New VFR in the Isle of Man?

Honda did have a couple of bikes like vfrs racing in the Isle of man TT a few years ago and very successful they were the RC30 and RC45

 

The closest you'll probably get is entering the motorcycle class at the Pike's Peak Hillclimb. Now that the entire road to the top is paved, a VFR could be right at home, along wtih a whole bunch of bikes that would be a lot of fun on that course.

 

Well i meant to go watch. But riding in one would be really cool too.

 

Pike's isn't so bad for that either. Plus you get to see some perversely powerful rally cars as well.

 

Great! Living in the age of information is a good thing, don't you agree? I have traveled through the Southside of Chi and Detroit. East LA, Conpton and Watts. All right here in the USA. We have our own backyard for those who like to live on the edge bikewise called the Baja 1000.

The irony is that the original Paris-Dakar was moved to Peru and the Argentine is because of the reasons cited. Denying this using an anecdotal travel package as evidence to the contrary is not very convincing.

Perhaps when the South American crazies start kidnappng riders for ransoms the whole event will be moved to Switzerland.

There are those that would arrive at the conclusion that if something happens 3-4000 miles from where they are presently standing, therefore the place they are standing is dangerous because it was in the news doesn't really quite cut it.

May I suggest accessing some of the pix and vids from the current "Dakar". Be assured that the terrain and pucker factor is well intact in "La Alta Plana"

Just today, a guy released from a state prison just days before, murdered his grandparents who were in their 80's SWAT from the Oregon State Police nailed his ass. Took the dude alive. All this just blocks from my place in Oregon. The LEO blocked off the general area so I went shopping at WalMart until they had this asshole in custody. I was more threatened by some of the WalMart shoppers than this dude they took down.

Proof or close to it? Funny Pictures at WalMart

 

Any "VFR" powered bike running stock might not even make it to the top. Same deal when some folks compare drag racing to running at Bonneville or even several of the "dry" lakes in CA. (Muroc) Not so much attitude but altitiude. Even the two courses at Willow and Hondas seven mile oval are in the high desert at + 2000 ft. Not the same as the pressure change in the water every 33ft but significant enough that tweaking is necessary there more than a sea level.

The run up the Peak might be fun but not like those fast guys do it..!

 

Wow, want to drag this back to the Isle of Man for a sec. Honda had the NR500 four stroke, four cylinder, oval-pistoned engine from 1979 to 1981, which they found to be quite unreliable, and not as competitive as the two strokes that it was racing against. But! In this day and age, could they not tune the *iss out of the VFR1200 to compete with the 1000's in the Isle of Mann? Is the race that dependent on top speed? I know it's a fast course, but given the length of the race and the stops required, and everything that COULD happen during the race, I would think that it would be competitive with some mods. I guess I like to think that I can outguess Honda as to how they could improve struggling sales of the VFR1200. Maybe there's another race that the bike would be suitable for? Is there a LeMans type race for bikes, or is the Isle of Mann it?

 

Way off the mark with the NR500 comments. The oval piston was developed because at that time Grand Prix rules only allowed 4 cylinders & a max 500cc. As a 2-stroke generally can produce twice the torque/hp as a 4 stroke of the same size then the NR if normal would not have worked. Considering it was probably the most highly tuned 4 stroke ever it was quite reliable !

To race on the island requires light weight & great handling, if the VFR12 could be made light enough it can easily be powerful enough.

 

It's not a racing motorcycle, period!

It's too heavy and not designed for racing, at all! Please understand this!

 

Well, I don't think I'm completely off the mark. Neither bike finished their first race. One was out due to a crash and the other one had some type of oil leak, according to Wikipedia. In the bike's last race, they managed to get it up into fifth place, then they were out due to mechanical issues. I guess it's unfair to brush the whole two years on mechanical problems, but there are references to Honda having too many new technologies embedded in the bike at one time.

I'd like to see a couple of different versions of the VFR 1200. Perhaps an enduro, like the BMW GS? And perhaps a stripped down bike in a CBR-type package?

 

To elaborate on that point, the NR500/750 design involved more than just oval pistons; it has eight connecting rods, two per piston, and 32 valves, essentially making it a V-8 with the cylinders connected. It was an almost deviously smart idea, but I think the weight of the engine played more into the bike's lack of success than anything.

 

Displacement rules for The Isle of Man are posted as is current news. At 1200 cc and depending on the sanctioning body, the 1200 might be called a hyperbike.. The first thing to go if they could make the 1200 light enough to be competitive would be the shaft drive. Even the engine is heavy. Some privateer might enter a highly modded 1200 with a few bucks tossed his way from Honda or some speed goodies sent in boxes wrapped in brown paper but overall not a good fit for winning.

If this were a reality someone here would surely post that they had seen one racing somewhere.

Nothing wrong with the bike. It's just not a racebike. It's a asshole puckering sport tourer. Honda knows how to go fast.