The YB4ei first debuted in YB4R form at the 1986 Bol d’or before contesting the 1987 World Championship Formula TT with great success – Virginio Ferrari winning with team-mate Davide Tardozzi finishing fourth in the eight-round series.
Davide Tardozzi (2) at Oran Park in 1988
Stephane Mertens (6) and Davide Tardozzi (2)
The YB4 was one of the first motorcycles to use an aluminium twin-beam frame. Designer Federico Martini also added an aluminium swingarm, and for the road version, fuel injection. The motor was from Yamaha’s FZ750.
The YB4 featured an aluminium twin beam frame and swingarm
Fuel injection was also found on the road going version
Tardozzi narrowly lost the inaugural 1988 WSB Championship after a crash in the last round in New Zealand, eventually placing third in the championship.
Davide Tardozzi (2) narrowly lost the 1988 WSB championship after a crash in New Zealand
Davide Tardozzi (2)
303 YB4 machines were supposedly produced during 1988-89, plus a further 15 SP models. However it is very likely that the 303 number was inflated to meet WSB homologation. Bimota later claimed that 200 were destroyed in testing!
Bimota claimed they produced over 300 of the YB4 for homologation
Bimota YB4
Bimota YB4
Bimota YB4
Output was 122 hp at 10,500 pm, while weight was 180 kg. This bike was originally exported to Japan before finding its way to Perth, then NZ.
Bimota YB4
Bimota YB4
Bimota YB4
The images of the factory YB4R were taken at Oran Park WSB round in 1988. The riders were Stephane Mertens (6) and Davide Tardozzi (2).
The King of Every Kingdom Around the world on a very small motorcycle
With J. Peter “The Bear” Thoeming
The United States of America is not one country but many. I set off on my little Honda XL250 to explore some of them…
United States of America
We were in brilliant sunlight at 30,000 feet as the Laker DC10 started its descent into John F. Kennedy Airport. Fifteen minutes later, on the ground, it was night – darkness broken only by the beacon of the dozens of aircraft milling around waiting to park or take off. I found myself hoping fervently that this was not going to be an omen for my long-awaited tour of the US. Half an hour later my fears were firming up.
The immigration lines in the arrivals lounge were long, slow and staffed by people obviously bored with their job of keeping America safe for democracy. I got short shrift – two months to be precise – when I tried to get an entry permit to take me up to the date on my onward ticket – all of three weeks later than the two months.
Retrieving the bike from customs in America and discovering someone had dropped a crate on it
But – America, land of contrasts! – things were quite different at Customs. Not only did the officer disdain to search my luggage, but as soon as he noticed that I was a motorcyclist – easily deduced from the crash helmet under my arm – he engaged me in a lengthy and interesting discussion of bike usage in the US. He then closed his station and went off to find out the easiest and cheapest way in which I might recover my bike, which had come by airfreight, out of bond.
There are two types of Americans, I have come to realise. Those who can’t do too much for you, and those who can’t do anything for you.
Ten minutes later, equipped with detailed – though unfortunately wrong – information, as well as the address and phone number of my first American friend, I boarded the bus into Gotham City. For $5 the airport bus was good value.
You get to goggle out at the fascinating and scary concrete ribbons of the freeways, contemplate the towering housing projects and quickly summarise all the warnings about New York – while you’re still safe. As soon as you step out of the bus at the Lower East Side Bus Terminal you’re on your own. At 1.00am, for me, this seemed about on a par with crossing Parramatta Road (Sydney’s main traffic artery) at 5.00pm on a Friday afternoon. Death lurked everywhere.
I didn’t have any American change, so one of the taxi drivers – a sizeable black person – lent me a dime to ring the Youth Hostel. They didn’t answer, so I decided to go ‘round and wake them up. The loan of ten cents had put me so much in the moral debt of my driver that I didn’t feel able to protest his charge of $8.50 for ten city blocks…
He did me a favour by pointing out that I was in one of the toughest neighbourhoods in Manhattan, and to watch out. If anyone tried to ‘put trouble on me’, he suggested I keep walking. I amended that to ‘running’ and thanked him.
The hostel was closed for the night, of course, but I got a room in the hotel next door, as well as a much appreciated snack in the hotel’s all night coffee shop. The bellboy pointed out that the TV would operate only if the bathroom light was switched on; I gave him a dollar and fell into bed. I am a creature of sunshine.
The next morning, with temperatures climbing towards the century mark they reached every day while I was in New York, I felt immeasurably better and more in control. I checked in at the hostel, stowed my baggage and went out for a walk. As I left the hostel, my eye was caught by the unmistakable shape of the Empire State Building, visible through a gap between some other buildings across the road. I stopped and admired it for a moment, then turned and began to walk on.
‘Hey, buddy.’ A well-dressed black bloke standing in a doorway marked ‘NY Community College’ called me over. ‘Buddy, I been workin’ here for 20 years. Ever’ now and then, folk stop where you did an’ look up in the air. What you lookin’ at?’ I motioned for him to come back a few steps with me, to where he could see the Empire State, and pointed.
‘The Empire State?’ he said. ‘Oh, yeah, sure. The Empire State. Yeah. Never thought o’ that…’ I’m still not sure if he was taking the piss. Well, actually I am.
It was beginning to get muggy, even early in the morning, and I turned up towards Central Park. It’s a blast walking through New York. I doubt that there’s a more interesting place on Earth. And it’s all the people; the diversity, the style, the craziness. In Central Park, this being summer, it was all hanging out.
I have never seen so many scantily covered ample breasts and buttocks in my life—and most of them on wheels, too. Roller skates everywhere, people with radios clamped to their heads bopping, rolling, even dancing… and rippling – the males with muscles, the females mainly with, er… other tissue.
The remainder of those couple of days is a bit of a blur. There was Greenwich Village, with the frisbee experts working out in Washington Square; the great food in the delis; the spectacular comics pages the Sunday papers serve up; the sight of miles and miles of smog from the top of the Empire State; Waylon Jennings at the Lone Star for $1 cover charge; and the terrible beer.
Stopped outside a United States Post Office
I approached the beer scientifically. One evening, I bought one can each of six different beers and retreated to the room I shared with a swarthy Frenchman and two melancholy Danes. As I listened to tales of touring the US and Canada by BMW – this from the Frenchman, who’d shipped his bike over and spent eight weeks buzzing around – I sampled the brews.
They were all awful, without exception. Pale, flavourless and nearly non-alcoholic, they all tasted the same. Bad sign.
One of the Danes explained his melancholia, too. He had, it seemed, been mugged. His papers, money and travellers’ cheques had been taken – in Miami, of all places. I’d always thought of Miami as a sort of geriatric anteroom to a morgue, but it seemed street crime was a problem. For the Dane, anyway. His consulate, fortunately, had come to the rescue. They had replaced his passport on the spot and had lent him some money.
