Template:Infobox Motorcycle

The Honda RC211V is a 990 cc (60 cu in) four-stroke race motorcycle from HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) developed in 2001 to replace the two-stroke Honda NSR500.

It was developed as a direct result of major changes to the regulations for the World Championship motorcycle road racing Template:Convert class for the 2002 season. The name of the class was modified to MotoGP, and while two-stroke engines remained limited to Template:Convert and four cylinders, four-stroke engines were now allowed to be as large as Template:Convert and from three to six cylinders – which led many teams to switch to four-stroke designs.

The model name designates the following:<ref name="MCride">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • RC = Honda's traditional racing prefix for 4-stroke bikes
  • 211 = first works bike of the 21st century
  • V = V engine

The RC211V was replaced in 2007 by the RC212V.

2002Edit

In 2002, the debut year of the RC211V, Honda and Valentino Rossi dominated by winning the constructors' championship by more than 100 points over their nearest rival. The bike underwent small modifications over the season, but it did not as yet have traction control so much as a handlebar-mounted power management system with three settings for different needs during a race.<ref>Scott, M. "Different Strokes," page 26. Motocourse 2002–2003. Richmond, Hazleton Publishing Ltd., 2002.</ref>

Factory riders: Valentino Rossi, Tohru Ukawa
Satellite riders (in the latter part of the season): Alex Barros, Daijiro Kato

2003Edit

File:Honda RC211V 2003 Valencia Livery.jpg
Honda RC211V with special livery used by Rossi during the 2003 GP of Valencia

Among other changes in 2003, power was increased from about 200 to 240 bhp. Traction control was also added.<ref>Spalding, N. "Better By Design," page 24. Motocourse 2003–2004. Richmond, Hazleton Publishing Ltd., 2003.</ref>

Factory riders: Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Daijiro Kato, Sete Gibernau
Satellite riders: Max Biaggi, Tohru Ukawa, Makoto Tamada, Ryuichi Kiyonari

2004Edit

For 2004, a new, inverted rear suspension link was added, and a new exhaust was introduced at the Sachsenring round.<ref>Honda Worldwide | WGP 2004 German Grand Prix, Sachsenring World.honda.com, 2004-07-18.</ref> The RC211V riders were unable to keep Rossi (now on a Yamaha YZR-M1) from winning his fourth premier-class championship, and no clear candidate appeared to take over Rossi's role of lead development rider for Honda.

Factory riders: Alex Barros, Nicky Hayden, Sete Gibernau
Satellite riders: Max Biaggi, Colin Edwards, Makoto Tamada

2005Edit

2005 would be the first time in four years Honda lost the constructors' championship in the premier class. The RC211V chassis underwent frequent revision and rewelding, with reversions to the 2003 design.<ref>Ryder, J.: MotoGP Season Review 2005. Page 37. Sparkford, Haynes Publishing, 2005.</ref> After the race at Brno, Honda tested a new bike which both Hayden and Biaggi said was an improvement, and was thereafter known as the "Brno bike".<ref>Honda Racing Corporation Brno Test Template:Webarchive Speedtv.com, 2005-09-02.</ref>

Factory riders: Max Biaggi, Nicky Hayden, Sete Gibernau
Satellite riders: Alex Barros, Makoto Tamada, Marco Melandri, Troy Bayliss

2006Edit

In 2006, the RC211V came in three flavors: the "Brno bike" to be ridden by Hayden, a 2006 bike with a special chassis for Pedrosa, and a 2006 bike to be ridden by Melandri, Elías, Stoner, and Tamada; Melandri and Stoner eventually got the special Pedrosa chassis.<ref>Ryder, J.: MotoGP Season Review 2006. Page 35. Sparkford, Haynes Publishing, 2006.</ref> Hayden's RC211V was modified to put the crankshaft higher, the clutch and gearbox lower, and to lengthen the swing arm; the goal was to centralize mass and improve stability. After the Jerez round, Hayden was the fastest Honda rider in testing.<ref>Hayden Leads Jerez Test Template:Webarchive Cyclenews.com, 2006-03-28.</ref> At the British GP, HRC gave Hayden a new chassis, but Hayden complained that he didn't have enough time to test it. Hayden had started the year with the same clutch as Pedrosa, but four rounds later it was shelved in favor of a clutch Hayden had used in previous years; at the Brno round, he had a problem with the clutch that contributed to a 9th-place finish. Honda and Hayden had difficulty finding a clutch that would allow a good launch at the start but also work well throughout the race. Hayden eventually won the rider championship and Honda reclaimed the constructors' championship.<ref>Spalding, N.: "The Ghost Bike". MotoGP Season Review 2006. Pages 26–29. Sparkford, Haynes Publishing, 2006.</ref>

Factory riders: Nicky Hayden, Dani Pedrosa
Satellite riders: Makoto Tamada, Marco Melandri, Toni Elías, Casey Stoner

The RC211V was retired when rules dictated a switch to Template:Convert capacity; Honda's bike for 2007 was the RC212V.

