“The acceleration is what really shocked me. Compared to the NSR, the RCV is amazing. It’s just phenomenal.” Those are the words of 1987 world 500 grand prix champion, Wayne Gardner – who was still sweating after a sliding, wheelstanding, wheelspinning ride on Max Biaggi’s Repsol Honda RC211V. It had been 13 years since the 18-time GP winner had ridden a grand prix bike, his last world championship race being the South African Grand Prix, 1992, aboard an NSR500.

Read Mossy’s test of Rossi’s RC211V here…

Fittingly, and by pure chance, his return to the Honda garage was under the watchful eye of Erv Kanemoto – who was also there for Gardner’s last GP. “Walking into the pit garage and seeing Erv was great,” said Wayne, “It wasn’t planned that way and it was very fitting that my return to riding a grand prix motorcycle was with Erv. “As soon as I walked into the pits those 13 years seemed to disappear. I felt like I hadn’t left, although I am older and fatter now! But the feeling was still there. It was very emotional for me.”

It was the Australian Grand Prix – an event that was built from the foundations laid by Gardner back in the late ‘80s – and a fitting place for WG to give his fans a buzz. It was also an opportunity for Phillip Island to say ‘Thank you’ to the man that put Aussie motorcycling on the map. As Gardner caught up with old mates in the Honda camp, his 1987 NSR500 was wheeled out into pit lane and placed alongside the #3 RCV of Biaggi.

Check out our other racer tests here…

The crowd began to stir as images of the old Rothmans Honda were shown on the screens around track. You can bet that most of the crowd are hardened GP goers. Punters that were there for Gardner’s gutsy wins in 1989 and 1990. The NSR’s livery was bringing back memories. The crowd was starting to rumble…

“The build-up to the ride was amazing. It was an experience I’ll never forget. As I was gearing up in the change room I just couldn’t believe it’d been 13 years. The routine was the same. Leathers on. Then boots. Stretching. Walking into the garage and getting the rundown from Erv. Earplugs in as the bike is being warmed up. Brap. Brap. Brap… “Checking the monitor, cleaning my visor. Checking my helmet strap and then, finally, getting the nod from Erv. You’re up!”

“The first thing I noticed about the RC211V is the size,” admits Wayne, “Although it looks very tight and compact, Biaggi’s bike is actually quite roomy. The reach to the ‘bars is further than the old NSR and the seat-to-footpeg distance is also roomy. There’s plenty of space to move around on the bike.”

With 250-odd horsepower on tap and, err, a fair gap between rides, it was no surprise that the Repsol Honda garage began to stir and break into a group cold sweat as Gardner rolled out into pit lane and began his trip to the pit lane exit. All eyes turned to the monitor and Erv Kanemoto was at the front, joined by team manager Tanaka-San. Silence was followed by bursts of nervous laughter as Wayne wheelstood out of pit lane and onto the track…

“As soon as I clicked first and started to ride away I thought, ‘I remember how to do this. I know how to ride a GP bike,’ so I pulled a wheelie straight away!” The plan was for WG to do a sighting lap and two flying laps, so there was no rush to set the world on fire in the first corner. Still, once a racer…

“I was supposed to wave at the crowd, just do some demo laps. I took it easy for the first few corners, then I made a decision – bugger waving at the crowd, I’m going to have some fun on this thing!” With a lifetime of experience on wild NSR500s it is no surprise that Gardner found the RCV to be smooth and rideable, comparing it to one of his favourite bikes, the Suzuka 8-hour RVFs that he enjoyed so much success on.

“The RC211V is very rideable. The power curve is really, really good – just like a roadbike but much more powerful. Initially I made the mistake of riding the bike a bit too much like a two-stroke, keeping it in the high rpm. The result was lots of wheelstands and wheelspinning, but I soon figured out where to short-shift and how to ride the torque. The V5 is amazing. It pulls from quite low in the rev range and it’s nice through the bottom-end and mid-range. From 9000rpm the bike really starts to accelerate hard and to 17000rpm it is just amazing.

“The V5 is amazing. It pulls from quite low in the rev range… From 9000rpm the bike really starts to accelerate hard and to 17000rpm it is just amazing.”

“The gearbox is terrific. Biaggi has his shifter set very sensitively and you only have to touch it to change gears. The ratios are wider than the old two-strokes and I think this is a motorcycle that could benefit from overgearing – because of the torque curve. It’s very useable. “I liked the clutch set-up, with the back-torque limiter. I tried it out into Honda hairpin and the rear tyre just skipped a little. It is set just right.” Wrestling the NSRs of 1985 to 1988 was hard work (they improved in 1989), and Gardner developed a very aggressive point and shoot riding style, steering with the rear wheel out of necessity.

