Oval piston technology?

[lance]

Honda raced oval piston bikes all through the 80's in endurance series.
They were not spectacular performers, they were front runners, but so were
the round piston backup bikes that were also on the track at the same time.
Honda also produced a production 750 with oval pistons in extremely limited
quantities (as I recall they were about $60k a piece).  The obvious problem
was ring sealing/service life.  They went through a number of different
designs in multiple pieces, single pieces, springs behind the ring, no
springs, etc.  They never had a clear cut superiority over their round
brethren.

I recall the 1980 F1 GP season, Suzuki was running a square four with Barry
Sheene (he was the man to beat, just before King Kenny showed all the
Europeans how to ride), and Honda was just re-entering F1 after more than 10
years away with the NR500 four stroke shrouded in mystery and secrecy.  They
figured the only way they could compete was to run a V-8 four stroke, and
since the FIM only allowed 4 cylinders, they siamesed the cylinders (still
had 8 rods and 32 tiny valves), and set red line at about 22,500 rpm.  Honda
invested many millions to make this technology work, and even more to try
and get it competitive, but that never happened.  Finally, in 1983, they won
the championship with a 3 cylinder two stroke machine and Freddie Spencer.
Kenny Roberts and Yamaha made sure that four stroke GP bikes would wait a
long time to make a come back.  KR calls four strokes "diesels".

Surely, it won't be superior technology that keeps the oval piston bikes in
the museums.

Lance

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-diy_efi at diy-efi.org [mailto:owner-diy_efi at diy-efi.org]On
Behalf Of Bob Wooten
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 21:49
To: diy_efi at diy-efi.org
Subject: RE: F1, trickle-down, etc.




"These were neat, but you're not likely to see them on the racetrack
anytime soon (again).  The current F1 rules specify round cylinders
(this specifically aimed at Honda).  I'm not familiar with the impending
4-stroke GP bike rules, but I do know that they penalize more cylinders
with a higher minimum weight.  I'd expect most teams will opt for four
cylinders."

Hmmmmmm, maybe cause the technology brought so much to the plate?
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