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Honda RC213V-S in the PS driving report

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Please hold on tight, despite all the performance data and the paper form: Honda has made its announcements true and with the Honda RC213V-S actually built a MotoGP machine for the road that can be bought.

It is actually unfair to make the reader’s mouth watery with a motorcycle that in all likelihood he will never be able to buy or even see or touch. Because the price of 188,000 euros plus 12,000 stones for the race kit is a huge hurdle. If you can take them, you still have to get one of 250 pieces. Because more copies are from the Honda R.C213V-S not built.

Honda RC213V-S in the PS driving report

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Handcrafted by specially trained specialists

Now there was already a V4 MotoGP replica. It went by the name Desmosedici RR and came from Ducati in 2007. But the Honda RC213V-S is much closer to the original, a 1: 1 copy, so to speak, which is handcrafted by specially trained specialists to order. Away from regular production lines and impact wrenches. And only one a day. 

You have to let that melt on your tongue: A MotoGP replica that only had to endure a few minor changes in order to improve its service life and use it on the road. There must be light and mirrors, of course. The expensive seamless gear and the pneumatic valve train required for the exorbitant speeds are reserved for the real factory hits. Likewise delicacies like the pistons with only two rings. Frame, swing arm, tank shape, cladding, everything largely corresponds to the original. Logically, there was no room for an ABS. Otherwise, practically everything is identical to the original, right down to the dimensions of the wall thicknesses and bearings of the motor. Which just requires concessions in terms of performance. After all, not everyone is called Marquez and has seven engines available per season.

Electronics basically stems from the WM machines

But in view of only 159 street legal horsepower, there were quickly critical voices, which could not be dampened by the reference to a curb weight of just 170 kilos. What counts is ultimately on the pitch. And the Honda RC213V-S can now show whether its builders were not applying a little too thick when they tried to appease the performance fetishists with the announcement that the RC213V-S would offer the driving dynamics of a MotoGP racer. The V4 growls cautiously in the pit lane of Valencia, the dry clutch grinds audibly, and off we go. She already has the racing-style gearbox with an incredibly long first gear. With the clutch dragging for a long time, it goes out onto the track. The electronics basically come from the WM machines. Eight-stage traction and wheelie control, three-stage motor brake and three power modes can be freely combined and saved in five different maps.

The first sniffing takes place with the foam braked, i.e. power mode two. The automatic gearshift does not allow downshifting without the clutch – probably also because of the service life of the transmission. But when you shift up the gears slide in incredibly buttery, great! In this setting, the V4 does not tear up any trees, but it hangs fine on the gas, turns cuddly and evenly upwards. Perhaps this start by Honda was deliberately chosen. Because instead of squinting for performance, the focus is now entirely on how the bike leaps through the corners. And from the first lap, you won’t get your spit away. The Honda RC213V-S zips from one bend to the next as light as a feather, effortlessly following the most delicate steering commands. Basically, it is enough to shift your body weight a little and the Honda intuitively rushes in the right direction. Thunderstorm, that really has something of the cornering willingness of a MotoGP racer.

Chassis tuning of the Honda RC213V-S quite soft

Just a little more pressure would be nice now, so for the second run you quickly selected power mode one and then back out. 159 HP normally doesn’t let you sink to your knees in awe with a 1000, but now suddenly there is real life in the booth. Below 8000 rpm the V4 holds back a little, which is why first gear has to be used in one or the other tight corner, but from this mark on the Honda RC213V-S really gets going. With verve she tugs forward, not violently, but emphatically. Turns easily and completely evenly up to the red area at 12,000 rpm. That now fits the breathtaking maneuverability of the Honda. Out of a long left-hand bend with a bang, with a cheeky swing through the following right-left combination and then brake deep into the following right and bend deeper and deeper. Even on the brakes, the Honda does not resist the lean angle, but literally pulls itself and its driver into the curve. No other production motorcycle can be steered through the radii so sensitively and with minimal effort. Even 30 additional horsepower cannot make up for that.

But with all the fascinating maneuverability, the chassis set-up is quite soft, the mighty Brembo calipers take the 5.5 millimeter thick brake discs reliably, but without the unyielding, brute grip that is needed for braking maneuvers on the last groove. And the Bridgestone RS10 grips quite well, but they don’t offer the crisp precision of real racing skins. No question about it, the Honda is a dynamics par excellence who makes every conventional series 1000 look old when doing curve dancing. But also completely in Japanese tradition, trimmed to maximum manners for road use. It is not quite a mega-sharp racing file (yet). But there is still something missing. Exactly, in the background the mechanics are warming up a Honda RC213V-S with racing kit with full throttle. The hair on the back of the neck stands at attention. Eerily beautiful MotoGP roar escapes the two titanium exhausts. Together with the kit control unit, wiring harness and large intake duct, they elicit 215 hp from the GP replica and, according to Honda, reduce the weight to 160 kilograms dry – with a starter. The current weight limit in MotoGP is 158.

Not far from the GP racer with a racing kit

Then 215 hp suddenly appear in a whole new light. Goosebumps spread. The Honda RC213V-S tears off its mask completely and a rocket actually emerges that is not far from a GP racer. With immediate effect, the abbreviation RC213V-S can be seen as a synonym for absolute greed.

Although the soft targeted setup remained unchanged, the Honda RC213V-S slams into the corners on the line, holds it effortlessly, changes lean position and line for the slightest shift in weight. Pulls through a dust-dry lean angle change, all paired with the feeling that there is much more going beyond the driver’s limit. All of this makes them sleepwalking in a way that we have never seen before with any production bike.

Full concentration is required!

The fork literally soaks up bumps, and the stoppers, which are now equipped with biting racing brake pads, grip like lightning, relentlessly and at the same time, precisely adjustable. When it comes to handling, the Honda RC213V-S is in a league of its own that no carefully pepped up superbike can achieve. Because it is only about what is necessary. Each part sits where it is needed for optimal weight distribution and balance. And all chassis parts are manufactured with maximum precision and minimal tolerances, regardless of controllers swinging in the red pen. Which ultimately has its price.

In addition, the uncorked V4 of the Honda RC213V-S fires up to 14,000 rpm with a terrific roar and catapults the flyweight so effortlessly from one corner to the next – full concentration is required! And when traction control has to intervene, it does it with a gentle hand.

The discussions about performance or not have long since died down. The performance that the Honda RC213V-S delivers is too impressive. And the fact that it transports this driving experience and its wonderful workmanship onto the road gives the whole thing an extra kick. But only for those who had the luck and the necessary change to order one. Because the order deadline for one of the 250 machines built has expired. This is also what they have in common with their MotoGP role model: Only a few get the pleasure of riding them.

Technical data Honda RC213V-S

Honda

188,000 euros in the basic 200,000 gold version euros with the race kit are a house number.

Conclusion

Honda

The driving dynamics are exhilarating, even if a few horsepower is missing compared to the MotoGP racer.

Honda didn’t promise too much. The Honda RC213V-S is indeed close to the MotoGP racer. Even if a few horsepower and a little maximum speed are missing. The driving dynamics it offers is exhilarating and separates it from conventional production bikes. The incredibly fine workmanship anyway. This is the stuff dreams are made of and one would wish that other manufacturers would also have the courage to do so. We envy those who call an RC their own and also move it.

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