With the mugging story still fresh in my mind, I descended into the subways to make my way out to suburban Jamaica to pick up the freight papers for the bike. Graffiti on the NY trains is of a very high standard, and the trains themselves are occasionally even air-conditioned.
Papers in hand, I presented myself at the freight depot. It seemed that some mud had been noticed under the guards on the bike, so the Department of Agriculture man had to be called. Foreign mud is a no-no. I sat around, gasping in the heat, for an hour or so until he came. After one look, he decided that he wasn’t worried. Ah, mud shmud.
I was then free to deal with the lady from Customs, who suspected everyone and everything— she gave me a hard time because my bike registration papers had expired, but finally relented. She did not mention insurance, fortunately.
So I had the bike back – rather bent, since someone had dropped a crate on it, but still my bike. I had to straighten the shock absorbers with a crowbar, but the rest of it wasn’t too bad and went back together quite well. It wouldn’t start, though; throwing away the contents of the float bowl and pushing finally did the trick. My grateful thanks to the guys at Seaboard World, who donated a gallon of petrol and then pushed. I couldn’t have done it without ya.
My first encounter with the freeway system, on the way back into Manhattan, wasn’t reassuring. The signs were so cryptic. What do I know from 72nd Street? Signposting is all very local, unless you’ve memorised the route numbers. No denying that the freeways get you around at a great rate of knots, though.
I was back at the hostel before I knew it. I fitted my lovely new Oxford Fairings windscreen out in the street, and attracted all sorts of loonies. One of them insisted on telling me the long, dreary and predictable story of the disintegration of his Gold Star BSA.
There are British bikes slowly corroding and dying all over the world. I know this because I have been told many times.
Tch tch, that’s enough slinging off at British bikes. Let’s head out for New England, instead, and enjoy summer in the forest.
Say ‘Moto Guzzi’ and which bikes spring to mind? Big transverse V-twins? Maybe, if you are of a certain age, horizontal four-stroke singles? What about tiddler two-strokes?
Perhaps not the first model to come to mind is the Moto Guzzi Dingo GT
The company had introduced its first two-stroke design, the 65cc Motoleggera (better known as the Guzzino) in 1946 – of which over 70,000 were produced, until it was superseded by the similar Cardellino in 1954. It, in turn, was manufactured until 1963 to the tune of some 144,000 bikes.
The Dingo followed the Motoleggera
So the company certainly had impressive two-stroke experience. The two bikes seen here represent Guzzi’s efforts to embrace the swinging ’60s youth market with low cost entry level models.
Interestingly the Dingo was aimed at young entry level riders, not unlike the current LAMS segment
A three-speed gearbox, steel frame and 16 inch wheels were part of the package
In 1963 the 49cc Dingo (don’t you wish you could have been present in the factory boardroom beside Lake Como when that name was chosen?), was introduced as a twist-grip controlled three-speed, pressed steel frame moped with 16-inch wheels.
1966 Moto Guzzi Dingo GT
Like the Guzzino the motor was designed by Antonio Micucci, who was obviously the go-to man at the factory if you needed a two-stroke! The Dingo evolved over the years through several models including the 1966 GT version seen here.
The Moto Guzzi Dingo would evolve over the model’s lifetime
It was a proper motorcycle, with the pedals dispensed with, a four-speed foot operated gearbox, a tubular frame and 18-inch wheels. Output was 1.7 hp at 6000 rpm.
A 49cc two-stroke powerplant was featured
An advanced 50 cc parallel-twin two-stroke prototype was displayed at the Milan Show in 1975 which used the same chassis as the GT. Other Dingo models included the Cross dirt bike and MM automatic. In all 12 different models were built from 1963 until 1976. They were also produced under licence in Spain.
1968 Moto Guzzi Trotter Super
The Trotter moped was an even more basic machine that harked back to the Guzzino days, at least in concept. It was introduced in 1966 and was powered (if that’s the word) by a 1.2 hp 40 cc two-stroke that used a twist grip two-speed gearbox, basic pressed-steel frame and 1- inch wheels. The carburettor was fitted to the front of the motor.
1968 Moto Guzzi Trotter Super
1968 Moto Guzzi Trotter Super
The bike I photographed here is a 1968 Trotter Super version which benefited from being fitted with telescopic forks. From late 1969 the range received a major overhaul with the motor being redesigned, receiving an 8 cc capacity increase, a V-belt primary drive and horizontal cylinder.
1999 Buell X1 Lightning. Owner: Jason Len, Arroyo Grande, California.
In addition to the weather phenomenon, the word lightning means fast, as in the speed of light or 186,000 miles per second. This motorcycle is not quite that fast; its speedo only goes to 140 miles per hour. But the X1 does get up there in an earthbound way, with a top speed close to that 140 mph, and a quarter-mile time in the 11s. Not bad for a bike powered by Harley’s 1,203cc Sportster engine.
Erik Buell, a longtime chassis engineer at Harley-Davidson and a serious racer, decided to go off on his own in the mid-1980s. His last accomplishment at Harley was the frame in the FXR series, which was greeted with great enthusiasm when introduced in 1982. Eric was a dyed-in-the-leather Harley enthusiast, having talked his way into a job in Milwaukee after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh.
In 1987 he began producing the RR1000 Battle Twin, building a drastically new frame holding leftover XR1000 engines, which had been used in those sporty Sportsters that did not sell well. When that XR supply ran out he moved to the 1,200cc engine, and did quite well with the Battle Twin line. Harley was so excited by this turn of events that in 1993 it bought 49 percent of the Buell Motorcycle Company, which gave Eric financial comfort.
In 1996 he came up with the S1 Lightning, a return to his basic concept of a “fundamental” sportbike — a bit too fundamental for many riders. He built 5,000 of these and had to listen to praise and damnation concerning its performance and appearance. Late in 1998 he elected to make it a little more pleasant to ride and change the look slightly, hence the X1.
The chassis is the most interesting aspect of the bike. The frame, a bit stiffer than that on the S1, was made of tubular steel in the form of a trellis, with sections coming down on both sides of the cylinders. A backbone connected to one of the most notable aspects of the bike, a subframe that was perhaps the largest aluminum casting seen on a bike. And it carried a modestly improved seat that held two riders without too many complaints. Beneath the seat a large rectangular aluminum swingarm helped the belt final drive get to the rear axle.
Buells had often been criticized for their limited turning radius, and on the X1 the steering head was moved forward slightly, giving an extra four degrees in steering lock. Still tight, but better…says the photographer who had to turn this bike around. A 41mm upside-down Showa fork with a rake of 23 degrees gave 4.7 inches of travel — and trail of 3.5 inches. It was fully adjustable, with spring preload along with compression and rebound damping.
