Honda's AMAZING Grand Prix Racers of the 1960s--From Scooters to World Championships!

[@TheThinkingandTheDoing]

R.I.P. Mark's mustache. You are gone but not forgotten. 🫡

[@GS-zv3qn]

Last week, it was missing too , I almost did not notice it was missing till I watched show for a while

[@edw.b856]

Thank goodness Kevin's Beard of Knowledge remains!

[@KingBrolesław]

8:46 Kevin never ceases to amaze me with his voluminous technical vocabulary.

[@KeithNewby-p4k]

I don't know how the two of you sleep at night! The amount and quality of information presented in these podcasts is impressive. The fact you have 149k subscribers is somewhat discouraging. Keep up the good work.

[@magellanicspaceclouds]

They deserve a much bigger audience.

[@kencreten7308]

Man was this great. Thanks to you both.

[@dralexmclean]

Love Listening, the breadth of knowledge that you share is fascinating. Thanks so much!

[@jamesspry3294]

Fantastic as always. I would give up a kidney to go to a party and talk about welding and asperities with you blokes... but then again I'm an engineer too! 😊

[@micyclesport]

Thank you both for the time spent on all these episodes. Each conversation is so well spoken and explained, learn something new each episode mechanically and general life. IMHO this podcast is now the best content CW has ever done.

[@allanweseman5433]

I'm an old retired 77 year old man with 4 Honda motorcycles. Last year I noticed a bike parked against a shed in my neighborhood that looked just like a miniature of my 2010 VFR 1200f. It was a 2012 CBR250r. To make a long story short, I bought it and made it run, which is an incredible fuel-injected, water cooled 250cc DOHC single cylinder engine. Sadly I could not get the title for the bike, but I found another beautiful 2012CBR wiith a blown engine that had a title, bought it and moved the engine from the first one into it. I took the blown engine apart to see what was the problem and found it had a rollerized crankshaft with a bad con-rod end. It is sold as one piece, crankshaft and rod for about $250. I have noticed other CBR250's for sale with the same crankshaft problem which seems to appear right around 17,000 miles. Your insight into crank bearings has been very helpful. I wonder if anybody does crankshaft rebuilding on this model.

[@donaldhipple4921]

I can appreciate Kevin's memory of a customer who only wanted the one bearing that had failed replaced. My simple exclamation for such customers was, you know how you always buy two socks.

[@Dee-xm4jb]

Thank you both for making these topics so interesting and easy to understand. Kevin’s visuals and sound effects very much add to the presentation. I’ve worked as a Honda tech in both autos and motorcycles and have always been impressed with their technical training. I’m looking forward to more of your excellent presentations!

[@stephenaguilar7197]

Exceptional pod cast. The shared info wow these two.... reminds me of two other's phil schilling and cook neilson. In 76or 77 at Ontario or riverside beimg a ducati 750 racer i had the opportunity to sit down with paul ritter cook and phil to do some after racing debrief . The conversation went back in time with phil explaining. What came before why it worked or didn't and what the take away was and how this imfo could help us in building. Reliable fast motorcycles. Just like you t wo. Thanks for the sharing

[@64faffi]

Learned a ton in this video - thank you!

[@hmlc1130]

Hearing this podcast was almost being near those racing Hondas of the old times. Thank you. 👌

[@CoreyJamesAdams]

Only one drink. Another great one

[@EricBickel-v9v]

You gentlemen are both AWESOME and I truly enjoyed this segment. One year I found out Team Obsolete was going to run the 250 Six at Laguna Seca, along with a bunch of other amazing classic race bikes. Even though there were AMA Superbikes running that weekend, my SOLE reason for making the long drive was to HEAR the six run in person (being a huge fan of Isle of Man, I listened to old LP recordings of Jim Redman on that bike). When they fired the six up, it was everything I expected and MORE. To THIS day, I can remember that howl. NOTHING like it. Watching and hearing that run around that track brought chills to my spine. And the cherry on top was having Jim Redman there, a most gracious man who spent a half hour regaling me about stories of Mike Hailwood, Mr. Honda, and the surprise of the crowd when the Honda engineers bolted up those two extra pipes (a well kept secret, everyone thought that year's 250 was still going to be a FOUR). Good times with Aldana, Roper, Vesco too. Thank you Team Obsolete! And thank you Mr. Honda, for making beautiful music all these years!

[@johnhooper8057]

Hey fellows! Great podcast! At the end, Mark, you moaned about no one wanting to talk about welding at parties. My old pal Tommy Crawford and I would be happy to talk welding and zero runout roller bearing cranks with you anytime.

[@chriscadman6379]

At 1:10:16 that is Kevin using the ultimate Engineering explanation. Bravo Sir BRAVO!

[@ComputerCapone]

keep up the good work!

[@someonethatwatchesyoutube2953]

I love hearing the history of the mechanical developments that many of us take for granted. Listening to the weekly discussions makes me as happy as a monkey with a banana. 😃

[@danieloreilly3497]

Another informative podcast. Thanks again

[@daveo532]

It was hard to believe that my 1970 Honda CT70 was made by a company that was only 22 years old

[@Cobblestonerton]

I have a request. To extract an hour of Mark and Kevin's knowledge on the subject of sidecar racing. Thank you in advance if that could be possible.

[@garyalexander2480]

Weird way to ask for more about the nsr500 😂

[@ianjones4071]

Hi thank you for the history of honda six racers, I only heard obout them randomly thru conversations not actual fact ,thank you from a cb750 k2 rider,cheers

[@Daniel_Martin152]

Another fantastic episode Gents, one of my favourites. Perhaps an episode on Aprilia’s dominant 2 stroke GP machines and their creator Jan Thiel could be an interesting discussion for an upcoming show if I may suggest. Just finished reading his book, very good stuff!

