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The Britten any day. The only incarnation of the NR750 that would get a look in is the #90 bike that ran in the experimental class at the Le Mans 24h in 1987 - until looking closely it was a carbon copy of the all-conquering factory RVF750s, including the Rothmans paint job. On track it was like watching a MotoGP bike out with the Moto2 field… The RVFs made a class-leading 135 or so bhp, and the NR was de-tuned to 156bhp for Endurance (from sprint trim of around 170bhp). I’ll see if I can find a photo of it. In the race it only lasted about 4 hours before abandoning with big end trouble, but it was great to see while it was there…
I'm a heathen as race bikes don't really do it for me but I would go for the NR more for what it represents than anything else ....... and it's nice to dream ; )
Was the NR750 the one with oval pistons?
That’s right Chris, pistons like spam tins, two conrods/piston (to control rocking), and 8 valves/cylinder.
Basically Honda wanted to return to 500 GPs in the late 70s, but the boss man Soichiro hated 2 strokes so they tried to design a 4 stroke that could compete with the stinkwheels. They figured that the best engine configuration was a V8, but that would just be impractical in a bike so they decided to make a 4-cylinder V8 by incorporating the hardware of two cylinders into one. The NR500 debuted at Silverstone in 1979 (ironically the first GP I ever went to, but I had no idea about the Honda and was transfixed by the classic duel between Sheene and Roberts). Despite potential, the bike was never a success and the NR was dubbed “Never Ready”.
The exciting 750 prototype raced in Japan and Australia I think, before its brief appearance at Le Mans, and the much-modified and downgraded NR750 road bike appeared 5 years later.
Never seen anything like that before....very strange looking. First thing I think of is does it wear unevenly in the cylinder bore.
Last edited by Dazr; 06-04-23 at 08:00 PM.
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