12-25-2013, 03:55 AM
Came out of MotoGP racing development. When Honda was limited by rule to only 4 cylinders, they just made the cylinder bores oval, with oval pistons, and enough valves to be equivalent to 8 cylinders, but still technically only 4. I think ring sealing was an issue an other than Freddie Spencer winning a couple championships with the technology, it never went any further. This is by memory now, and a long time ago, so please forgive if I got some info wrong. I can research it if you like one of these days, but it was mighty Honda showing just how technological they could be if necessary.