[@daveo532]

This was awesome

[@colinmartin2921]

I was surprised when I read Kevin's book on great motorcycle engines, that Honda's great Sixties engines used 72° valve angle, because their aim in using four valves was for reasons of control and not gas flow.

[@lesmontgomery6498]

I was also at mosport that day. Drove sweep truck. Close to the action indeed. I have an e 12 h plug from a 6 run at mosport

[@ccrider8483]

I would like to hear Kevin discuss the limitations of piston speed. If I recall correctly, piston speed was generally believed to be limited to around 4,500 feet per minute. With today's improved materials and tolerances is this still the case??

[@GS-zv3qn]

That would be a great discussion, piston speed ,piston and rod weight , stroke length and max rpm

[@erikdijkshoorn3231]

Even the big marine diesel with their 90 to 110 RPM have such speeds if I recall correctly

[@peterjones7935]

I recall one of Kevins magzine article discussing combution and he mentioned that the Hondas had to run regular grade gas as high octane couldn't burn fast enough for the revs they were attaining

[@philbro1829]

Please find Kevin a NASAL MUFFLER 😂 Bless you both and enjoy the holidays 🎉

[@craigfarnsworth8333]

Knobby clark at Steamboat springs Co. Related that when Honda rolled the 250 out in europe, only showing 3 pipes, UNTIL THE RACE, 6 pipes showing. Everyone crapped at seeing SIX PIPES. TALK ABOUT THE CASES STRUCTURE.

[@magellanicspaceclouds]

Just for people who may not realize how fast 25,000 RPM is, that equates to ~416 revolutions per second.

[@truthboomertruthbomber5125]

It’s surprising that Honda didn’t go to liquid cooling like their 2 stroke competition did.

[@perhage338]

Could it be that Hondasan suffered a bad case of Taglionitis ..and resulting dysfunctional stubbornness ??

[@Michael_Lorenson]

Cool

[@stewart8127]

That center cam chain was in portant in roller bear engines

[@mjo4981]

Wham, you have explained the visual difference between the wide-hatted heads of the early 60s bikes and the modern narrow noggin heads of bikes like the drz400! I never got it before now. Kevin, were there any special problems associated with those new needle bearing crankshafts with those poor mainbearing needles whizzing around at a tremendous rotational velocity as opposed to the older large diameter bearing balls? Greetings and best regards! Carlton

[@TSB996]

Has anyone tried (theorized) using an electro-magnetic valve terrain? I would think this could remove any/all limitations on RPM. modern electronics and SW speed should make this doable. F1 maybe thought about this??

[@TSB996]

and move the RPM limits completely to the crank-piston -where it belongs!!

[@markjones1672]

We made some prototypes....not as easy as it sounds.....minimum of 2 PhDs required.....

[@krtt750]

What do you think of Leo Tamer's steering and suspension idea on the front of the Swallower? His BOTT Moto Guzzi. That seemed to work very well non?

[@stewart8127]

The only motorcycle ever to have a Beach Boys song written about them link posted

[@stewart8127]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4uyeJ-di9GXd9Usi=zQEWpb-kM7LRk91J

[@yorkchris10]

A friend really liked Honda. His mom had a CVCC that was sporty, economical and reliable. He told me to give the story of Sochiro a read. For western culture it is a bit racey. I was surprised that they were using the MGB as a benchmark for speed and reliability. Honda eventually got there. I think my favorite engine is the VFR with gear driven camshafts. I know some scrambler racers consider Honda two stroke bikes as disposable. Some people like to try and keep their Euro bikes going beyond the wear-out period.je

[@Emily-ou6lq]

Got any stories on Hirotoshi Honda, Al Baker, Mugen, Al Baker's Racing & Development and XR's Only?

[@eddy2121]

Does Kevin have the book " Secret horsepower race" about engine development in WWII? I would gladly donate my copy to him.

[@johnsolimine1164]

Using engine braking and shifting at 12,5000 RPM, with a gas to Castor oil ratio of 16:1, the TA 250's crank lasted ~150 miles... no more

[@ronwhitaker5486]

What do you mean,"the Norton isn't a magical motorcycle"?

[@krtt750]

How about the story of Moto Guzzi. A company that built it all (racing exotica) before practically everybody! As Alan Cathcart has called Guzzi, "the Alfa Romeo of motorcycles!"

[@vincentpattavina2120]

Dittos!

[@craigfarnsworth8333]

Show pictures of bikes

[@GS-zv3qn]

That would help a lot for people that never seen the old bikes

[@paulscountry456]

Flexiable camshaft...lol

[@stewart8127]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4uyeJ-di9GXd9Usi=zQEWpb-kM7LRk91J

[@basilwatson1]

Honda imho is a company in decline due to the Japanese society/corporate structure imho most of the dynamic "progress " is made overseas Japanese tend to lack imagination ( 25 years here /worked for Honda / now freelance)

[@martinmccabe177]

May I turn this off now? My brain is full! How the heck does Kevin remember the names of foreign design engineers and what he has read in technical papers from the 1960s? I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday. Anyone who has ever worked on either bike or car race engines has to love these podcasts. Listening to the advancements made by Duckworth and Cosworth, et al., in the design of combustion chambers and cylinder heads is fascinating. These podcasts make me look forward to Wednesdays!