HRC unveils RCV1000R Production Racer MotoGP bike

HRC (Honda Racing Corporation, Honda Japan's racing arm) unveiled its Production Racer to the media at Valencia, Spain, in advance of the final MotoGP race of the season and the post-race tests to follow on Monday and Tuesday. Designated the RCV1000R, the bike will be sold—not leased for $4 million, as with the satellite Honda MotoGP teams who are forbidden from taking apart the engine or modifying the bike, and must return the bike back to Honda at the end of the season—to teams for the initial price of €1.2 million (around $1.6 million) in the first year of a two-year deal, with the second year costing an extra €550,000 (around $760,000) for the "upgrade package". The teams will get to keep the Honda at the end of the two-year contract, but until that time, all engine maintenance work will still be performed by HRC, and no modifications are allowed to the engine; the teams can modify the suspension and brakes however, which consist of what appear to be a standard racing issue Öhlins TTX36 shock and FGR300 gas-charged front fork for suspension, and Nissin monobloc calipers for the carbon brakes.

The 999.5cc V-four engine is claimed to produce in excess of 234 horsepower at 16,000 rpm and more than 81 ft/lb of torque at 14,000 rpm. Unlike the RC213V works bike with its pneumatic valve springs and costly seamless shift transmission, the RCV1000R uses standard steel valve springs and conventional gearbox. In keeping with the Open class rules, the RCV1000R will be equipped with the spec Marelli ECU and software.

Former two-time MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner is claimed by HRC to have run lap times at Motegi on the RCV1000R that were only 0.3 seconds off his same times on a RC213V works bike using the same tires. Fitted with a softer Open-class-spec rear tire, Stoner then reportedly was only 0.17 seconds behind the RC213V time. As we stated during Stoner's first Motegi test, while having the two-time champion as a test rider allows HRC to garner data at a pace that the test riders can't achieve, it also was a keen marketing coup to show the potential of the RCV1000R to prospective customers.

HRC will be providing two RCV1000Rs for riders already slated to ride the bike in the 2014 season. At the moment, the list includes Nicky Hayden, former Moto2 contender Scott Redding, and Karel Abraham.

"This project is very important to Honda," said Shuhei Nakamoto, Executive Vice President of HRC. "The gap between the factory bikes and the current CRT machines [which use production engines] was a little too big, so this is the way we like to help private teams – this is the main concept. The target was to produce a reasonably competitive machine for a reasonable price."