has the entire fuel supply carried near the center of gravity, and the new floating “Unit Pro-Link” rear suspension. Indeed, the only changes expected would be those absolutely required for streetability-a fan to assist the radiators for low-speed cooling, enough battery capacity for repeated cold starts, adequate silencing for noise standards and the usual reflectors and license-plate brackets that clutter up streetbikes compared to racers. The requirements of street use (and affordability) guarantee that a RC211 replica would be a new and unique design that would not share actual components with the GP racer, but instead would share the gross design of those components. Gears of the streetbike, for example, would be made of slightly lesser materials and with tooth forms and finishes that emphasize durability and quiet operation rather than ultimate load-carrying capacity at an absolutely minimum weight. Many components would be slightly heavier than the GP-quality parts on the racer-and cost 5 percent as much as those tool-room specials.
Overall, such a street-going replica could be expected to set new performance standards. If Honda chose, it could release such a machine with as much or more power as a Hayabusa or a ZX-12, while keeping the weight down to Yamaha R1 level, say about 425 pounds ready to ride. Like the RC211V, the machine would be small, and the aerodynamics excellent. Gearing would have to be chosen carefully, or a limiter applied in the ECU programming, to prevent the bike from exceeding the 300-kph (186-mph) speed limit imposed by the manufacturers on bikes sold in the European Common Market. In terms of acceleration, the machine would have a power-to-weight ratio better than current repli-racer literbikes, and with its longish wheelbase, would launch off the starting line at a dragstrip a little harder, as well. Quarter-mile times could be in the mid-9s, with terminal speeds above 140 mph!
Honda is in a position, then, to translate its GP design into a machine that could set new streetbike performance standards-for a while. The one thing we’re sure about is this: The kind of dominance that Honda established this year in the GPs is very, very difficult to continue year after year, and it’s yet harder to dominate streetbike performance. A RC211 replica might do it for a while, but other manufacturers would respond quickly. And, once again, the true beneficiaries of the performance war would be us.
—Steve Anderson
