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1971 Honda Hawk - 8-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article
Original, vintage magazine article.Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each pageCondition: Good
THE HONDA HAWKWhen Honda Gets Serious About Something,They Don't Foot Aroundby Bob BravermanThose people who are even slightlyfamiliar with motorcycle competitionare aware that the world s largestmotorcycle manufacturer has, in arelatively few years, gained the envi-able reputation of being very success-ful at virtually everything they triedFor years, Honda had dominated GPworld competition, and likewise dom-inated the motorcycle sales picturethrough a concerted effort with onlyone goal in mind, and that was to bethe most successful company atwhatever they tried.Looking for new fields to conquer,last May Honda made the decision toturn their attentions to garnering theall time land speed record for motor-cycles, and they proceeded in typicalHonda fashion They looked aroundto get the best talent available. Fromall indications, the road to successlooks fairly smooth and unobstructedEarly in the game, it was decidedthat a pair of 750 four cylinder en-gines like those found in the standardmotorcycle would be pressed intoservice, mounted in a very conven-tional manner. Since time was a majorconsideration, it became mandatorythat as many standard parts as possi-ble be utilized. Development and con-struction of special racing componentsis a very costly and time-consumingsituation. The fact that Honda hasachieved the results they have withthe relatively stock pieces is ratherincredible, and a real tribute to theirbasic engineering.Honda felt there were two basicapproaches to getting a lot of horse-power One was to build exotic en-gines and turn them considerablyhigher. The other was to supercharge.Supercharging won out for severalreasons. On the surface, it's consid-erably easier to use fairly standardengines and introduce a blower capa-ble of producing an adequate boostin atmospheric pressure. After build-ing an engine cradle from hefty alu-minum plate, two crankshafts werecoupled together using fairly largesprockets and a fairly long section ofspecial chain. Early in the game, itwas decided that rather than saw thetransmission off the front engine, theywould use both transmissions andboth clutches. If everything goes well,there is no problem in doing this. Thiswriter, though, in having built anumber of dual engine projects, hasserious reservations about the wisdomof attempting to follow this line ofthinking. In any event, all of the test-ing to date has produced nary a prob-lem, so if all goes according to planthe two clutches and gear boxes maywork without a hitch.The engines utilize mostly stockA mock-up of the controlsystem complete with gearposition lights is in the lowerleft corner. The scale weighsthe amount of fuel the enginesburn in a given period of time.The degree of instrumentationand sophistication is quiteimpressive. Just aboutanything you might want toknow about either enginewhile running on a dyno caneasily be checked here.Believe it or not, underneaththe ducting, wires, cables andother paraphernalia, therereside two rather standardHonda 750 four-cylinderengines.The turbo charger itself is a standard AiResearch unit, andinterestingly enough only one unit is used to supply air toboth engines.components. Early preliminary testingconsisted of using the AiResearchT-04 turbosupercharger, but it wasdiscovered that after introducing morethan 1 5 pounds of boost, the standardconnecting rods were no longer ade-quate to the demand placed on themIn doing a little further experimenting,the people in the engine departmentdiscovered that by smoothing up therods, shot peening and reheat treatingthem, the rod problem vanished over-night. Standard pistons and pistonrings are used, along with the stand-ard cylinder and cylinder head. Eventhe standard valves and valve springsare used. Material was removed fromthe combustion chamber in an effortto reduce the compression, since afairly large blower boost is used. Highcompression and large amounts ofboost introduce detonation, not tomention fantastic bearing loads andheat.The standard carburetors were dis-carded in favor of a specially builtHilborn fuel injection system designedspecifically for this project. Two fourcylinder injection units are used todeliver the straight alcohol to eachengine.Another interesting thing was dis-covered when Honda embarked onmis engine development program.The turbosupercharger works far bet-ter on a multi-cylinder engine than itwould on the same size engine usingonly one or two cylinders. Since theblower is delivering pressure to eightcylinders instead of just a couple, theHonda and AiResearch techniciansfeel the chance of blower problemsis greatly minimized. The exhaustgases are the driving force that turnsthe supercharger, so blower driveproblems are non-existent. The hotexhaust rushes through the speciallybuilt stainless steel ducting to the...15856