The rear end used a single Showa shock absorber, which wasn’t really at the rear but was laying flat under the engine. There wasn’t room for the shock anywhere else, as the bike had a rather short wheelbase of 55 inches, five inches less than on the stock Sportster. Most shocks rely on compression as their standard, but this one used tension, pulling apart in response to a bump rather than pushing down. It had full adjustability, including ride height, with adjustments being best left to experts.
Cast wheels were 17 inches in diameter, with Nissin calipers, 6-piston in front and 1-piston out back, squeezing single discs. Because the Showa fork was already drilled for it, this bike’s owner added a second front brake disc and caliper.
And the engine? A mildly modified Sportster, an air-cooled four-stroke 45-degree V-twin displacing 1,203cc with an 88.9 x 96.8mm bore and stroke, and, yes, hydraulically adjusted valves, two per cylinder. The trick here was Eric’s Isoplanar rubber mounting system for this shaker. A standard Sportster shook like Hades when even mildly revved, and none of this was felt on the Buell machines. The engine was actually part of the chassis, with all the vibes going into a single longitudinal plane, and apparently this increased frame rigidity. Which requires understanding beyond the limits of this scribe.
Buell had developed his Thunderstorm cylinders and pistons for the S1, with better porting and 10:1 compression. A dynamometer rated the rear-wheel output at 85 horses at 6,500 rpm, an engine speed no rider on a stock Sportster would ever want to attain. For the X1 Eric tossed the 38mm Keihin carb and bolted on a 45mm Walbro throttle body using a VDO injection-control computer, labeled Dynamic Digital Fuel Injection. There was no increase in power; the system just made the engine run more smoothly. A triple-row primary ran power back to a 5-speed transmission and belt final drive.
The look was pretty sporty, beginning with the abbreviated front fender and a very small wind deflector over the headlight. When this bike came out of the factory it had big black boxes on both sides of the 4.2-gallon gas tank, the right one feeding the airbox and fuel injection, the left intended to keep the rear cylinder cool enough to not roast the rider’s leg. Underneath the engine was a spoiler intended to protect the shock and conceal the huge muffler. However, the owner of this X1 prefers the “fundamental” look and removed the black boxes and spoiler. He is careful about jumping curbs, as there are only five inches of ground clearance.
Dry weight is 440 pounds, 50 pounds less than the stock Sportster. People still complained about the seat, the vibration and a number of other things, but they were just pansies. The bike was intended for seriously sporty riders who didn’t mind a little discomfort as they kicked butt with an old-fashioned engine in a new-fashioned chassis. In 1999 the X1 and the Ducati 900 Supersport cost about the same; take your pick.
Two decades ago Honda, so often kings of the multi-cylinder four-stroke racing world since the stunning arrival of several jewel-like Grand Prix machines in the 1960s, had realised that something truly new was required to stay in the important game of winning WorldSBK championships. Something new for Honda, at least.
In 2000 the biggest Japanese manufacturer of them all adopted a 1000cc V-twin engine configuration, the same basic format that their main WorldSBK rivals – Ducati – had been using to such great effect long before the WorldSBK party had officially started in 1988.
In reality, the Honda VTR1000SP1 was a very different design to the Desmodromic, 90° belt-driven ‘laid down L’ of the Ducati.
Honda RC51 VTR1000 SP-1
The reason for the birth of the Japanese twin-spar aluminium framed 90° V-twin was simple. Having won the Superbike Riders’ Championship with Fred Merkel and the RC30 (twice), then John Kocinski and the RC45 as recently as 1997, the writing was on the wall for the whole era of 750cc four-cylinders being competitive against bigger-bore twins. Even the title-winning Honda V-fours.
Aprilia, another Italian marque which competed against Honda in the smaller GP classes, had already jumped on the big V-twin bandwagon as they entered WorldSBK full of ambition in 1999. Even little Bimota had hybridized their small-production run Italian philosophy with a V-twin Suzuki engine for the 2000 WorldSBK season.
Honda RC51 VTR1000 SP-1
Despite all this V-twin momentum building up elsewhere it must have taken a degree of deep thought – even a corporate deep breath – before the go-ahead was given to abandon the much-loved V-four configuration Honda had made their own trademark for many years. Especially given that any racing version of the new road going V-twin would be an instant technical challenge against the prime exponents of the V-due art, Ducati.
Honda, however, has never been a company lacking ambition.
The new bike, the VTR1000SP1 (suffixed ‘W’ for the works bikes in WorldSBK), had a relatively upright single crank V-twin engine layout, four valve heads fed by two fuel injectors per cylinder. Engine capacity maxed out at 999cc, by regulation.
Philosophically radical it may have been but it was relatively conventional, aside from the roadbikes’ side mounted coolant radiators, brought to the front on the racebike. And it worked well from the very start.
Honda VTR1000 SP
New Zealander Aaron Slight, and the eventual double World Champion Colin Edwards, were the first to transition from fours to twins in Honda’s full HRC Castrol Honda team, based in the UK but very much a direct factory effort from Japan. With Showa suspension and Nissin brakes on the racebike, it was all very Japanese indeed.
Edwards, a Texan from head to toe, knew at that point in time Honda – or maybe anybody – probably needed a twin to win, based on at least one central truth in any form of motorsport.
“The old saying goes that there is no replacement for displacement, and that still stands true,” said Edwards, 20 years after he won the first of his two WorldSBK crowns. And it was not just a cubed route to success for the larger twin, it was also its very nature compared to a high-revving 750 four. “The thing with the twin was that it was like riding a Supersport bike,” remembers Edwards. “It had such easy, deliverable power. There was no ‘hit’ – you could do it in your sleep. It was such an easy bike to ride compared to the four-cylinders.”
Colin Edwards and the VTR-SP RC51 Honda
Edwards had been a convert to 1000cc twins before he even got one of his own, even in his pre-RC45 V-four days it seems. “Before I joined Honda I was with Yamaha and I said to them, ‘let’s build a twin!’” stated Colin. “Then when I joined Honda they decided they were going to do it, so obviously we were excited about it, knowing what Honda do with motors. They had ability to extract a lot of power out of it and we were excited about it.”
Edwards first got confirmation that the VTR1000SP1 was on the way as early as 1998, and first rode it in early 1999.
“We heard in 1998 that they were building it,” he said, “We went testing on it in Australia, at Phillip Island and Eastern Creek in – I think – February 1999. It was a full year before they even brought the bike out. I rode two days on the twin at PhiIlip Island. The bike was way slow; it was in a somewhat production mode at that time and it did not have any kit on it to speak of. But our lap times were about three-quarters of a second behind the RC45, I want to say, and we were going about 20-25kmph slower down the straight. We knew it was slow just because they had not had any time to develop it. We knew we could get more power out of it, but at that time we had just started playing with fuelling and mapping.”
