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Driving report Honda NSR 250 and NSR 500
Tightrope walk
Achievement is not always a blessing. MOTORRAD test boss Gerhard Lindner experienced this impressively during a comparison drive on the Honda factory racers NSR 250 and 500 in Motegi, Japan.
We are lucky, the days of continuous rain in Motegi stops just in time, the factory machines of 500cc ex-world champion Alex Criville and 250cc World Championship third Daijiro Kato are brought up to temperature with even bursts of gas. Tire warmers, on the other hand, are unnecessary. It is safer to warm up the super-soft, heavily profiled rain rubbers while driving and slowly feel for the grip that is getting better from lap to lap.
Of course, this works easier on the 250, which weighs just 96 kilograms. I’m surprised how much space I have on the little racer with my 190 centimeters. The machine, on the other hand, should appear to the petite Katoh like a full-blown bi-bike. Thanks to my two years of experience in the 250 DM, I feel right at home on the factory racer. Almost like a toy, the extremely narrow NSR 250 can be circled over the soaking wet course. I don’t have to waste a second thinking about the dosage of the clutch or brake. Everything is explained and regulated by its own crystal-clear feedback. This is pure motorcycling, playful and without any annoying accessories.
Even the fear of sloping on the slippery course is blown away. The rain tires literally bite into the wet asphalt. Apply the brakes so that the rear wheel lifts off slightly, bend in a flash and choose a super tight line, and bravely accelerate again shortly after the apex. A poem. And although the V2 engine is a little too fat and already loses the desire to accelerate at 13,000 rpm, what is offered is enough for the ultimate kick.
Blessed with around 100 hp, this machine catapults you out of the corners so vehemently that nothing is left to be desired. The two-cylinder reacts perfectly to the slightest twitch of the gas hand, and endless wheelies can be provoked playfully. The very short stepped six-speed gearbox, however, needs to be processed very quickly if the NSR should always run in the correct speed window between 9000 and 13000 rpm.
As is so often the case in life, beautiful things are usually short-lived and I have to swap my toys for a real weapon. NSR 500, for many years the measure of all things in a category that is not called the premier class for nothing. With around 200 hp ?? official information is denied with a big grin? under my bum and a corresponding queasy feeling in the stomach area, I set out for a new experience in the border area.
And it is very different from what I experienced on the 250cc. Although the 500 does not seem heavy with its 131 kilograms, it is a real bolide compared to Katoh’s 250. The 32-liter tank looks huge, the frame around the wider V4 engine affects the knee grip, the whole motorcycle looks bigger, unwieldy, more aggressive. And then there is always this oversupply of performance. In contrast to the NSR 250, in which the throttle cock can be properly tensioned even when accelerating in an inclined position, the events on the NSR 500 usually take place in the range between 20 and 40 percent of the possible throttle opening. And even with these comparatively delicate movements of the right hand, there are always unwanted outbursts of emotions from the explosive two-stroke engine.
The half-liter machine can only handle full throttle on the rather short straights of the rough, Japanese GP course. It is a battle with the ever-increasing front wheel, always fully focused on the next gear change: zack, zack, zack, the gears slide into the grids almost automatically thanks to the automatic gearshift, the Honda accelerates at an alarming rate. Even in high gear, there is no noticeable decrease in acceleration.
But be careful, it’s time to reach into the irons again. What a pleasant surprise. The steel discs used in the rain are no comparison to the recently used carbon fiber brakes on Kenny Roberts’ Suzuki. The Brembo stoppers are pleasantly easy and safe to dose thanks to the greater hand strength and a significantly gentler bite. Nevertheless, it is much more difficult for me to precisely reduce the excess speed compared to the 250. More than once I miss the right turn-in point and hardly dare to circle the expensive piece neatly at an angle. What was a real pleasure with the 250, turns into a real test of courage with the 500.
It gets worse at the corner exit. This power wears me out. Even at only 5000 rpm, the throttle hand should act with care. The front wheel rises from 8000 rpm. Whether it is still in a slightly inclined position or not, the Honda doesn’t matter. Everything accompanied by an extremely angry, hard sound of the low-vibration V4. After a few laps I’m done? and to my astonishment about three seconds slower than with the 250.
E.So it’s no wonder that the lap times of the 250s are getting closer and closer to those of the 500s. Especially on very angled courses like the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, the smaller 250cc premier class steal the show. Some interesting data came from this event and was given to MOTORRAD by the 2D data recording specialists. Based on these examples, it quickly becomes clear that the speeds in the braking zone, at the apex of the curve and in the first acceleration phase are almost identical. The brutal power of the 500 only provides a slight advantage when it comes to the 200 km / h mark. However, in order to take full advantage of this advantage, you not only need extreme sensitivity with the throttle hand and a good dose of courage, but also a perfect set-up of the machine so that not every driving mistake, no matter how small, ends in a fall.
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