Honda 350 Four Grand Prix special

The 'Works', Please!

When you think of Honda Grand Prix machines, what comes to mind? If you're of a certain age, names like Jim Redman, Mike Hailwood and Gary Hocking riding machines like the 250/4 or 500/4 comes to mind. But the most magnificent Honda of the 1960's clearly is the legendary 250/6. Was there any sexier machine? Honda wasn't the first to develop a six cylinder Grand Prix bike, that honor goes to MV Agusta. Why, even Moto Guzzi developed a compact V-8, but none enjoyed the success of the Honda.

                        


The Honda RC172 was a 350cc DOHC factory built racer introduced in 1963 and produced 54 hp at 13,500 rpm and it was able to reach speeds of 150 mph. The bike above is the Honda 250/ six which belongs to the Brooklyn based  Team Obsolete which had the bike at Daytona for Jim Redman to ride before his famous dust-up with AHRMA chief Jeff Smith who was trying to prevent Redman from entering the track. How silly.

It was with these imagines percolating in my mind since childhood that led me to build a Honda RC 'special' for vintage racing. In 1998, before replica RC works' style chassis were commonly available, I met Ken Awae at Daytona. The California based team owner was contesting the AHRMA 500 GP class with some very fast riders and some beautiful Honda twins with lovely alloy fairings. After several fairings were crash damaged by his riders, Ken switched to fiberglass and agreed to sell me a spare that he had made for the team in Japan. I packed the alloy faring in my truck for the long ride home while I contemplated what to do from here.

A thousand miles north, I had hatched a plan to build my own Honda Grand Prix style racer, albeit a more modest version running stock a stock 350cc four cylinder engine with a few minor tweaks. I'd run out of money to fund the AMA pro team I was involved with and I was going to return to my roots in classic  racing, where I'd started a decade earlier on a 1967 Ducati 250. But this time, we were  using a compact 350F roadster as a starting point. 
                                                                           




We modified the frame both front and rear by re-positioning the shocks to a more upright position and revising the steering angle at the front end. Unnecessary frame tabs removed and a new front end with a Suzuki T500 drum brake for a more period feel were but a few of the changes made. Kent Riches at Airtech provided the fuel tank, which was revised underneath to fit the frame.
Airtech also provided the seat and clip-ons.














The bike was put together at RBO in Parkesburg, PA in the winter of 1998.








The stock exhaust pipes, which were losing their chrome and dented, were then sanded and
painted after the baffles were removed. The sound is truly amazing at 10,000 rpm. The 350F racer is a SOHC engine that puts out 32 hp and weighs about 340 pounds dry. The factory version has plenty of trick features like a dry clutch and six speed transmission. Shame that Honda never brought that Grand Prix technology to best selling CB350/500/550 and 750F series.  
                                                                                      





             What a thrill it was to meet ex- Honda works rider, six-time World Champion
 Jim Redman at Daytona when he was riding for Team Obsolete. We'd also get a chance to meet the great racing mechanic Nobby Clark for the first time too.






After a minor incident we're back on track at Daytona minus a windscreen. Flat out on the banking, at 110 mph, it was brutal and my neck was sore for hours afterwards.



                                        1999 in the rain at Summit Point Raceway, W. Virginia.
                  A minor crash in the rain at Loudon later that year convinced me to keep the
                               alloy fairing for display and buy a fiberglass unit for competition.



Virginia International Raceway 2003

The Honda350F in action  at
Mid Ohio Raceway, Lexington, Ohio
 350 Grand Prix class
July 2003.





When I remember this weekend at Mid Ohio in July 2003, I can't help but think about fellow
racer Frank Swartout who lost his life that weekend. He and his brother were enthusiastic
 competitors and well liked by all. One positive result of the fatal accident was the mandatory application of the 'belly pan rule' which AHRMA had previously opposed despite the obvious safety improvement. 
I had been running one as WERA required one in their series, but it took a fatal incident to bring about
 a rule change at AHRMA.







