Quote:
Originally Posted by bsess
In WSBK, the RC45 had more money invested in its development/operation than any bike in the history of production motorcycle racing but it was only able to win one title against the less powerful (but better handling and more tractable Ducatis).
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1) True... Honda's RVF / RC45 cost more to develop because HRC tailored
their latest 4 stroke after their NSR 500 2 stroke... in short the RC45 is a
4 stroke GP racer...
Quote HRC boss Yoichi Oguma:
"Lately, Honda riders always complained about RVF feeling," said Osuma
san, ''but of course (they) only race a four-stroke just once a year, in
Suzuka Eight Hour. So, even though they began their careers racing
four-stroke bikes developed from street machines, now they are used to
500cc GP bikes. So, it's natural they ask us to make them an RVF racer
that feels like an NSR. For some years, we tried to produce a compromise
machine, but this year (1992) we gave into their wishes, and made a 750cc
four-stroke GP bike, just as they asked!" Or rather, just as Mick
Doohan asked. Beforehand Honda had consciously been tailoring their
RVF750 development to suit Wayne Gardner's four-stroke-inherited
tactics, but by last season he'd been supplanted at the top of the
Honda totem pole by Mick Doohan. That convinced HRC to change the
bike's design to Mick's quite different style. So in 1992, the year
that Honda's Big-Bang NSR500 brought 170 bhp- plus GP-winning
performance within the mastery of the common man, thanks to its
user-friendly power delivery, the four-stroke RVF went clean in the
opposite direction. It's hard to convey in print just how dramatically
responsive the RVF is in every way to ride. It's a nervous, taut,
highly strung stallion of a motorcycle that at anything above the fast
3,000 rpm idle is just raring to go, barely restrained in its eagerness to be
out there savoring the thrill of the chase.
2) True the RC45 won only a single WSB Championship but it won more
Championships than the RC30 or RC51 and that fuel injected V4 architect
still lives on in MotoGp...
3) Negative... the RC45 handled better than the Ducati...
Quote Alan Cathcart a respected racer who has the privilege of being able
to test all the top race machines for public consumption. This highly envied
position allows him to give readers an insight into the real differences
between makes, and even between years. This is revealed in his articles for
Motorcycle Racer magazine, among others. Below are some of the salient
comments on Colin Edwards' 1999 World Superbike RC45, when Alan was
given the chance to test it at the end of the 1999 racing season."
"The next day shone, and it was time for a track test I'll always remember.
That's not just because I ended up doing a lap time that brought smiles and
compliments from HRC race staff, but because of the qualities of the bike I
did it on - arguably the finest Superbike I've yet ridden. And, yes - this was
less than a month after I'd ridden Carl Fogarty's world champion Ducati, so I
do have a valid basis for comparison."