Report From Japan
REPORT FROM JAPAN
JACK YAMAGUCHI
TREASURE HUNT AT HONDA
It has been generally believed and lamented that Honda is merciless when it comes to preserving its historic models and racing wares. Five years ago I wrote a story on the first Honda Four, circa 1959. It was built to race and win just once in a local meeting, and then quietly disappeared into oblivion. In my interview with one of the designers responsible for the type RC160 Four, I was informed that not even a piece of its many components remained in the Research and Development Center. I almost smeared the prints of my story with tears over the fate of this fabulous bike, and ended it something like, "It (RC160) is an almost forgotten page in the rapid expansion of the Honda empire. Only memories of the red and ivory machines live in those of us who were fortunate enough to be at the Asama track on August 24, 1959."
I am happily scraping off this epitaph for the first Honda Four. A friendly Honda public relations man tipped me off that an RC160 might exist at Honda R&D, and on my insistence he arranged a meeting with Chief Engineer Sekiguchi. I visited him at R&D, and was quickly shown around, which is very unusual, as the R&D premises are considered an off-limits area. In an unlit and small storage room no larger than a modest living room, I discovered 1 1 specimens of Honda’s racing glory, one of which was indeed an RC160.
This machine was a development of Honda’s first Isle of Man TT model, the dohc RC142 Twin. Unlike later Honda racing motorcycles, it had its engine vertically “hung” from a spine-type frame. Its four-cylinder engine shared internal dimensions with the RC142 Twin, and it had a bore and stroke of 44 by 4 1mm for a total capacity of 249.2cc. The two overhead camshafts were driven by a bevel shaft and spur pinions on the right side of the engine. For this camshaft drive layout, some unkind Europeans implied that Honda racing engines of this era were distinctly Teutonic because they resembled the 1954 NSU. According to Chief Engineer Sekiguchi, this layout was chosen because the engineering team then was not sure if they could incorporate a foolproof spur gear train within the block; such a gear train requires exacting tolerance to avoid catastrophic backlash of gears, and their technical excellence had not progressed that far yet.
The huge Four, measuring 15.8 by 18.9 by 18.9 in., and the power unit weighing no less than 128 lb. with the gearbox, inhaled from four Keihin flat slide carburetors, and was reputed to produce 35 bhp at 14,000 rpm. Frame and suspension were basically an enlarged and beefed-up version of the RC142 Twin, with spine-type frame, leading link front fork and swinging arm rear suspension.
Honda went all out in the 1959 season, building half a dozen RC142s which raced both at IOM TT and Asama, and eight RC160 Fours, five of which appeared at the grid of Asama in August. The entire R&D staff, then 200 odd strong (now 1200), were mobilized, and some production engineers were “borrowed” from the company’s commercial side. The design of the RC160 Four was commenced by a team headed by Kiyoshi Kawashima, now president of the R&D, in March 1959, and within five months these fabulous machines were built, developed and raced to their sole victory.
The surviving RC160 is almost in original condition. It is painted in the same shades of red and ivory two-tone paint, but a new 12,000 rpm rev counter and a road racing-type fairing have been fitted. Tires have also been changed, as Asama’s dirt surface required a knobby tread pattern.
Other historic machines I found in this dilapidated corner of Honda’s vast R&D were: an RC161 250-cc Four (with a tag which read “No win in the season. Runner-up in the world championship.”), an RC162 Four that belonged to Mike Hailwood, a 1961 RC143 125-cc Twin with bevel camshaft drive, a 1962 RC163 250-cc Four, a 1963 RC113 50-cc Twin, a 1967 RC174 and that fantastic RC148 125-cc Five! Oh, yes, there was a gigantic Formula I three-liter VI 2 on the floor, too..
A happy note regarding my discovery is that quite a movement to preserve and restore these historic Hondas is gaining momentum among R&D staff, and many of them would be willing to dish out their hard earned yen for the good cause. Some day in the not too distant future, you may visit a Honda museum and see these fabulous machines.
HONDA’S QUIET TWIN
Honda has introduced an entirely new power unit in its 360-cc mini-car. This engine is a marked departure from traditional Honda practice because it has a single-piece, forged crankshaft running in three plain bearings and a toothed belt camshaft drive system.
A novel feature is the use of twin dynamic balancer shafts, driven by a common single row chain from the crankshaft. They revolve counter-crankshaftwise, to offset the inherent imbalancing forces of the first order in a 360-degree, crankshaft two-cylinder engine. 1 can vouch that this is undoubtedly the smoothest two-cylinder engine 1 have ever revved. And in this new power unit, Honda, who has been a strong advocate of air cooling, has suddenly reverted to water cooling.
Perhaps some of these improvements will be incorporated in Honda’s bike engines.
SUZUKI ON YAMAHA
The 197 1 All Japan Motocross Championship top honors are being fiercely fought between Suzuki and Yamaha, as was last year’s series. As things stand, Suzuki has six riders and Yamaha, four, who are supplied such potent machinery as Suzuki’s RH71 250 and highly modified Yamaha DT2 MXs. There will be 13 meetings in the series that lasts until October.
High in the ranking now are three Suzukis, both in the 125 and 250 classes. Not machines, but men. And curiously these Suzukis, Tadao who was the 1969 250-cc champion, Torao and Hideaki, are all riding Yamahas!
Kawasaki, who led in the scoreboard several seasons ago, has not been doing too well since last year. But in the fourth meeting in this year’s series, veteran Takashi Yamamoto scored a class win on a modified production 250E Enduro machine. Also in this meeting, the Akashi factory surreptitiously slipped in a brand new prototype which featured a piston port engine instead of Kawasaki’s usual rotary valve variety. There wasn’t very much press coverage of this event, and we suspect that’s what Kawasaki wanted. Anyway the machine is still under development, but it should soon become a potent weapon in the hand of Yamamoto.
