The Hailwood Collection

THE HAILWOOD COLLECTION

When Mike Hailwood Retired From GP Racing Honda Gave Him Some Going-Away Presents

Peter Forsyth

I was very interested to read Cycle World's accurate and informative article, "The Rivals" in the September, 1978 issue, and thought readers might like to know my small part of the story.

In late 1974. through various unlikely circumstances, I began work restoring Mike Hailwood’s collection of Honda racers. This consisted of one complete machine, the 1967 RC181 500. and a large heap of parts which was dumped in a shed at the end of the ’68 season when Mike switched to full time car racing.

The first job was to sort out the pile of parts which eventually proved to be enough to build two machines, an RC173 and the Hailwood-Reynolds Special.

There was also a supply of new spares for several models, which gave a clue to why Honda pulled out of GP racing. Remember that in 1966 Honda won the manufacturers championship in all five solo classes; add to this the fact that each machine was completely different to every other, even to different diameter tubes used for handlebars. It is obvious that this kind of development work is very expensive. (It reputedly cost Honda between five and six million dollars a season.)

The financial limit had been reached, not the technological limit as Mr. Bohon suggested. I am told that a six cylinder 500 and eight cylinder 250 and 350 were running in Japan in late 1967.

The first machine I finished was a 350 four cylinder RC173. Honda made several different 350 Fours over a period of about five years and this one was next to the last. It was superseded by a short stroke Four and then the Six appeared.

When I stripped the motor I discovered that the crankshaft, rods, and pistons were missing. As it was not feasible to manufacture these components, the bike (see photo) is a static museum exhibit.

The next machine for restoration was the ex-TT lap record holder 1967 RC181. The actual numbers are; engine RC181E302, frame RC181F-301. The engine had last been run when fitted in the HailwoodRenolds Special and ridden by John Cooper at Oulton Park in 1968. The transmission broke during the race and the bike was laid up for some years, during which time the motor was refitted in the RC181 frame.

On stripping the engine I found that the gears connecting the countershaft and clutch had self-destructed; also, probably as a result, several of the gearbox bearings were cracked. Other than this the six speed box was in good condition. So was the crankshaft, which is a single plane, pressed-up web shaft, supported on five roller main bearings with roller big ends. There is no big end oil feed other than by mist which is blown into the crankcase through a carburetor jet in the crankcase wall between the 3rd and 4th cylinders.

I fitted the clutch gear and countershaft from the 1966 RC181 engine, which was fortunately the same as in the '67 engine. The countershaft in the 350 engine was dimensionally the same but the oil pump drive, a worm gear cut about half way along the shaft, drove in the opposite direction. Some of the valves and seats had rusted so I lapped in all 16 and ground the cam followers to restore the clearances.

The motor was not run until May of this year when John Cooper rode a few demonstration laps in the rain at Donnington Park. The bikes are kept at Donnington, in circuit owner Tom Wheatcroft’s museum of open wheel racing cars.

The big Honda runs smoothly and still goes to the redline, 12,500 rpm, producing an astounding noise in the process. The handling is not the best, as mentioned in the Cycle World article. The narrow tires are undoubtedly a contributory factor but the engine itself seems to be the major problem. For a start, it’s very heavy, 155 lb. dry, and its center of gravity is high and very far forward. Also the crankshaft runs backwards; that is, in the opposite direction to the wheels, and the torque reaction from a motor with such a fast pick-up is hardly likely to help. However, the main problem is the power characteristics—the best part of 100 bhp just suddenly appears out of nowhere. Even Norton managed to produce a non-handling Manx by sharpening the powerband too much, and the Honda produces multiples of that horsepower-people who ought to know tell me they saw 115 bhp on the brake dynomometer in Japan from the 1967 RC181, and it still is appreciably sharper than the 1966 181, which is presumably the 85 bhp motor Mr. Bohon referred to.

The only surviving example of the many attempts to make the Honda handle has also been rebuilt. This is the HailwoodRenolds Special, rebuilt at Donnington Park Museum by chief mechanic, Brian Davis. The specification is now the same as when it was first built, that is, fitted with the 1966 engine and forks, in which configuration it handles well. The 1967 engine and forks had at one time been fitted in the Renolds frame but the power characteristics again proved too much, even for this advanced design. The Renolds Special has also been run at Donnington where lucky Brian Davis gets to check out the bikes before demonstration runs by the stars.

When Honda pulled out of Grand Prix racing at the end of the ’67 season, they came to an agreement with Hailwood regarding the ’68 season; this included asking him not to ride for any other Japanese factory and giving him the 1967 works bikes to ride in non-championship events in 1968. These bikes were the RC181 and RC173 that I rebuilt, the RC181 engine that was in the HRS, and the RC174, 297cc six cylinder.

In the course of changing careers and jet-setting around the world, Mike and the Six became separated. If anybody knows where it is now, we’d like it back to complete the collection.

Peter Forsyth

16, Chine Crescent

Bournemouth,

Dorset, England