SuccessesEdit

In five seasons of MotoGP racing the Honda RC211V won 48 races out of 82 (58.5%) contested. It also won three-rider world championships (Rossi 2002, 2003 and Hayden 2006) and four constructor titles (2002, 2003, 2004, 2006).

SpecificationsEdit

Specifications as per manufacturer:<ref name="specs">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Length Template:Convert
Width Template:Convert Template:Convert
Height Template:Convert
Wheelbase Template:Convert
Road clearance Template:Convert
Weight around Template:Convert
Engine type water-cooled, four-stroke, DOHC 4 Valve, V-5 75.5°
Displacement Template:Convert
Bore x stroke 73mm x 47.3mm 75mm x 44.8mm
Compression 13.5:1 13.3:1 13.2:1 13.9:1
Model NV5A NV5B NV5C NV5D NV5HD NV5HG
Max power Template:Convert @ 15,000 rpm Template:Convert @ 15,500 rpm Template:Convert @ 16,500 rpm Template:Convert @ 16,500 rpm Template:Convert @ 16,500 rpm Template:Convert @ 17,000 rpm
Torque 117.4Nm @ 11,500 rpm 117.1Nm @ 11,500 rpm 115.5Nm @ 13,500 rpm 113.2Nm @ 13,500 rpm 114Nm @ 13,000 rpm 116Nm @ 14,000 rpm
Frame type Twin-spar
Front wheel Template:Convert Template:Convert<ref name="KingNicky">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Rear wheel Template:Convert
Front suspension Telescopic
Rear suspension Unit Pro-Link New Unit Pro-Link
Fuel capacity Template:Convert Template:Convert

Complete MotoGP resultsEdit

Motorcycle summaryEdit

Title won
Rider: (Valentino Rossi Template:MGP, Template:MGP)
(Nicky Hayden Template:MGP)
Constructors: (Template:MGP, Template:MGP Template:MGP)
Race Won: 48
2002: Rossi 11, Barros 2, Ukawa 1 (14 in total)
2003: Rossi 9, Gibernau 4, Biaggi 2 (15 in total)
2004: Gibernau 4, Tamada 2, Biaggi 1 (7 in total)
2005: Melandri 2, Hayden 1, Barros 1 (4 in total)
2006: Melandri 3, Pedrosa 2, Hayden 2, Elias 1 (8 in total)

Poles: 46
2002: Rossi 7, Barros 1, Kato 1 (9 in total)
2003: Rossi 9, Biaggi 3, Sete Gibernau 1 (13 in total)
2004: Gibernau 5, Tamada 2, Biaggi 1 (8 in total)
2005: Gibernau 5, Hayden 4, Barros 1 (10 in total)
2006: Pedrosa 4, Hayden 1, Stoner 1 (6 in total)

RC211V resultsEdit

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in italics indicate fastest lap) (the teams are bold indicate factory teams; the riders are bold indicate the rider rode a factory bikes in the satellite teams)