Honda VTR1000 SP
As well as being fast around the corners, and eventually fast enough down the straight after the first year of non-competitive engine development, Edwards also found the bike relatively easy on tyres compared to the higher-revving fours he had known before.
“The twins were definitely easier on tyres, but at that time we were going through – I am not going to say a transition – but there was so much development going on with Michelin at that time,” confirmed Edwards, who was the fastest test rider imaginable for Michelin in those heady days before single make tyre regulations became almost ubiquitous in most championships. Tailored options were the norm. “Everybody was on different casings and different rubber… everybody had pretty much carte blanche. It was sort of, ‘try this one and if it doesn’t work try that one.’ Then they would come over and say, ‘Fogarty likes this one, why don’t you try this one?’ You did not have two or three to choose from, like nowadays. It was quite different back in the day.”
Another pleasant characteristic of the new V-twin was that it was less finicky in its basic on-track preparation. “It was definitely easier to set-up,” said Colin.
Colin Edwards and the VTR-SP RC51 Honda
But despite all the new things to understand, and while trying to race to win the title during a season in which nine different riders on seven different makes of machine won races, Honda’s brand new V-twin and Edwards had still secured the Riders’ Championship. They took eight race wins along the way, including the first and last of the season. A shift to 1000cc had led to 400 championship-winning points.
It was top teamwork, after a difficult but finally rewarding debut season for the VTR SP1. To the query of was it more man or machine in 2000, Edwards stated, “I think it was both things.” He was certainly ready to win outright as much as the new bike was. “I finished second the year before and I had been improving year-by-year. My level of riding was getting to the top level and ready to fight for the championship. At the same time, the bike we brought out was easier to ride but by no means perfect. The SP2 I would say was perfect. That was a great bike. The SP1… we did have to play around with it. It was not like every race was awesome.”
As well as so many challenges for individual wins, Edwards was also competing in the era of tyre wars, which his Michelins usually won, but by not every time. Some races were downright stressful for this reason, and more.
“It was stressful!” agreed Colin. “We had that tyre thing going on, and then you would show up at Sugo or Donington, or anywhere where Dunlop were on point and there was nothing you could do. We did have bad weekends and you just had to come out of a bad weekend the best you could.”
Colin Edwards and the VTR-SP RC51 Honda
With limits of the amount of testing he could do on WorldSBK circuits, Edwards made the most of his other riding opportunities, especially in France. “I think that was around the time that you had two allocated test tracks, and we did more tests at Clermont-Ferrand for Michelin than anywhere,” remembers Colin. “We could not have done without that.”
After the then all-time WorldSBK great Carl Fogarty (Ducati) had been eliminated from 2000 season and then his career through a nasty shoulder injury, Edwards’ was given no respite in his title charge after Noriyuki Haga and his homologation special Yamaha found their stride.
“The first race, in South Africa, I won. Haga was right there with me; and Fogarty. In the second race Haga just cleared off – by seconds. He was gone and I was riding my ass off. It was just weird; why had he not done that in the first race? A setting change, whatever, I dunno? But it was a little bit abnormal I thought at the time.
“At Brands Hatch all I had to do was to have, I think, two tenth places, even if they had not taken those points away, so it was in the back of my mind. It was Brands Hatch and I usually won there, so I was not really stressed.”
Colin Edwards and the VTR-SP RC51 Honda
In the final chapter of a multi-venue rolling fairytale, Honda’s first WorldSBK V-twin and Edwards won the title, and would do so again on the subsequent SP2 in 2002. But it was that first winning season in 2000 that blew everybody’s mind, even if it took every joule of energy and spark of inspiration the manufacturer, technical partners, team and rider had to make the outcome certain.
“Adrian Gorst was my crew chief, which he had been since 1998 and Neil Tuxworth was leading the team – we had a really good crew,” affirmed Edwards.
“Honda put in a lot that year, I would say a full factory effort. We had some Japanese staff come around race-by-race. As far as the amount of effort that was put in I would say maximum. There was nothing that we were missing. That was also the first year that me and Valentino Rossi did the Suzuka 8-Hour. So all of this went into developing the bike – it was a big, big effort on the twin that year.”
Edwards continues “We won WorldSBK, we beat Ducati and the bike was awesome, but the 2002 bike was even way better. It was a development thing. We did the whole first two years with the SP1, found out where our weaknesses were, where we could make it better, and built that into the 2002 models. That is just R&D, but from where they started in 2000, obviously they started at a really good spot – and we won the championship.”
In the end, the RC51 in its three years of full WorldSBK competition amassed 26 victories, a further 30 podium places and two Riders’ Championship titles in 2000 and 2002 with Colin Edwards.
The Honda NSR500V was introduced in 1996 to take advantage of the lower weight limit for twin-cylinder machines and to be sold as a viable privateer team bike.
van den Goorbergh’s Honda NSR500V
However for the first year it was run solely as a factory entry. As with the Aprilia V-twin, its advantages of better handling and higher cornering speed weren’t quite enough to overcome the V4 bikes’ superior acceleration.
The better handling and weight couldn’t overcome the V4 advantage on the NSR500V
The twin would see good success in privateer hands
Tadayuki Okada placed his twin on pole for its first race, in Malaysia, and went on to score six top five placings, including a second at Phillip Island. He finished the the 1996 season in seventh place.
Honda NRS500V
Honda NRS500V
Honda NRS500V
Only 20 NSR500Vs were built from 1995 to 2000, with a further two being provided for the Shell Advance team in 2001. Unlike the NSR500 the 500V was sold, not leased to the privateer teams.
The NSR500V was sold to teams, where the NSR500 was only leased
Honda NRS500V
This is Jurgen van den Goorbergh’s 2000 bike with 2001 engine
This is one of Jurgen van den Goorbergh’s 2000 bikes and is fitted with a TSR frame and swingarm, together with works Nissin forks and front brakes. It has chassis number 001 (of the three run by the team). Van den Goorbergh won Best Privateer for 2000, finishing in 13th place for the season.
Nissin provided the brakes and forks
Honda NRS500V
Honda NRS500V
The bike was fitted with the uprated 2001 motor for the following season (which featured new crankcases and transmission) and raced by Haruchika Aoki – who also won that year’s Best Privateer award.
Honda NRS500V
Honda NRS500V
Output was 148 hp compared to the standard producing 135hp at 10,250rpm, while weight was a svelte 103 kg.
