Photo: motogp.com
It’s no secret that Honda’s RCV1000R production racer is not the bike its MotoGP customers hoped it would be, and neither is it the bike Honda advertised in the first place. What was presented as a “slightly dumbed” version of the factory RC123V turned out to be a much slower machine almost none of the teams using it seem to fully enjoy, despite forking out a hefty sum for it.
Okay, it may be a tad better than the bikes Nicky Hayden, Hiroshi Aoyama, Scott Redding and Karel Abraham rode back in 2013, but it’s nowhere near the 0.3 seconds slower machine Honda advertised. Now, 3 tenths of a second is a solid gap when it comes to MotoGP racing, but the average 0.7 seconds gap the RCV1000R riders have fought with in the first 5 races of the season are really not making them happy.
While the frame of the RCV1000R is pretty close to what the factory prototypes roll with, the engine is the real weak point. The absence of pneumatic valves limits the peak rpm and obviously sets a lower limit for the max power the engine can develop, while the traditional, non-seamless transmission was proved to make the bike a tad slower, as well.
Still, Honda did not seem to be bothered by the mumblings coming from both RCV1000R riders and their teams, and said that pneumatic valves will be introduced, but for the 2015 season. Apparently, engineers are already working on a new engine version which is to be tested towards the end of the current season. GP-one reports that only one such bike will make it to the track this year, possibly starting with the Motegi round, and it will be given to the best RCV1000R rider at that time.
So far, we’ve got three RCV1000R riders lined up in the current world standing, separated by 5 points only. Hayden is 12th with 23 points, followed by Aoyama with 21 and Redding with 18., while Abraham is 17th with only 9 points. If indeed, Honda will only deliver just one machine similar RC213V, then we’re definitely in for quite a fierce battle between these three riders until the Japan GP.
Anyway, it also not a secret that the teams who leased Honda’s production racer are also a bit envious on NGM’s Yamaha-powered machine and the 9th place Aleix Espargaro currently sits in. Yamaha will most likely have no problem leasing even more engines the next year if there’s a demand for them, and given the really good and consistent performance the M1 engine has so far delivered, we can understand those eyeing it quite well.
While the frame of the RCV1000R is pretty close to what the factory prototypes roll with, the engine is the real weak point. The absence of pneumatic valves limits the peak rpm and obviously sets a lower limit for the max power the engine can develop, while the traditional, non-seamless transmission was proved to make the bike a tad slower, as well.
Still, Honda did not seem to be bothered by the mumblings coming from both RCV1000R riders and their teams, and said that pneumatic valves will be introduced, but for the 2015 season. Apparently, engineers are already working on a new engine version which is to be tested towards the end of the current season. GP-one reports that only one such bike will make it to the track this year, possibly starting with the Motegi round, and it will be given to the best RCV1000R rider at that time.
So far, we’ve got three RCV1000R riders lined up in the current world standing, separated by 5 points only. Hayden is 12th with 23 points, followed by Aoyama with 21 and Redding with 18., while Abraham is 17th with only 9 points. If indeed, Honda will only deliver just one machine similar RC213V, then we’re definitely in for quite a fierce battle between these three riders until the Japan GP.
Anyway, it also not a secret that the teams who leased Honda’s production racer are also a bit envious on NGM’s Yamaha-powered machine and the 9th place Aleix Espargaro currently sits in. Yamaha will most likely have no problem leasing even more engines the next year if there’s a demand for them, and given the really good and consistent performance the M1 engine has so far delivered, we can understand those eyeing it quite well.
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