Quelques photos de la nouvelle 800 ainsi qu'un communiqué presse Honda :
Honda reveal new V4 800cc MotoGP machine at Motegi test
Repsol Honda team riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa returned to action
at the Motegi circuit for an afternoon of testing following yesterday's
Grand Prix of Japan. Hayden testing newly developed parts for his 'New
Generation' RC211V while Pedrosa gave the V4 800cc MotoGP machine its first
public viewing.
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Spaniard Pedrosa put in 30-laps of the 4.801km Japanese circuit to give the
HRC race engineers valuable data as they prepare the machine to comply with
the 800cc MotoGP regulations scheduled for the 2007 season.
The initial shake-down test was positive and after a few visits to the pits
for adjustments to various areas of machine set up the youngster lapped the
multi-purpose race track at 1m 48.210s - a time just over half a second
slower than his best lap time set in Sundays Japanese grand prix.
MotoGP world championship leader Hayden concentrated his efforts on
improving his race starts with new clutch parts brought to the test by HRC
engineers in a bid to help the American. Once he was satisfied with
performance Hayden set about improving the corner speed stability of his
RC211V.
Hayden will now turn his attention to the V4 800cc Honda and hopes the
forecast rain showers hold off long enough for him to evaluate the
performance of the V4 as the test team prepare the machine for next test
following the Grand Prix of Valencia in late October.
Team Roberts arrived at Motegi with the first of the New Generation' frames
for the KR. The new machine was built in time for Friday morning practice.
However, testing during a race weekend is very rarely successful and team
rider Kenny Roberts Jnr struggled to find the necessary balance required
for the super grippy surface at the Japanese circuit.
Kenny improved the handling characteristics of the machine throughout
practice for the main event and took ninth place in the race. Today with
five hours track time the team the new chassis performed up to design
expectations and their day ended with Kenny reeling off a series off fast
laps under his best race lap time, the best at 1m 47.57s.
Honda rider lap times and quotes.
Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda:1m 47.755s - 54 laps.
"Overall it was a pretty good day - I was able to run 1m 47 laps easier
than I had been over the weekend so even though the bike hadn't changed I
feel like I was riding a bit better. Today we mostly tested some different
parts for the clutch, I did some practice starts and tried to find
something that worked into the corners and can still handle the starts. We
don't want to use anything that's too risky because the last thing we can
afford right now is a DNF. I didn't try the 800 because I've got plenty of
work to do with the current bike and I don't need to take on too many new
projects right now. It looked really cool though and I'm looking forward to
getting a crack on the 800 tomorrow."
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 48.210s - 30 laps.
"The first feeling is that the new bike runs well and this is very
important - it works normally and everything feels fine. The engine
character feels a little different and this is to be expected but the
package feels quite similar to the RC211V. Some things about the bike fees
smaller and the rear seat is much shorter which makes the whole bike look
more compact. The bike has some characteristics which are a little more
like a 250cc but it's still a MotoGP bike. The lap time today is quite good
for a first test - though it's too early to say whether it will be faster
than the 990. The cornering speeds feel very similar to the RCV - though
the corner speed at Motegi is very low because there are many hairpins, so
it's very difficult to say definitely whether it'll be quicker. This was a
good first test though."
Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR211V: 1m 47.57s -63 laps. "That's the best the bike
has ever been, it's the most rider friendly tractable bike the team have
built for me. With this chassis we have been able to use a new suspension
set up that has given the bike a better balance. We have also changed the
power curve and some things on the brakes, the changes have helped give the
machine the kind of rear wheel grip we need on circuits like Motegi and
Sepang."