Honda’s chassis woes in GP have precedents

By Michael Esdaile

The trevails of Honda within the MotoGP world championship have echoes of earlier difficult occasions within the premier class for the world’s greatest bike producer.

There was the 800cc MotoGP period (2007-2011) through which Honda solely took the Producers’ Championship within the fifth and closing 12 months, with Casey Stoner additionally successful the riders championship. However even in that lean (for Honda) interval, the model’s riders have been nonetheless recurrently successful races or at the least standing on the rostrum.

Going again just a little additional, the early Nineteen Nineties noticed Honda riders combating the NSR500 V4 two-strokes, till Honda lastly received the dealing with sorted, making the NSR500 Honda virtually unbeatable till the tip of the 500cc period. However even in these tough occasions (1990 to 1993) Honda riders have been nonetheless successful races, and Honda took the Producers’ Championship within the midst of that (1992).

In distinction, in 2020 not one of the 5 Honda riders within the premier class received a race. The most effective particular person outcomes that 12 months got here (surprisingly) from class rookie Alex Marquez with second place finishes at Le Mans and Aragon. Finest Honda rider within the championship was Takaaki Nakagami, tenth with 116 factors.

Then the prodigal son returned from harm, received three GPs in 2021, completed second in two others and ended the season the very best positioned Honda rider on the ultimate factors desk, seventh with 142 factors.

However there have been occasions the Honda males struggled to even get into the highest 10.

Final 12 months (2022) was worse. Marc Marquez was once more the very best positioned Honda man on the ultimate factors desk, thirteenth with 113 factors. Once more, there have been many races through which Honda riders didn’t seem within the high 10, and Marquez himself solely made the rostrum as soon as with second place at Phillip Island.

It is a very difficult time for Honda Racing Company. The corporate is used to successful. It has bounced again earlier than, however it has by no means been this far down the mine shaft in its historical past.

Outsourcing a chassis…

German body maker Kalex Engineering has constructed a brand new chassis for HRC, which check rider Stefan Bradl just lately examined at Jerez. Repsol Honda plan to check the Kalex chassis throughout the French GP race weekend as they’ve such restricted testing time out there to them beneath testing restrictions, thus they have to use a contest weekend to check such an enormous change.

Once more there may be an echo from the previous right here. In 1967, Mike Hailwood, in his second 12 months on the horrifying RC181, commissioned Englishman Colin Lyster to construct a brand new body for the Honda, after Ken Sprayson had declined resulting from time stress.

Lyster did the design work and had the body made in Italy by Belletti, now a bicycle body maker. Within the Sixties, Belletti made frames for Puch, Aermacchi, Linto and Paton.

Hailwood’s Lyster-Belletti framed machine was often known as the Hailwood Racing Particular (HRS). Early in 1967, Hailwood raced the HRS at Rimini (at the moment’s Misano) and Manufacturers Hatch. He received each. However Honda forbade him to trip it in World Championship occasions.

Hailwood precipitated a stir at 1967 German GP at Hockenheim when he turned out on the HRS for observe. There will need to have been some sizzling debate about this and Hailwood raced the official RC181. This was stated to have had a revised body. Eager-eyed observers famous it had further bracing welded into it in an try to stiffen it.

The hearsay mill on the time counsel Hailwood had acquired a cable from Soichiro Honda forbidding him from racing the HRS.

Redman’s retirement

How dangerous was the RC181?After successful the primary two GPs in its début season (1966), Jim Redman crashed within the moist at Spa in Belgium, breaking his arm. Redman was Honda’s most profitable grand prix rider of that period. He had battled to show the unique six-cylinder Honda 250 into a good dealing with machine and succeeded. However maybe the recalcitrant RC181 was simply an excessive amount of even for him, so he give up racing and returned to South Africa.

Previous to this he had experimented with completely different tyre sizes, even a thin 3.00 x 18-inch rear Dunlop. Nothing labored.

“It appeared to have a thoughts of its personal while you actually tried to take it to the restrict,” Hailwood as soon as stated. “Individuals used to say that it might use all of the highway going by a nook, however to me it felt prefer it was utilizing either side directly and the curbs as effectively. I dreaded driving it, to be truthful, however I had a contract which stated I needed to. And the way in which I noticed it, I needed to make the very best of it till they may enhance it. They simply by no means did.”