Almost everyone you meet reckons that the Russian Ural and sidecar is a wartime copy of a captured BMW R75. Well romantic as the notion maybe, the fact is that even if the Russians did capture some German sidecars (and early in the war the Russians lost vastly more men and material than they ever captured), they were too busy moving all their factories behind the Ural mountains to tool up for an R75 copy. Besides that, tanks, guns and ammunition were way ahead on the production schedule.
Where did the inspiration come from? Were the Germans the sidecar pioneers we tend to believe? Lets go back a bit to 1937, before the war.
Looking at the military outfits in production it was probably FN that inspired the BMW and Zundapp military outfits. Even Puch tried to build one until the Nazis asked them politely to concentrate on other war essentials.
The Belgian FN M12 outfit of 1937 had sidecar wheel drive, high and low ratio and reverse gearbox, additional filtration, interchangeable wheels and cross country tyres. A range of sidecars were produced with or without armoured shields. These outfits were so good that after the Nazi invasion the Wehrmacht kept these machines in production.
FN M12 was manufactured from 1937 to 1940 by the Belgian company Fabrique Nationale de Herstal
The French, always adaptable, were quite taken by the Belgian idea and Gnome-Rhone produced a Boxer twin outfit from 1938-40, the sv AX2 800cc.
Gnome Rhone – Image by Phil Aynsley
The sv AX2 800 outfit also featured a reverse gear and a shaft drive to the sidecar wheel. Again the Wehrmacht was impressed and continued production after conquering France in 1940.
Gnome Rhone AX sidecar
It wouldn’t surprise me if these machines are at times mistaken for BMWs or Zundapps under their camouflage and Wehrmacht markings. There are suggestions that France built more military outfits for the German war effort than BMW and Zundapp combined. It wasn’t until the autumn of 1940 that the BMW R75 and Zundapp KS750 models were introduced with similar features to the Belgian and French models.
BMW R 75 with sidecar – Image by Dain Gingerelli
The yanks were taken by these machines as well after capturing a few in North Africa. The Harley XA prototype was based on the BMW and Zundapp models but in particular a captured 750cc BMW R12. Wherever possible the XA was kept common to the WLA and a sidecar version the XS was prepared. The Jeep killed off this particular venture after 1000 machines were built. However much we like our outfits when it comes to war…4 wheels are better than 3.
Harley-Davidson XS Sidecar
Back to the Russians……where did their sidecar outfit come from? Well in 1938 they were licensed by BMW to produce copies of the BMW R71 as the M-72, a side-valve boxer which received some additional work such as extra finning to cope with Russian conditions. This machine was produced during the war (though niceties such as paying royalties to BMW were no doubt overlooked by then).
Production continued after the war as the K750. Unlike the war-time BMWs and Zundapps, the Russian model was not OHV, did not have sidecar wheel drive or inter-connected brakes, but remained in production until 1983. In 1968 Ural produced the ubiquitous 650cc OHV flat twin which is still with us today in various forms.
Condor A-750
Interestingly the Swiss also built late in the war their own flat twin sidecar outfits…. the Condor A-750 side-valves.
So only Germany led with OHV in these machines, the others all went for side valves and Russia didn’t copy the R75 and KS750 during the war as production limitations were pretty severe but probably did capture a heap and use them in Russian markings, especially in films after the war.
Irbit Sidecar in off-road trim
Russian Irbit and Kiev side valve machines were built from the early 50s.
Ural Dnepr K
A 650cc OHV model based on the BMW was built from 1968 and is more commonly known as the Dnepr, Neval, Phoenix or Cossack in Western markets.
Chang Jiang Sidecar
Chinese machines are based on the early Russian side-valve model and also the later OHV 650. I imagine they are direct copies of the Russian versions.
A 1994 Chinese Chang-Jiang 750 KNUJ. Rather heavily based on the BMW via the Russian Ural – Image by Phil Aynsley
The Chang Jiang certainly looks like the Russian side-valve motor. The more up-market Chang Dong uses an OHV boxer twin.
The modern day Ural (this is 2019 model) is based on designs from the 1960s, could there be demand for a truly modern sidecar set-up for the modern motorcycle market…? Source: MCNews.com.au
Honda is the most successful manufacturer at the Suzuka 8 Hours, but of late have been missing from the top step of the podium at the famous race.
Musashi RT HARC-Pro (Takumi Takahashi – Leon Haslam – Michael van der Mark) won the 2014 Suzuka 8 Hours.
Honda last won in 2014 with Takahashi, Haslam and Van der Mark taking the glory on the CBR1000RR before Yamaha went on to win four years straight from 2015-2018.
Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Pol Espargaro with Bradley Smith win Suzuka 8 Hours 2015 – Yamaha went on a four-year winning streak 2015-16-17-18
Until 2019, Kawasaki had only ever won the prestigious event once and that was some 26 years before when Aaron Slight and Scott Russell piloted a ZXR750R to victory. After a confused and embarassing delay to the results in the 42nd edition of the Suzuka 8 Hour in 2019 Kawasaki were once again announced as victorious as Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam piloted the KRT ZX-10RR to victory.
Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea and Leon Haslam celebrate the win in 2019 Suzuka 8 Hour
Today we look back at Honda’s history of success at what is the most prestigious race on the international motorcycle road racing calendar. The 2020 edition of the event has been postponed to November, will the all-new 2020 Fireblade help Honda wrestle back the Suzuka 8 Hour crown?
2020 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP
INLINE-FOUR TT F1 ERA: 1978-1983
1979 winners: Tony Hatton/Mike Cole Honda Australia RS1000
In early 1979 Honda launched its superb CB900F four, to reinforce the company’s reputation as a manufacturer of high-performance sports bikes. The CB900F’s 901cc DOHC engine made the perfect endurance power unit and took Honda’s new RS1000 edurance machine to a clean sweep of the Suzuka 8 Hours podium.
1979 winners: Tony Hatton/Mike Cole, Honda Australia RS1000 – Hatton pictured
Two factory-backed importer teams battled for victory on CB900F-powered RS1000s: Tony Hatton and Mick Cole, riding for Honda Australia, and Ron Haslam and Alex George, riding for Honda Britain. They both finished on the same lap, breaking the race record by three laps.
The podium was completed by Shinji Sumitani and Toshio Asami, riding a CB900F for Blue Helmets MSC.
Honda machines filled the top eight positions, vindicating the work of Honda’s RSC (Racing Service Centre), which had been established to support to private teams contesting endurance and TT F1 events. In 1982 RSC was transformed into HRC.
1981 winners: Mike Baldwin/David Aldana Honda France RS1000
American riders Mike Baldwin and David Aldana perhaps made an unlikely pairing for the Honda France team, but the pair were super-fast fast on their RS1000, winning the race by a clear two laps.
