DEMOCRACY of TECHNOLOGY.
When a stunning new model appears, wouldn’t you like to know how it came to be? Honda’s new 2020 Fireblade CBR1000RR-R is my current example. Why did Honda launch this 214 hp bike, with MotoGP’s racy 81.0 x 48.5mm bore and stroke, in a time when sales of big sportbikes have shrunk so much?
Thinking about this, Honda Racing Corporation, HRC, seemed to be a key. Its red, blue, and black logo has emblazoned a great many high-technology championship-winning bikes, on- and off-road, whose technology has then been shared with the rest of us in production machines. What is HRC’s role in the new Fireblade? How does its work influence production motorcycles?
Fireblade is clearly aimed at winning in World Super-bike, where Honda has needed stronger performance for some time. Where does the “Super” come from? Does HRC, Honda’s racing organization formed in 1982, get involved at the start? Or does it add what it knows after the new product-design team has outlined the basics?
These questions have been with me for years, so when a door at American Honda swung open and a beckoning finger appeared, I was ready. A video conference with HRC directors? Yes! Then to Japan and into HRC’s hallowed shop itself, including a meeting with Fireblade’s large product leader (LPL), Yuzuru Ishikawa? Book the tickets.
A VIDEO CONFERENCE WITH HRC DIRECTORS
In California, first came a visit to Honda’s informal museum in Torrance, including a reproduction of the company’s original tiny US storefront on Pico Boulevard and a look at a selection of historic and victorious HRC-built roadrace, dirt-track, and motocross bikes. Then a run to the super-sano HRC-run Supercross shop, which builds its riders a brand-new bike for every event, and is more about controlled process than hardware—making it right with many beautiful parts. And then to a large conference room and the video meeting using Honda’s private line to Japan.
Like other Japanese engineering companies, Honda practices engineer rotation to bring together contrasting talents. HRC director Tetsuhiro Kuwata introduced him-self: “I was working for Formula One until 2008. I was moved to the motorcycle field in race management, not development. Rider negotiation, organizing teams, etc.”
Director Shinya Wakabayashi leads the development division. “I supervise all different types of bikes in HRC. I was with HRC from 1990 to 2005. Then in Superbike for