02-11-2014, 07:13 AM
(02-11-2014, 06:43 AM)DAC_imp Wrote:(02-11-2014, 06:22 AM)redbirds_imp Wrote: Strange that Honda has been dominating Motogp with a V4 to everyone's surprise.
Actually, I think the current Honda MotoGP engine is a V5.
The Interceptor came out in '83 just after the Magna was introduced in '82. I drooled over both but was a college kid with just enough cash for tuition and an occasional pitcher of beer. (Okay, maybe more than occasional.) I made due with borrowing my buddies GS750e and my future brother-in-law's '82 750SC Nighthawk. I still have a soft spot for that GS - tight and nimble and could rev to the moon - the Nighthawk felt a little heavy and rubbery by comparison.
Anyway, Honda was reportedly surprised by the market response to both those early V4 production bikes. They were trying to homologate the engine and bike for racing purposes and only wanted to to sell enough to get that done. The Interceptor went on to win Superbike for three or four years, I think, in the eighties. And they had to juice the production numbers of the street bikes to meet demand.
And they made it like that to take advantage of some GP rules loophole.
Is Rossi still racing? Really made my day when he dethroned Biaggi. Of course Biaggi and everyone said it was because he was riding the superior Honda. So Rossi made my day again when he jumped ship, went to Yamaha, Biaggi went to Honda, and Rossi still beat him like a rented mule.
If Rossi is the one doing the dominating on that Honda, it's through no bike advantage IMO.
(02-11-2014, 07:06 AM)redbirds_imp Wrote: Honda surprised everyone when they revealed their V4 this year. The excepted theory, seeing the woes that Ducati had with a V4, was that the new 1000 was an I4. Honda found a way to make the V4 not just work, but dominate the competition.
http://world.honda.com/V4-story/07/
Erm... the header in that Honda ad says, "The V4 Engine Story – 35 Years of Technological Evolution and Challenge”
And the only time the word domination appears in that ad is when Rossi was riding the V5. But when Rossi went to Yamaha, he dominated on that. And not only that, when Biaggi went from Yamaha to Honda, he kept losing to Rossi.