With Hailwood additionally a non-finisher at Spa, Giacomo Agostini gave the brand new three-cylinder 420cc MV Agusta the primary of what would develop into many race wins.

Hailwood needed to summon all his talent and bravado to race that RC181. At Brno he beat Agostini by a minute and 16 seconds, completed second to the Italian at Imatra (Finland) by 40 seconds, then received the Ulster and Isle of Man TT races from In the past. On the closing 500GP of 1966, it was not the dealing with of the RC181 that stopped Hailwood. The Honda engine broke a number of exhaust valves.

Agostini thus took the primary of his seven World 500 Championships.

Nonetheless, the 5 victories achieved by Redman and Hailwood on the RC181 gave Honda the Producers’ Championship within the 500 class at its first try.

In his second 12 months with Honda, Hailwood was distressed to seek out his sturdy requests for a greater chassis for the RC181 had come to nought. That was why he commissioned the primary HRS.

MV Agusta had elevated the displacement of its three-cylinder machine to a full 500 while retaining and refining its nice dealing with chassis. The MV was rather a lot lighter than the Honda. Hailwood estimated at the least 30 kg lighter.

So, with one arm tied behind his again, Honda despatched Hailwood again into battle for the 1967 World 500 Championship. Regardless of the Honda’s wayward dealing with (on the TT that 12 months spectators jumped again from the highway edges down Bray Hill after they noticed how badly the Honda was wobbling) Hailwood received 5 of that 12 months’s 500 GPs. Agostini received the opposite 5. Again then riders might solely rely their finest six outcomes. That meant Agostini and Hailwood each had 46 factors from 5 wins and a second. The tie-breaker got here with Agostini having three second placings to Hailwood’s two.

Thus Agostini was topped World 500 Champion for the second time.

A second try

Hailwood had sensed that Honda was winding down its bike GP effort in favour of an even bigger push in Formulation 1 so he was not stunned when in February 1968, Honda introduced it was withdrawing from all world championship bike competitors. Sweetening the information, Honda paid Hailwood a reputed £50,000 to not trip for an additional producer and agreed to let him use his 1967 Hondas to contest non-championship races in 1968.

Hailwood had already approached Ken Sprayson once more and this time Sprayson designed and constructed a body over the winter that not used the engine as a structural member.

Mike raced this at early 1968 Italian occasions, ending second to Giacomo Agostini in Rimini after sliding off within the moist whereas main however remounting and setting the quickest lap attempting to catch In the past. Hailwood received on the brand new HRS at Imola however at most different occasions he contested, he most popular the six-cylinder 297cc Honda RC174.
John Cooper was loaned the HRS for a race in Britain however discovered even that bike was a handful.

Years later Cooper stated: “It was so dangerous to trip and but Hailwood received on it. I have no idea how”.
John Surtees, who knew a factor or two about organising racing bikes, rode the 1967 RC181 and stated in his view it wanted higher steering geometry, the swing-arm pivot place altered and higher suspension. Mainly he was saying the prevailing Honda body with the engine as a burdened member of the chassis might have been modified to work significantly better.

Now allow us to replicate on Mike Hailwood. Not solely was he racing the terrible RC181 in 1966 and ’67, he additionally raced the six-cylinder RC166 within the World 250 Championship and the RC173 (350/4) and the RC174 (2997cc/6) within the World 350 Championship. He received each titles, each years.

At Brno in 1966, Hailwood received the 250GP, the 350GP and the 500GP. In 1967, Hailwood repeated that ‘triple’ on the Isle of Man and Assen. Successful these -three races at Assen in 1967 meant Hailwood accomplished a complete of 439 racing kilometres. In at some point.

Lastly, allow us to additionally not overlook that in two seasons of racing the Honda RC181, it received ten races out of 19 entered (52 per cent). Hailwood received eight of these.

Stanley Michael Bailey Hailwood was really a person amongst males.

In Marc Marquez, Honda discovered one other courageous rider prepared to push a poorly set-up bike to the restrict. How for much longer he’s prepared to do this is the massive query.

MotoGP Championship Factors

2023 Le Mans MotoGP Weekend Schedule
Instances in AEST

2023 MotoGP Calendar