The modern grand prix motorcycle is, however, much more refined in the chassis department. “I can’t believe how well the RCV handles,” admits WG, “Turn-in is very light, very easy, accurate and predictable. The motorcycle is extremely stable, even through the fast sections, and the brakes are fantastic. They are so, so hard hitting once they’re up to temperature. Really amazing. There’s good feel and feedback from the chassis, it’s very neutral and reasonably light – but it does feel heavier than the 500.”

“Max likes to ride with lots of corner speed, so he runs the front very stiff and the rear quite soft. That didn’t really work too well for me as I’m more aggressive on the throttle off the turns, so a few times on my last lap the rear squatted and the bike ran wide off the turn – but that’s only a setting issue.”

NSR500 vs RC211V
“Wow. I really don’t know where to start with the differences – the NSR just seems so old, a bit like it’s rider!” Gardner spent some time sitting on his 1987 NSR after the RC211V ride – and he couldn’t believe the difference. “I didn’t realize that the NSR had aged so much but I guess it is almost 20-years old now. It’s just so small, it feels like a mini bike!”

With a weight limit of only 115 kilograms compared to the RCV’s 148 kilograms and no bulky electrics it’s no wonder the NSR500 feels so small. It is. The seat height is much lower than the RCV, the NSR is narrower and the bike is generally pretty bare bones by today’s standards.

“Still, millions of dollars were spent developing the 1987 NSR500 and it was a very, very fast motorcycle – plus it won the world championship. But I wouldn’t say it was a good motorcycle at that stage in its development. The ’86, ’87 and ’88 NSR500s were very, very difficult to ride.” Although the brutish NSR got a new chassis for 1987, a new V angle of 112-degrees and a conventional crankshaft rotation (clockwise), the V4 500 was still a handful, and didn’t like to go around corners. “The only way to turn the NSR was with the rear wheel – and you have to work hard to do that for 30-laps on a 190-horsepower bike with a 4000rpm powerband.

“500s are very physical to ride over race distance, and mentally draining. Keeping them on the pace is tough and they are easy to over ride and crash on. The RC211V felt much easier to ride and I think that, over race distance, the four-stroke would be easier than the two-stroke. In saying that, these guys are doing an amazing job riding at the level that they are. Rossi seems to be the only rider taking a four-stroke beyond its limit day-in-day-out but the others are still very fast.”

“The RCV felt much easier to ride and I think that, over race distance, the four-stroke would be easier than the two-stroke.”

“Technology has come a long way since the NSR days, and it shows when you look at the fundamental components of each of these factory bikes. The NSR wears cast-iron rotors with conventionally mounted four-piston calipers. The RC211V has carbon rotors with radial-mount calipers. The NSR has conventional forks – the RC has huge inverted items. The list goes on.”

“The 500 was very mechanical – no quickshifter, no rider aids such as traction control, back-torque limiting, or even telemetry! It was still very much seat of the pants riding, right down to jetting the four 36mm Keihin carburettors and picking gearbox ratio’s – which was absolutely crucial on the 500. “Riding the RC211V was a hell of an experience. But I have to say, nothing beats the excitement of a 500cc Grand Prix two-stroke!”

The RC211V engine is a direct descendant of a V6 Honda engine called the FXX, which was designed in the late ’80s to optimise mass centralisation and compactness. The engine was successful, but never put into production – despite out-performing the RC30’s V4. RC211V project leader, Tomoo Shiozaki, was part of the team that developed the FXX, and the influence of that engine shows in the RCV’s V5. The V5 was chosen to avoid the 10kg penalty a six-cylinder would incur – plus Honda though it would be a good challenge…

Biaggi’s Honda RC211V MotoGP Racer Specifications 

ENGINE: Liquid- cooled, DOHC, 20-valve, 990cc, 75.5-degree V5 four-stroke, 72.3mm × 48.2mm bore x stroke, Multi-injector programmable EFI, digital ignition, Six-speed cassette-type gearbox

CHASSIS: Twin-tube frame, Telescopic forks at the front, unit pro-link rear suspension, twin radial-mounted four piston calipers with carbon discs at the front, Michelin tyres all round, 17in at the front, 16.5in at the rear, 2050mm length, 600mm width, 1130mm height, 1440mm wheelbase, 130mm ground clearance..

PERFORMANCE: 240hp (increased to 256hp in 2004), 148kg wet weight, over 330km/h top speed.

