Report From Japan

REPORT FROM JAPAN

JACK YAMAGUCHI

HONDA DISPLAYS ITS STROKER

Honda officially unveiled its newly developed 250cc two-stroke works motocrosser recently and announced that it will compete in this year’s national championship.

In a word, the Honda stroker is an orthodox model featuring a black finished tubular frame and reddish fuel tank. It had a seemingly simple internal mechanism, and was nimble in movement. So far as its overall appearance was concerned, nothing particularly characterized “Honda.”

Quite naturally, spectators’ interest focused on its two-stroke powerplant. Honda adopted a conventional piston-port single-cylinder engine. The expansion chamber is extremely compact and slim. Its capacity and overall length, in fact, might make some people take this model for a 90cc machine. Bore and stroke is 70 by 64.4mm yielding a displacement of 248cc.

THIRTY-SIX BHP AT 9000 RPM?

Honda has traditionally favored high rpm in developing any new model. Therefore, it is presumed that it has adhered to this method of development for the two-stroke motocrosser, also. Maximum power of around 36 bhp will be reached at 9000 to 10,000 rpm. For comparison, Suzuki’s RH 71 and Yamaha’s DTI Special delivered approximately 34 bhp at 8000 rpm last year.

The machine is designated “335 B” and was developed from the 335 A which was tentatively used in some events of the ’71 national championship series. According to H. Ueno, ex-rider on the Suzuki works team, the 335 B handles better and runs faster than the Suzuki machine. It appears that Honda is now concentrating on the improvement of overall balance in performance, and another new version, the 335 C, should make an appearance by the opening of the MFJ-sanctioned ’72 national championship motocross series.

Last year Honda tried its two-stroke four times in the series, but failed to achieve any satisfactory results, largely due to the incompetence of its riders. But, this will be not the case with this year. Both Yoshimura and Ueno are top class motocross riders in Japan.

HONDA’S FUTURE MX PLANS

It has already been clarified that Honda will cover 12 rounds of this year’s 250cc title series, and will enter 125cc class competition in the near future, too. It is even rumored that Honda may attack the ’73 world championship motocross series in pursuit of Suzuki or Yamaha.

Backed by tremendously brilliant road race successes in past years, Honda has consolidated its unrivaled position as the leader in the world motorcycle industry.

As the sole two-million maker in the world, Honda’s position looks unchallenged. But, on the other hand, the stronghold of two-stroke motorcycle makers represented by Yamaha and Suzuki remains powerful, too. Thus, the development of the new two-stroke motocross machine must be the forerunner of larger scale attacks.