V8 500 thing of beauty!

[imdying]

That's why I reckon Ducati GP bikes are gonna bounce back: unlike Suzuki who have just trodden the same path, they are being revolutionary, dreaming big, and sooner or later they'll connect the dots to something that works better than everything else. If ya want to go as fast everyone else do what they are doing, if you want to be faster you have to do something different.

Thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters... sounds like Ducati.

[SVboy]

Who fucking cares about some oval pistoned pile of crap and the filthy two strokes, who knows when the V8 has it's next outing?

Dennis still had the motor going when it was smoking badly-if it had grenaded itself, that would not have been the case-hopefully minor teething issues rather than a major failure. I should mention the massive carbon airbox on top, with 8 induction trumpets sticking up into it-big sexytime![Musthave made fabricating the tank a major PITA however.

[codgyoleracer]

And they might as well wipe their corporate arses with them.

Only the big H could come up with a engineering solution to fit a square peg in a round hole......

[HenryDorsetCase]

Sorry I shoulda been more specific, I meant the NR750 road bike, not the NR500 GP machine.

It mightn't have been successful but the NR500 was still a cool bit of kit. It originally came out with 16 inch wheels when the norm was 18's, weirdo upside down forks with external spring/damping unit, side mounted radiators (3 in total), monococque frame/body. So the engine wasn't the only bit of revolutionary tech goin' on. This is the late 70's. They ended up going more conventional with 18's, conventional frame etc and got the thing more competitive but it was never quite a match for the strokers.

Fast forward a decade or two and most of that stuff had transferred from race exotica to common or garden variety road bikes: fireblades ran 16" front wheels until late 90's, VTR (F and SP), VFR side mount rad's, upside down forks are the norm etc. So while it wasn't successful on track, it certainly wasn't a failure.

That's why I reckon Ducati GP bikes are gonna bounce back: unlike Suzuki who have just trodden the same path, they are being revolutionary, dreaming big, and sooner or later they'll connect the dots to something that works better than everything else. If ya want to go as fast everyone else do what they are doing, if you want to be faster you have to do something different.

Now tell me ya don't wanna throw a leg over this:

Attachment 244050

If I remember (and yes, its OT, but whatever), Honda used the then RSC to train young engineers. Basically said to them "O Hai, heres a clean sheet of paper, go build something to beat two strokes, but we're Honda, a four stroke company, so it has to be a four stroke".

Cue head scratching: how do you make it competitive: there are more moving parts, more friction, you have to power a valve train and deal with friction losses blahdeblah blah. In the 60's Honda had gone for more revs: more cylinders = more revs = more power (so we get twin cylinder 50cc racers, and six cylinder 250's). But the rules say you have a maximum of four cylinders. but we need 8. the answer is kind of obvious but it is the making it work part that was hard. Same with all the other tech thats been mentioned.

So the benefit to the corporation was training a generation of engineers and designers. Sure it woulda been cool to have won more races on it, but that wasn't really the point. Also, the guys involved subsequently all ended up in very senior positions at Honda (again IIRC): one in particular I think became the chairman.

anyway, about the homegrown V8: wez da pix at au??

[Racing Dave]

Dennis still had the motor going when it was smoking badly-if it had grenaded itself, that would not have been the case-hopefully minor teething issues rather than a major failure. I should mention the massive carbon airbox on top, with 8 induction trumpets sticking up into it-big sexytime![Musthave made fabricating the tank a major PITA however.

Don't get hung up on the smoke - that turned out to be oil from the crankcase breather dripping onto the rear set of headers.

To save speculation, the heads/barrels are ZXR250.

As stated earlier in this thread, there's a couple of minor teething problems to attend to, but that's neither surprising or serious. Last Friday was it's first outing and overall Chris was very pleased.

Me too!

Cheers.

[ducatilover]

That has more awesome than I can type!

[george formby]

Quick, pass the hankies

[HenryDorsetCase]

that is stunning. Gizza go Mister?

[Crasherfromwayback]

Work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dangerous]

fuck fuck fuck... wicked, twin crank, why was that?
beautifull frame work and those headers are a work of art, I love the aircraft style exhaust, all straight pipes I asume?

[Yow Ling]

fuck fuck fuck... wicked, twin crank, why was that?
beautifull frame work and those headers are a work of art, I love the aircraft style exhaust, all straight pipes I asume?

Because he could ?
if he used a conventional v8 crank it would only have half the bearing area per rod and seeing as this engine is probably pulling well over 20,000 rpm that may not be so good
also he may have done it for cost reasons, by using off the shelf cranks rather than having to design and build a one off at very high cost
Maybe he just did it so a 15 yr old could explain it to you

[ducatilover]

20k rpm you reckon? Good luck. Possible, but, I doubt it.

[HenryDorsetCase]

If it has two cranks, its not a v8 is it? its a square 8 (or something).

still wicked cool though.

[Yow Ling]

20k rpm you reckon? Good luck. Possible, but, I doubt it.

If a stock zxr250 redlines at 19k , 20k isn't much more , I guess it all comes down to mean piston speed

[bogan]

If it has two cranks, its not a v8 is it? its a square 8 (or something).

still wicked cool though.

Yes, while the technical term is not a V8, a term that does apply, is fucking awesome!

Love how the pipes just dump out through the fairing.