1981 winners: Mike Baldwin/David Aldana Honda France RS1000
The fastest lap went to the RS1000 ridden by Britons Ron Haslam and Joey Dunlop, who were side-lined by a crash and engine problems. This was the second Suzuka 8 Hours World Championship round – the endurance series had been upgraded from FIM Coupe d’Endurance to the Endurance World Championship in 1980.
1982 winners: Shigeo Iijima/Shinji Hagiwara Blue Helmets MSC Honda RS1000
This was the first 8 Hours run in heavy rain, when a typhoon hit Suzuka. Conditions were so bad that the race was stopped for safety reasons after six hours. Japanese riders excelled in the rain, with the RS1000s of the Blue Helmets MSC team taking a one-two.
First place went to Shigeo Iijima and Shinji Hagiwara, just 28 seconds ahead of Hiroyuki Ito and Toshihito Yoshimura.
V4 TT F1 ERA: 1984-1993
1984 winners: Mike Baldwin/Fred Merkel American Honda RS750R
In 1984 the Endurance World Championship and the TT F1 series switched from 1000cc engines to 750s. Honda’s brand-new RS750R – based around the VF750 V4 road engine – gave HRC its first 8 Hours victory, with RS750R riders monopolising the podium.
American Honda riders Mike Baldwin and Fred Merkel beat Honda France duo Guy Bertin and Dominique Sarron by one lap. Honda France’s second team of Gerard Coudray and Patrick Igoa finished a further two laps down.
1985 winners: Wayne Gardner/Masaki Tokuno Team HRC RVF750
Honda unleashed its legendary RVF750 in 1985. The RVF was the pinnacle of EWC/TT F1 technology: a tuned VF750 engine in a chassis derived from Honda’s experience in Grand Prix racing.
1985 winners: Wayne Gardner/Masaki Tokuno Team HRC RVF750
The future 500cc World Champion Wayne Gardner and team-mate Masaki Tokuno fought a huge battle with rivals, Gardner securing victory for Honda by riding the final two hours.
At the finish the Australian was 1-minute 17-seconds ahead of American Honda pairing Mike Baldwin and Dominique Sarron, whose RVF750 was fitted with a single-sided swingarm for faster wheel changes.
1986 winners: Wayne Gardner/Dominique Sarron Team HRC Honda RVF750
Watched by a weekend crowd of 270,000 Gardner took pole position and in the race no one could stay with him and the new six-speed RVF750. After six hours only one other team was on the same lap as Gardner and Sarron, who eventually took the chequered flag two laps in front.
The second Honda home belonged to Shunji Yatsushiro and Hikaru Miyagi, who rode a Moriwaki CBX750 to a fifth-place finish.
Honda’s latest RVF750 dominated this race, taking pole position, setting the fastest lap and filling the top two places. However, the race wasn’t without drama for Honda.
GP riders Wayne Gardner and Mick Doohan were favourites aboard their Team HRC RVF. Gardner took pole, then Doohan established a new lap record, setting a super-fast pace. The Australians were way out front with three hours to go when Doohan tangled with a backmarker and crashed heavily.
That put Dominique Sarron and Alex Vieira into the lead, the Beams Honda Ikuzawa crossing the line one lap in front of Shoji Miyazaki and Tadashi Ohshima on their Team Blue Fox RVF750.
1991 winners: Wayne Gardner/Mick Doohan Team HRC Honda RVF750
Finally, after making mistakes in 1989 and 1990, Wayne Gardner and Mick Doohan sealed their first victory together, with the legendary Honda France endurance crew looking after them in the pits.
1991 winners: Wayne Gardner/Mick Doohan Team HRC Honda RVF750
Once again the Australians set a super-fast pace, battling for the lead with countryman Kevin Magee and American Doug Chandler.
In the final stages Magee slid off in the challenging conditions, leaving Gardner and Doohan to beat Magee and his American team-mate by three laps. Third place went to Britons Carl Fogarty and Steve Hislop on their Knorr Cup Soup RVF750.
1992 winners: Wayne Gardner/Daryl Beattie OKI Honda RVF750
Wayne Gardner scored his fourth and final 8 Hours victory, a few months before retiring from motorcycle racing. This time his team-mate was up-and-coming Australian Daryl Beattie.
The Australian pairing had to fight hard for this victory, under pressure from Team HRC riders Shinichi Ito and Satoshi Tsujimoto on another RVF750. During the final 30 minutes Beattie made an unscheduled pit stop, allowing Ito to close to within a couple of seconds. However, the Japanese rider crashed out on oil dropped by another machine.
Shinya Takeishi and Kenichiro Iwahashi completed the podium in third place on their Team Blue Fox RVF750, just ahead of former 500cc and 250cc World Champion Freddie Spencer and Ryuji Tsuruta on the Mister Donuts Okumura RVF750.
V4 SUPERBIKE ERA: 1994-1999
1994 winners: Doug Polen/Aaron Slight Team HRC Honda RC45
World Endurance switched from TT F1 to superbike regulations in 1994, requiring road-based chassis as well as road-based engines.
1994 winners: Doug Polen/Aaron Slight Team HRC Honda RC45
This was an all-time classic 8 Hours, with the victory duel lasting all the way to the chequered flag. American Doug Polen, New Zealander Aaron Slight and their Team HRC RC45 enjoyed a thrilling battle with Scott Russell and Terry Rymer. In the last hour Slight and Russell were side by side, Slight triumphing by just 0.288 seconds. Shinichi Ito and Shinya Takeishi took third, less than a lap down on their AM/PM Honda RC45.
1995 winners: Aaron Slight/Tadayuki Okada Team HRC Honda RC45
Aaron Slight won his second straight 8 Hours with Honda, partnered by 250 GP rider Tadayuki Okada. Once again the race for victory was fierce. The Team HRC duo held a five-second lead at half distance and although they’d extended that to 46.8 seconds at the flag the top four finishers all ended the race on the same lap.
Shinichi Ito and Satoshi Tsujimoto made up for their 1992 disappointment by finishing second on their Team HRC RC45.
Once again the 8 Hours was ruled by a typhoon, which kept the track soaked throughout much of the race. GP riders John Kocinski and Alex Barros led the way on their Castrol Honda RC45, but lost the lead due to two unscheduled pit stops.
That put Shinichi Ito and Tohru Ukawa into the lead on their RC45. The Japanese pair rode a perfectly judged race in the treacherous conditions to beat Kocinski and Barros by 2 minutes 4 seconds. Theirs was the first all-Japanese victory since 1982.
Shinichi Ito and Tohru Ukawa scored the first back-to-back team victory in the 22nd running of the 8 Hours. And Honda got to celebrate its 50th anniversary by monopolising the podium.