The Honda 350 special has been laid up since 2003 when I started to put in more time on a MV Agusta 350 and TZ350 I'd acquired. It is a machine that can still conjure up that feeling of Grand Prix racing whilst stretched over the long fuel tank, immersed in the roar of four open exhaust pipes despite its humble origins.


click this link to hear a real Honda 250/six Grand Prix bike 
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4chNjn01DP8

 

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Honda 350 Four Grand Prix special

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1967 Ducati 250cc racer

My first race weekend was one full of surprises and wide-eyed wonderment. I went to see my first motorcycle race just a few months earlier, in the fall of 1989 at Summit Point Raceway.  I liked what I saw there: They raced new bikes, they raced old bikes, they raced all kinds of bikes. When I saw a female rider come in last place in her race, I said to my friend, somewhat stupidly, " I could beat her". Bam ! The gauntlet was thrown down and a challenge was issued. "Prove it", he said.

At the time, my street bike was a  '73 Rickman Honda CR750. I was talked out of racing that big, heavy machine in favor of something less intimidating. That bit of common sense advice may have saved my life...and the Rickman from certain disaster.

 I knew my father had a 1967 Ducati 250 in off-road trim in his barn, so my buddy Matt and I went to check it out. We swapped the dirtbike bars for clip-ons, added a racing seat and new tires. Matt was working at a shop that restored old British cars in Wilmington, Delaware and we spent many nights there that winter dreaming of what fun we would have. Very little mechanical work was needed, so we finished our work, added safety wire and number plates and I was set.





On one cold, windy March night, we loaded the bike into Matt's truck and headed to a nearby thoroughbred horse racing track that had closed to make way for a new mall. We lifted the bike over the guardrail and fired it up. Wow, it was loud!  I climbed onboard and tried to get used to the Ducati. I'd never ridden anything quite like it. It seemed very agricultural in the way it shifted as well as its heavy controls compared to the Honda I'd ridden.  In reality, they were very fine bikes once properly set up for racing and usually class winners in the right hands. We were getting ready to take some laps on the track when we heard sirens and saw the flashing lights of the security police move in from all directions. Pre-season testing had come to a close.

That first weekend, we drove to Summit Point Raceway near Charlestown and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. We set up camp and prepared for race school the next morning. It began with class room instruction from Roger Lyle and his crew from MARRC.  They organized and ran an accredited racing school that taught all you needed to know to survive your first race. The actual races were either run by WERA of CCS at the time.

A few hours later, class broke up and we put on our gear and headed to the skid-pad for training. It was only then that my folly became apparent. Everybody was on new, or at least, somewhat new,  modern bikes and I was on the '67 Ducati. They pushed the starter button, I bump started the bike, then I started it again, and again. Geez, this was more like boot camp, me running like mad in my used oversized leathers. Phew!

More class room instruction followed, and soon it was time for our 'mock race'. We headed to the grid and prepared for the start. My heart was beating so fast I thought I'd die before the green flag was dropped. Sweat dripped down into my eyes, I blinked and off we rode, down that long straight and into turn one. Anybody who has raced the Summit Point track, also known as 'Slippery Point' over the years can attest to the ever-changing quality of surface and traction. The turns that had only one line, which bumps to watch for, etc. At the time, I didn't know any better and just assumed all tracks must be like this.



                                 


The novice aboard his Ducati 250 about to lapped by the expert rider "Ace"




Coming down the hill into a ninety degree left hand turn for the first time at race pace, I misjudged my speed and braking. I ran in way too deep, passing most of my classmates on the way in. I thought I was going down for sure. I didn't crash though, and rode on, finishing mid pack by the end. Not too shabby for an old bike and my first race.  Afterwards, my new friends and I learned the art of 'Bench Racing'. The lies flowed while we bathed in the afterglow of competition.  Amazing how fast we thought we were. Well, that was it then. I was hooked and couldn't think about anything else but racing from then on.

The little Ducati lasted for a few more races before my new friends suggested to me that I needed a quicker, more modern mount. A used Yamaha RZ350 was sourced and the then real fun began. I found out I really, really liked two-stroke motorcycles, but more about what that bike led to in the next post.
                         
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1967 Ducati 250cc racer

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