Year Tyres Team No. Rider 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Points Template:Tooltip
Template:MGP Template:Michelin JPN RSA ESP FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC MAL AUS VAL
Template:Flagicon Repsol Honda Team 11 Template:Flagicon Tohru Ukawa Ret 1 3 2 3 2 5 WD 3 3 3 Ret 4 4 3 5 209 3rd
46 Template:Flagicon Valentino Rossi 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ret 1 1 2 2 1 2 355 1st
Template:Flagicon Team HRC 72 Template:Flagicon Shinichi Ito 4 13 21st
Template:Flagicon West Honda Pons 4 Template:Flagicon Alex Barros 1 3 2 1 86 (204) 4th
Template:Flagicon Fortuna Honda Gresini 74 Template:Flagicon Daijiro Kato 2 Ret Ret Ret 5 4 4 55 (117) 7th
Template:MGP Template:Michelin JPN RSA ESP FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC MAL AUS VAL
Template:Flagicon Repsol Honda 46 Template:Flagicon Valentino Rossi 1 2 1 2 1 2 3 3 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 357 1st
69 Template:Flagicon Nicky Hayden 7 7 Ret 12 12 9 11 8 5 6 9 5 3 4 3 16 130 5th
Template:Flagicon Telefónica Movistar Honda 15 Template:Flagicon Sete Gibernau 4 1 Ret 1 7 3 1 2 1 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 277 2nd
74 Template:Flagicon Daijiro Kato Ret 0 NC
23 Template:Flagicon Ryuichi Kiyonari 13 13 11 17 14 18 15 16 15 11 21 19 14 22 20th
Template:Flagicon Camel Pramac Pons 3 Template:Flagicon Max Biaggi 2 3 2 5 3 14 2 1 Ret 5 2 4 1 3 17 4 228 3rd
11 Template:Flagicon Tohru Ukawa 20 6 4 7 6 6 12 Ret 6 8 5 7 7 7 5 Ret 123 8th
Template:Bridgestone Template:Flagicon Pramac Honda 6 Template:Flagicon Makoto Tamada Ret 14 6 Ret 4 7 16 13 13 9 10 3 DSQ 10 10 10 87 11th
Template:MGP Template:Michelin RSA ESP FRA ITA CAT NED BRA GER GBR CZE POR JPN QAT MAL AUS VAL
Template:Flagicon Repsol Honda 4 Template:Flagicon Alex Barros 4 3 7 6 Ret Ret 5 2 9 Ret 3 4 4 3 5 6 165 4th
69 Template:Flagicon Nicky Hayden 5 5 11 Ret Ret 5 3 3 4 Ret Ret 5 4 6 Ret 117 8th
Template:Flagicon HRC 72 Template:Flagicon Tohru Ukawa Ret 0 NC
Template:Flagicon Telefónica Movistar Honda MotoGP 15 Template:Flagicon Sete Gibernau 3 1 1 2 2 2 Ret Ret 3 1 4 6 1 7 2 4 257 2nd
45 Template:Flagicon Colin Edwards 7 7 5 12 5 6 6 5 2 7 9 Ret 2 11 4 8 157 5th
Template:Flagicon Camel Honda 3 Template:Flagicon Max Biaggi 2 2 3 3 8 4 2 1 12 3 Ret Ret 6 2 7 2 217 3rd
Template:Bridgestone 6 Template:Flagicon Makoto Tamada 8 Ret 9 Ret Ret 12 1 6 14 4 2 1 10 5 8 5 150 6th
Template:MGP Template:Michelin ESP POR CHN FRA ITA CAT NED USA GBR GER CZE JPN MAL QAT AUS TUR VAL
Template:Flagicon Repsol Honda Team 3 Template:Flagicon Max Biaggi 7 3 5 5 2 6 6 4 Ret 4 3 2 6 Ret Ret 12 6 173 5th
69 Template:Flagicon Nicky Hayden Ret 7 9 6 6 5 4 1 Ret 3 5 7 4 3 2 3 2 206 3rd
Template:Flagicon Movistar Honda MotoGP 15 Template:Flagicon Sete Gibernau 2 Ret 4 2 Ret 2 5 5 Ret 2 Ret Ret Ret 5 5 4 Ret 150 7th
33 Template:Flagicon Marco Melandri 3 4 3 4 4 3 2 Ret Ret 7 6 Ret 5 2 4 1 1 220 2nd
Template:Flagicon Camel HondaTemplate:Refn 4 Template:Flagicon Alex Barros 4 1 11 Ret 7 4 7 Ret 3 5 4 Ret 8 9 Ret 9 5 147 8th
12 Template:Flagicon Troy Bayliss 6 11 Ret 10 13 8 11 6 Ret Ret 9 54 15th
17 Template:Flagicon Chris Vermeulen 11 11 10 21st
54 Template:Flagicon Ryuichi Kiyonari 12 4 25th
67 Template:Flagicon Shane Byrne 14 13 5 (6) 24th
72 Template:Flagicon Tohru Ukawa Ret 0 (1) 27th
Template:Flagicon Konica Minolta Honda 6 Template:Flagicon Makoto Tamada 8 DNS 8 Ret 14 7 7 10 10 3 12 Ret 8 8 9 91 11th
16 Template:Flagicon Jurgen van den Goorbergh 6 14 12 20th
Template:MGP Template:Michelin ESP QAT TUR CHN FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER USA CZE MAL AUS JPN POR VAL
Template:Flagicon Repsol Honda Team 26 Template:Flagicon Dani Pedrosa 2 6 14 1 3 4 Ret 3 1 4 2 3 3 15 7 Ret 4 215 5th
69 Template:Flagicon Nicky Hayden 3 2 3 2 5 3 2 1 7 3 1 9 4 5 5 Ret 3 254 1st
Template:Flagicon Konica Minolta Honda 6 Template:Flagicon Makoto Tamada 10 14 10 6 7 9 7 11 11 Ret 11 13 14 10 10 5 12 96 12th
Template:Flagicon Fortuna Honda 24 Template:Flagicon Toni Elías 4 8 5 11 9 7 Ret DNS 11 15 11 Ret 9 6 1 6 116 9th
33 Template:Flagicon Marco Melandri 5 7 1 7 1 6 Ret 7 3 2 3 5 9 1 3 8 5 228 4th
84 Template:Flagicon Michel Fabrizio DNS 0 NC
Template:Flagicon Honda LCR 27 Template:Flagicon Casey Stoner 6 5 2 5 4 Ret Ret 4 4 DNS Ret 6 8 6 Ret Ret Ret 119 8th

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See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Template:Sister project Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

Template:Grand Prix motorcycles