Ito and Ukawa took control of the race in the second hour, but were never able to fully relax as they defended a narrow lead over the Castrol RC45 of Sete Gibernau and Alex Barros, which finished 43 seconds behind the winners. Honda’s new World Superbike star Colin Edwards took third alongside Tadayuki Okada on their Castrol RVF, still on the same lap at the finish.
Okada and Barros completed Honda’s second 8 Hours hat-trick, the GP pairing bettering the World Superbike duo of Castrol RC45 riders Aaron Slight and Colin Edwards by one lap.
Honda had an all-new machine for the 2000 season, the V-twin VTR1000SPW, which became the brand’s sixth different 8 Hours winner, following in the wheel tracks of the RCB1000, RS1000, RS750R, RVF750 and RC45.
The star entry in this race was GP star Valentino Rossi partnered with WorldSBK star Colin Edwards on a Castrol Honda VTR1000SPW. Rossi took the lead in the first hour, then fell. Edwards was fighting back when he too fell, after four hours, ending their race.
By then Ukawa and Kato had established themselves in the lead, which they retained till the finish, beating their closest rival by one lap.
Rossi had learned from his first endurance race and this time he rode perfectly, once again alongside Edwards. The winning pairing had a race-long duel with the second Cabin VTR1000SPW of Tadayuki Okada and Alex Barros. The result was in doubt until the final moments, Edwards taking the flag 14.2 seconds ahead.
The VTR V-twin won its third consecutive 8 Hours and this time filled the podium, an important result in the 25th running of the event. Kato and Edwards took victory after a long battle with the second Cabin VTR of Makoto Tamada and Tadayuki Okada.
Kato rode the final session, his first in the dark, which was complicated by a rain shower. The reigning 250cc World Champion held his nerve to cross the line 25-seconds in front.
Third place went to the Sakurai Honda VTR1000SPW of Alex Barros and Yuichi Takeda who were a lap down after problems in the early stages, then fought back brilliantly to finish 48 seconds behind Kato.
This year the VTR1000 completed a unique achievement – completing the machine’s unbeaten run of four 8 Hours victories.
Nukumi and Kamada had a thrilling duel for victory, finally snatching the lead in the final hour when their rival ran into technical problems. The Japanese pair completed the race one lap ahead of the runners-up and two laps ahead of Takeshi Tsujimura and Shinichi Ito, riding an inline-four F.C.C TSR ZIP-FM Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade; a pointer to Honda’s future at the 8 Hours.
Another impressive ride by MotoGP rider Ukawa. This was Honda’s first victory with an inline-four machine since 1982 and Ukawa’s fourth success, achieved on a third different type of Honda – a CBR1000RR Fireblade, after earlier successes on an RC45 V4 and a VTR1000 V-twin.
Ukawa took the lead in the first hour and set a blazing pace with team-mate Izutsu to ensure they were never headed. They finished one lap ahead of their closest rivals, with Toshiyuki Hamaguchi and Shogo Moriwaki taking the last podium place on their Weider Honda Gakuen CBR1000RR.
The CBR1000RR dominated the race, with no fewer than eight of the machines in the final top ten!
Another historic victory for Honda, the company’s 20th 8 Hours success, a record fifth win for Ukawa and CBR1000RR Fireblades locking out the top six finishing positions.
Kiyonari and Ukawa were the dominant force, winning by the huge margin of three laps. Chris Vermeulen and Katsuaki Fujiwara completed an impressive one-two for Seven Stars Honda, a further lap down.
2006 winners: Takeshi Tsujimura/Shinichi Ito F.C.C. TSR ZIP-FM Honda CBR1000RR
Honda’s tenth consecutive 8 Hours victory and another one-two for the Fireblade, with Tsujimura and Ito leading the first hour, then slipping behind the Toy Story RT Run’A & HARC-PRO CBR1000RR of Yoshiteru Konishi and Takashi Yasuda. As the race passed mid-distance Tsujimura and Ito retook the lead and maintained their advantage to the flag. There were seven CBR1000RR machines in the top nine.
Honda 500 GP and World Superbike winner Checa partnered Kiyonari to the Japanese star’s second victory in four years. The race was full of drama, with Kiyonari moving to the front on the second lap, only to lose the lead when 2006 winner Shinichi Ito went ahead on the F.C.C TSR CBR1000RR he shared with Takeshi Tsujimura.
Ryuichi Kiyonari – 2008 Suzuka 8 Hour
But then Ito crashed and soon after that a rain shower hit the track, causing more crashes. Kyonari and Checa regained the advantage in the tricky conditions.
CBR1000RR machines once again dominated, monopolising the podium after another thrilling race. Kiyonari and Takahashi had a big battle for the lead with rival factory teams, setting an unbeatable pace that gave Kiyonari his third 8 Hours victory. By the end of the race the winners had a clear one-lap lead over Shinichi Ito and Makoto Tamada, riding a Keihin Kohara CBR1000RR.
Kosuke Akiyoshi and Jonathan Rea took third place after a stunning comeback from 42nd place.
2011 winners: Kousuke Akiyoshi/Shinichi Ito/Ryuichi Kiyonari F.C.C. TSR Honda CBR1000RR
Akiyoshi and Kiyonari scored an excellent win, recovering superbly from a small crash in the early stages to reach the finish 38 seconds in front of their closest rivals. The result gave Ito and Kiyonari a fourth 8 Hours victory, putting them equal with Wayne Gardner’s tally and one short of Tohru Ukawa’s record five successes. This victory was particularly meaningful for Ito, contesting the final season of an illustrious career.
The podium was completed by youngster Takumi Takahashi and veteran team-mates Makoto Tamada and Tadayuki Okada, who also finished on the same lap as the winners.
2012 winners: Johnathan Rea/Kousuke Akiyoshi/Tadayuki Okada F.C.C. TSR Honda CBR1000RR
A truly historic race for Honda – the company scored its 25th Suzuka 8 Hours victory in the 35th running of the event. Rea’s success was the first by a British rider at the 8 Hours, the third for former All-Japan Superbike champion Akiyoshi and also the third for veteran Okada, 17 years after his first win in 1995, aboard an RVF750!
2012 winners: Johnathan Rea/Kousuke Akiyoshi/Tadayuki Okada F.C.C. TSR Honda CBR1000RR
Rea and his team-mates finished an impressive four laps ahead of second-placed Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Yuki Takahashi and Yusuke Teshima, riding a Toho #racing with Moriwaki Honda CBR1000RR.
2013 winners: Takumi Takahashi/Leon Haslam/Michael van der Mark Musashi RT HARC-PRO Honda CBR1000RR
Takahashi, Haslam and Michael van der Mark became the first tri-nation winners of the 8 Hours, taking a fourth consecutive victory for the CBR1000RR at the end of a tense race. At the start of the final hour the Anglo/Japanese/Dutch held a narrow seven-second lead over their closest rivals.
