Choice

[Toph]

Was the NR750 the one with oval pistons?

[Scotty]

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.