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On Motegi Honda Racing HRC tested their new 800cc motorcycle for MotoGP 2007 season. Currently RC211V Honda uses a V5 engine with 990cc capacity but for next year it will match the competition moving to 4 cylinders. Ducati and Suzuki already use a V4 and Yamaha and Kawasaki are using an inline-4 cylinders.

MotoGP rules are imposing starting with 2007 all engines must have a maximum 800cc capacity, all teams started to develop completely new bikes for next season. Would be interesting to see which team will accommodate faster to the new regulations but the general impression is that even the engines are dropping from 1000cc down to 800cc the performance of the bikes will higher next year.

First to test the new 800cc Honda supposed to be Nicky Hayden but because of the rain all testing session was canceled, Nicky must wait after the final race of 2006 at Valencia on end of October to ride the 2007 bike.

“I was getting ready to do a few laps on the 800 when it started to rain, but Ill get my crack at that bike soon plus I’ve got enough other stuff to focus on right now” said the Kentuckian preparing his race from Montegi. “The new bike looks really cool and the future seems bright for the new 800.”

Dani Pedrosa was the first to show off the new Honda’s 800cc prototype. After doing many adjustments and different settings the spanish rider reached his best time on new Honda with only 0.4s slower than his record on Japanese track.

“The first feeling is that the new bike runs well and this is very important – it works normally and everything feels fine,” said Dani. “The engine character feels a little different and this is to be expected but the package is quite similar to the RC211V. Some things about the bike feel smaller and the rear seat is much shorter which makes the whole bike look more compact. The bike has some characteristics which are a little more like a 250cc but it’s still a MotoGP bike. The lap time today is quite good for a first test but it’s too early to say whether it will be faster than the 990. The cornering speeds feel very similar to the RCV – though the corner speed at Motegi is very low because there are many hairpins, so it’s very difficult to say definitely whether it’ll be quicker. This was a good first test though.”

The 2007 Honda MotoGP motorcycle will be officially presented at the Valencia Grand Prix from October 29 2006.

Below you can watch some images from Dani Pedrosa’s test and hear for the first time the 800cc engines.

MotoGP Honda 800cc – Dani Pedrosa – Pit Out

MotoGP Honda 800cc – Dani Pedrosa – Main Straight

MotoGP Honda 800cc – Dani Pedrosa – Hair Pin

MotoGP Honda 800cc – Dani Pedrosa – 90 degrees corner

MotoGP Honda 800cc – Dani Pedrosa – Pit In

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