2013 winners: Takumi Takahashi/Leon Haslam/Michael van der Mark Musashi RT HARC-PRO Honda CBR1000RR
Former All-Japan 250cc champion Takahashi took the last session, during which the track was made treacherous by rain. He rode superbly, increasing his team’s advantage to 1 minute 51 seconds at the flag.
2014 winners: Takumi Takahashi/Leon Haslam/Michael van der Mark Musashi RT HARC-PRO Honda CBR1000RR
A famous back-to-back victory by Takahashi, Haslam and van der Mark gave the CBR1000RR its fifth successive 8 Hours victory.
The Musashi RT HARC-PRO team’s success was impressive because weather conditions were atrocious for much of the race, which started an hour late after a fierce storm hit Suzuka on race morning. There were numerous crashes as the rain came and went, with the safety car deployed four times. The F.C.C. TSR Honda team of Kohsuke Akiyoshi, Jonathan Rea and Lorenzo Zanetti were the unluckiest, when Akiyoshi crashed out after four hours, losing a one-lap lead.
2014 winners: Takumi Takahashi/Leon Haslam/Michael van der Mark Musashi RT HARC-PRO Honda CBR1000RR
With the release of the all-new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade, Honda will be looking to add to its tally of 27 Suzuka 8 Hour victories in the future.
Norton’s first OHC engine, important in its own right and for what it led to, was certainly not the first motorcycle powerplant to have its cams situated above the cylinder head.
Not hard to figure out why the Norton engine from the CS1 was nicknamed ‘Cricket Bat’ – Image by Rick McDowell
Almost certainly, this honour goes to the French Peugeot concern, who in 1913 unveiled a 500cc vertical twin racing machine with not single but DOHC operation.
The bike was designed by Ernest Henry who had helped developed a DOHC engine for Peugeot’s car side in 1912.
Peugeot debuted the DOHC designs as early as 1913 along with plenty of other pioneering engineering traits that were seen for the first time in the Peugeot 500M
In addition to DOHC, the 1913 Peugeot two wheeler had oil cooling and several other features that put it way ahead of its time. It wasn’t until after WW 1 however, that Peugeot’s design was really developed and it ultimately became a racing success.
Undoubtedly though, the bulk of OHC development work was performed during the 1920s, with the British Velocette company arguably ahead of any other British manufacturer in the area.
A 350cc OHC Velocette won the 1926 Junior Isle Of Man TT a year before Norton did likewise with their OHC engine in the Senior event. Ironically, the rider on both occasions was Alec Bennett.
Alec Bennett was a TT winner with Velocette
Velocette’s win ultimately led to the company developing its famous and untouchable KTT series of race bikes, machines which not only won many important races of the day, but which also broke numerous records right up until World War Two.
Velocette were in fact pioneers in the area of valve overlap and are known to have researched the matter through the use of stroboscopic lighting.
In mainland Europe, motorcycle production as in Britain was at a peak during most of the 1920s and some interesting OHC designs appeared from the continent.
Koehler-Escoffier V-twin – Image by Phil Aynsley
Back in France and as early as 1920, a firm called Koehler-Escoffier produced what is believed to have been the only V-twin OHC motorcycle (996cc) of the decade. In addition, Koehler-Escoffier made an OHC ‘Sloper’ single of 498cc. The Italian Bianchi firm on the other hand produced what was probably the only DOHC engine of the period.
Designed by Albino Baldi, this works racer had a capacity of 348 cc, was exceptionally fast and attracted the nickname, ‘Doubleknocker’. Fortunately for Bianchi, the machine was a huge success. Equally successful and equally Italian, were Moto Guzzi’s 500 cc and 250 cc OHC horizontal singles of the 1920s.
The Moto Guzzi C4V of 1924 with 4-valve motor was immediately competitive, winning numerous Italian events before finishing 1st, 2nd and 4th in the very first Championship of Europe race held at Monza in September. Two weeks later a C4V won the German GP at Avus. A 3 speed hand change gearbox was fitted and the frame was more compact than that of the C2V. 25hp at 4,500rpm. Wet weight 130kg. Top speed approximately 140kph – Image by Phil Aynsley
Meanwhile, in Germany, Roconova was producing that country’s first commercially available OHC singles by 1924. Racing versions of the 248 cc and 348 cc machines worked well, but the company didn’t last beyond 1926. Probably more famous on the German front was the Windhoff 746 cc, four-cylinder, OHC machine of 1927. Not only did it have oil cooling, but, with no real frame members and everything being attached to the engine, it was one of the first examples of an engine doubling as a frame.
Not all OHC development took place in Europe however. Cyclone was an American firm that, although only in business from 1913 to 1917, produced an OHC V-twin engined bike with a capacity of 996 cc. Cyclone and the above mentioned Koehler-Escoffier of France were the only manufacturers of V-twin OHC machines before WW 2.
Most of these early OHC engines used bevel gears and an intermediary shaft to work the overhead-cams and it wasn’t for some years before chain driven overhead-cams appeared. However, a German company called Horex were one of the first to do so as early as 1932. Their 598 cc and 796 cc, chain driven OHC machines were exceptionally advanced for the day.
Suzuki’s original entry into the 500cc class came in 1968 in the US with the XR-05. The motor was a modified unit from the T500 Titan/Cobra road bike.
1974 Suzuki XR-05 Mk III
It wasn’t until 1971 that the XR-05 appeared in Europe with Aussie Jack Findlay winning Suzuki’s first 500cc GP at Ulster that year. Output had risen from 63 to 71 hp over the intervening years.
The Suzuki XR-05 first appeared in the hands of Aussie Jack Findlay winning the Ulster GP
1974 Suzuki XR-05 Mk III
A water-cooled version, the MkII, appeared in 1973 with triple disc brakes, larger carburettors and on works bikes, a six-speed gearbox, while power was 73 hp.
Power output on earlier models was 73 hp but evolved up to 80 hp
1974 Suzuki XR-05 Mk III
The XR-05 Mk III filled the gap before the introduction of the RG500
In 1974 the MkIII arrived as an interim model, intended to be used until the new RG500 square four was available. The MkIII had revised cylinders with a squarer look and laid down rear shocks.
1974 Suzuki XR-05 Mk III
Square cylinders were a point of note on this model
Only 15 MKIII’s were constructed with the bike seen here number 15. This bike has been fully restored although all the paintwork is original apart from the fairing. Care was taken to use as many original parts as possible.
1974 Suzuki XR-05 Mk III
1974 Suzuki XR-05 Mk III
The last of the MKIII bikes were delivered in 1975, by which time output was up to 80 hp at 8900 rpm. Dry weight was just 140 kg and top speed had reached 257 km/h.