OWNER: Honda Racing Corporation, Japan 

Biaggi’s Honda RCV MotoGP Racer Gallery

The post Racer Test: Wayne Gardner Rides Max Biaggi’s RC211V appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....

Son of 1987 500cc Champion Wayne Gardner, Remy Gardner started riding bikes early as he got his first motorcycle at the age of four. He began his career racing dirt track and long track, as a good few greats from Down Under have done before him, competing at state and national level in his native Australia.

He then switched to tarmac not long after, and his first international race came in late 2010 thanks to an invite from Honda Australia to compete at the NSF100 Trophy Worldwide Mini Bike race in Albacete, Spain. Later that same year, Gardner made his Australian road race debut at the iconic Phillip Island, winning the MRRDA Australian Nippers Championship.

The next step in his career would prove crucial as Gardner travelled to Spain to compete in the pre-Moto3 class in the Mediterranean Championship in 2011. He came second overall, and that prefaced a full-time move to Spain for 2012. The Aussie has called the country home ever since.

Gardner entered the Moto3 class in the CEV for the first time in 2012, finishing most races and scoring points in his debut season. In 2013 he made more progress, including taking his first top five finish at the Albacete round, and he remained in the Championship for 2014 and took another step forward, scoring points in every race he started bar one and taking his first podium.

Gardner also made his Grand Prix debut that season, racing at Misano, Phillip Island and Sepang. His final appearance at the Malaysian Grand Prix provided a milestone as the Aussie scored his first World Championship point, finishing fifteenth. The move to the World Championship came full-time for 2015, and the NSW native finished the season 30th overall aboard a Mahindra – with his home Grand Prix at Phillip Island proving a highlight as Gardner took his first top ten finish Down Under.

For 2016, Gardner then moved to bigger machinery, taking on the Moto2 European Championship with Race Experience and, from the Catalan GP on, the Moto2 World Championship with Tasca Racing. In the former he impressed with a top five in Race 2 at MotorLand, before signing off his participation with his first win in Race 2 in Barcelona – and by a sizeable margin.

The same Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya also staged his Moto2 World Championship debut, which saw Gardner come home in P15 and score a point first time out, just week before his first European Moto2 win. Impressing with his adaptation, Gardner then remained in the Moto2 World Championship for the remainder of 2016, taking more points at the Sachsenring with a 12th-place finish and another points P13 at Sepang.

His performances earned him a seat at Tech3 Racing for 2017, and he was a regular points scorer, taking his first top ten in the Moto2 World Championship with a ninth place at Brno. 2018 saw the Aussie take more points and move further forward once again, the progress clear despite a motocross accident ahead of the Spanish GP in which he broke both his legs. Once he was back from injury though, Gardner picked up where he left off, took his first front row at Silverstone and then ended both the season and his tenure with Tech3 in style at Valencia with his first Moto2 top five.

2019 and 2020 added more milestones as Gardner moved to the SAG Team. In 2019 the number 87 took his first Grand Prix podium with second place at Termas de Rio Hondo, as well as setting the fastest lap, and the TT Circuit Assen saw the Australian take his first pole position. 2020 began with a top five in Qatar, Gardner took pole in Austria and by the Styrian GP he was back on the podium. However, a crash in Warm Up at Misano – where he was set to start from pole – saw the Aussie facing more injury struggles with a fracture to his left hand. He missed that race and the Emilia-Romagna GP, returning at Catalunya but only taking P16 after riding through the pain barrier. From there though, the momentum began its crescendo that would culminate in the 2021 Moto2 crown: second at Le Mans, two top fives at MotorLand, and third and seventh at Valencia. 

For 2021, the rider on a roll joined Red Bull KTM Ajo and the rest is history, or likely become so. The number 87 started the season with three podiums in a row in Qatar, Doha and Portimão, before a fourth place from pole in Jerez. Le Mans was another podium, this time in second place, before Gardner won three in a row on an incredible run of form: Mugello, Catalunya and Germany, the latter of which was the 200th Moto2 race. Another podium at Assen saw him head into the summer break with an advantage in the title fight of 31 points.

His closest rival, however, was teammate Raul Fernandez and the rookie sensation would continue to prove the key challenger as the season rolled on. Gardner came back from the summer break off the podium in both races at the Red Bull Ring as Raul Fernandez took another win in the second, not going down without a fight. The Australian hit back with victory at Silverstone as his teammate crashed out, but both Aragon and San Marino saw the number 87 forced to settle for second as Raul Fernandez began a serious comeback and strung together his own run of three wins in a row – including at the Circuit of the Americas, where Gardner made his first big mistake of the season and crashed out.

