SBK, A Honda MotoGP in WSBK?
Friday, 14 March 2014 13:37 by Luca Semprini - SBK
An aura of mystery surrounds the new "superbike" Honda is expected to launch into the market, to retire the "old" CBR that won his last World Title back in 2007 (with James Toseland). The Tokyo-based Company has diverted attention away from it, driving the focus on his MotoGP RCV1000R, and indefinitely delayed the presentation of the new bike.
After Honda denied the rumours that the new superbike would have been launched at EICMA in Milan, other voices were spread of a presentation during the MotoGP pre-season tests in Sepang. In the meanwhile, anyway, the ongoing changes to the Superbike Championship regulations have probably urged the Japanese upper management to wait before planning their next steps.
A good move, apparently, since the Superbike Commission reduced to 125 units the total required number of bikes to be produced to start the homologation procedure. Without imposing a maximum price per unit. In other words this leaves the door open to the major manufactures to produce either a prohibitive costly (for most) semi-prototype or a limited edition bike, and to line it up in the World SBK Championship. So much for the Superbike’s philosophy.
Back to Honda, it seems that 2014 could be the best time to start off with his new superbike. The Spanish website Solomoto has just released a series of Google Patents images related to a Honda Motor Co. patent application for a water-cooled V-type engine, with a water pump mounted on the head of the first cylinder and driven by the camshaft (a configuration already used by Honda in MotoGP).
That the engine is a spin-off of the Honda MotoGP, is especially understandable by the 90° angle of the V4 and by its inclination in relation to the vertical, (almost 45º) which should replicate the geometry and the centre of gravity of the RC213V. Other details in common are the narrow head and the depth of the oil sump, located under the crankcase. Truth to be told the design looks even more similar to the RCV1000R "Open" engine, of which it seems to be a simplification. Just the shape of the crankcase on left side, where the flywheel is, looks different: oval instead that circular.
It remains to be seen whether the project (dated March 2012) is simply a "blueprint" of the Open or is intended for a mass production. In the second case, the chassis of the CBR would not be suitable for housing an engine with the aforementioned specs, and therefore it would be a new model. To this end, it would be logical to expect a "full" 1000cc, with over 200 horsepower, and a price well above 50 thousand euro mark (along the lines of the Panigale Superleggera). It would be a sort of a "stock prototype", which could be produced in limited quantities, but sufficient to by-pass the cost-cutting policy. As recently shown by the "Open vs Factory" controversy. As an Italian saying goes: rules made, loopholes found.
Read more:
http://www.gpone.com/en/201403141295...#ixzz2w2RZ66UI
Απάντηση με παράθεση
Δημοσιεύθηκε αρχικά από Billymuse