As the paddock returned to Misano for the Emilia-Romagna GP, the gap between the two was just nine points… but there was another twist in the tale just around the corner. Despite the race proving a tougher once for Gardner, Raul Fernandez crashed out the lead – doubling Gardner’s advantage in one fell swoop as the gap shot back out to 18 points in favour the Australian. That set up the first match point in the Moto2 World Championship for the Algarve GP, and despite a dramatic crash on Friday that left Gardner riding a little bruised on Sunday, the Australian dug deep and took an incredible win under intense pressure from his teammate.

After a Red Flag and restart, Gardner kept his nerve from P8 on the grid, dropping a couple of places and duelling it out in the latter half of the top ten. Raul Fernandez had to win to keep his chances alive and that the number 25 did, but Gardner stayed calm and avoided any risks near the front to come out on top in the fight for tenth – three places higher than he needed – and take a history-making World Championship crown. Wayne and Remy join Kenny Roberts and Kenny Roberts Jr as father and son World Champions.

Remy Gardner: “It’s definitely been an intense season. Raul did an amazing job this year, as a rookie he really made me work for it for sure. It’s such an amazing season, so many podiums, great races, four wins. [Speaker: five wins]. Five wins? Five. Well that shows how much I’m keeping track. It’s been an incredible season. So many parc fermes and podiums, incredible moments with the team. There were times I’d finish second and think that was a bad day but you have to enjoy every moment. It’s been such an amazing season but intense for sure, especially the last quarter has been really intense, Raul has been so fast, I’ve made a few mistakes and he has too, but consistency was key in the end and the days when I just couldn’t win or he won, it was just about finishing and getting the points I could. Ultimately that’s what got us over the line.

“With the first race I had a pretty good first lap, after that incident at Turn 2 I got though on the inside and ended up with the front guys and I thought that would be a good opportunity to go with those guys and break up the group and have a good consistent race, then with the Red Flag everything stopped. I made a good start in both, the second wasn’t as good on the first lap and for the first few laps I was just hanging in there and going with the guys but it was a bit scary cause I saw there was a bit of commotion, guys were passing, Raul was going for it and I thought ‘I’m not going to put myself in the middle there, I’m going to hang back.’ Then I came under fire from the guys behind and had to pull my finger out a little bit and break up the group a bit.”

“I had to push a bit harder to get away from Tetsu, he was going crazy and my teammate in the past, I know how he rides! Just tried to break up the group a bit and finish the race in a respectable position and safely. Managed to do that, keep my nerves and for sure it was a lot of pressure but I managed to bring it home.”

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest. There have been so many hard years, decent success this year and even last year, I really kind of changed my chip last year and everything started to go a bit better. I didn’t have the most podiums in the world but managed to get my mind under control, everything was falling into place and I was trying to keep positive about everything. From 2015 to even 2019 they were really, really tough years for me and like I said, there were points in my career I honestly believed that was it, there was no more and that was the end of the road. Especially after injury for sure, fighting through that was incredibly difficult.”

Remy’s Grand Prix History

• First Grand Prix: Misano 2014, Moto3
• First pole position: Assen 2019, Moto2
• First podium: Argentina 2019, Moto2
• First victory: Portugal 2020, Moto2
• Grands Prix: 113 (92 in Moto2)
• Victories: 5 (5 in Moto2)
• Podiums: 16 (16 in Moto2)
• Pole positions: 6 (6 in Moto2)
• Fastest laps: 5 (5 in Moto2)
• World Championships: Moto2 (2021)

World Championship career:

• 2014: Moto3 World Championship – 32nd, Kalex/Kalex KTM, 3 races, 1 point
• 2015: Moto3 World Championship – 30th, Mahindra, 18 races, 6 points
• 2016: Moto2 World Championship – 26th, Kalex, 12 races, 8 points
• 2017: Moto2 World Championship – 21st, Tech3, 17 races, 23 points
• 2018: Moto2 World Championship – 19th, Tech3, 15 races, 40 points
• 2019: Moto2 World Championship – 15th, Kalex, 18 races, 77 points
• 2020: Moto2 World Championship – 6th, Kalex, 13 races, 135 points
• 2021: Moto2 World Championship – 1st, Kalex, 18 races, 311 points
  

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The post Aussie Hero #87 Remy Gardner Wins Moto2 World Crown! appeared first on Racing, Riding, Motorcycle Reviews, Race bikes, Tech Tips, Rider Training....