Whenever I need a good adrenaline rush, I always come back to this video! Just a couple of laps on this little rocket, that's all I ask (I couldn't stop at just 1).😁 That sound.. that wonderful sound!😍🎵🎶
The RC174 raced in the FIM 350cc class but it wasn't a 350cc engine. In fact it wasn't even 300cc's; actual engine displacement was 297.06cc or 18 cu in , which makes it all the more impressive as it won 7 of 8 FIM Championship races in 67 with rider Mike Hailwood and also won the 1967 Constructors Championship for Honda. Over shadowed by Honda's RC166 6cyl 250 machine; this bike had more technical advances in metallurgy. Extremely rare bike, I believe only 2 exist in the World. Specs for the machine are Bore 41mm x 37.5mm stroke, DOHC 4 Valve per cylinder, 6ea 23mm Keihin race carburetors (magnesium) and 7 speed gearbox. Power was rated conservatively at 66 hp @ 17,000 rpm. Probably more like 70+ hp as this machine was almost as fast as the RC181 500cc 4 cylinder. Had the Non Championship races that Hailwood won on this Machine, he would have had more overall race wins than Giamaco Agostini riding the MV Agusta. Just another masterpiece of Japanese Engineering that thrilled spectators in the 60's ....
I saw Hailwood riding the 297 Honda thrash Agostini on the MV500 at Brands Hatch in 1967 - a sight to behold (and also a sound to behold!) unforgettable excitement !!
Apparently Steve, during the 1950s, Soichiro Honda visited the TT Races with his Nikons and lots of film. By 1959, his 250cc four-cylinder Grand Prix machines were competing and doing well in the races. Move on a couple of years and from then on the rest really is history. Unforgettable sights and sounds. Two wheels and four.
@@mgjohn8534 Sorry, but the 1959 four was not a Grand Prix machine, it only competed in national races. The first GP Honda four was the RC161 of 1960. Read my book "Honda's Four-Stroke Race History 1954 ~ 1981".
I had the privilege of seeing Mike race this bike at Brands Hatch in the 1960's a treasured memory of a genius rider on one of the greatest machines ever built
Beautiful......... pure HONDA 👍. You can see all the great HONDA racing bikes and cars at the collection hall in Motegi. It's worth the effort to get there!🙂
I had the privilege of seeing this bike ridden as it was designed to be ridden by S.M.B Hailwood. The most impressive sounding racing machine I've ever witnessed and I've seen and heard most of them right up until last weekend both two wheels and four.
@@Mikejohnw1111 Great days Mike gone forever but not forgotten. Timing and luck can play a part in Life and where fabulous sounding GP Motor Cycles are involved, I have been a tad lucky. Crossing the bridge over Clearways at Brands when Phil Read and Minter passed under me on those fabulous Gilera 4s. Listening to them coming up the gears then down towards Clearways was something else. I was also at Oulton Park in 1962 was it when the great Geoff Duke demonstrated the Gilera 4. That led to the revival of those then five year old Grand Prix Gileras racing again. Thanks to Geoff for that. Never saw Bob McIntyre in action... the first to average over 100mph on the TT Course ... on one of those Gilera 4s with fully enclosed fairing. At the 1964 Mallory Race of the Year, me and a few friends treated ourselves to some paddock passes. Again crossing the foot bridge to enter the paddock, Agostini on the MV3 and Hailwood on the SIX passed underneath us at speed during pre-race practice. I also remember Minter lifting the rear wheel of his Gilera and bashing it down complaining about the lack of damping by the old dampers. I can top that, Luigi Taveri on the works Honda 125 ran over my foot. Magic stuff. The race machines today may be more powerful and technically light years ahead of that old technology but, none of them make anywhere such fabulous sounds. Some of that timing was not luck. Carefully arranged that "Timing"...
I used to marshal at Brands back in the day and when the 500cc race came Hailwood chose to ride the 297/6 rather than the 500/4 (affectionately know as the Camel). His main opponent on the day was Ago riding the MV 500/3. Hailwood won the race by over half a lap from Ago. Those 250 and 297 sixes were something else.
Believe or not Hailwood actually hated the 500 because of the way it handled much preferring the 297 the only reason he rode the 500 was because of Redman crashing and not being able to ride it'
@@bloodknottrevelian3396 Yes but here is the puzzle Redman was the first european to ride it and he reckoned it was perfect they had one each to ride and Jim said try mine and again Mike did not like it hence the reason he said Jim you do the 500 championship I will do the 350 Mike even got Reynolds to make a frame but at the moment I do not know how that worked out.
@@xvdd1 I suppose it's a bit like MotoGP today. Some riders can ride the Ducati and some clearly can't. Dovi makes a pretty good job of it but the only guy that could really ride it was Stoner?
+forrest ‘trees’ We could allways dream! Imagine a bike that handles as well as the CBR. But with a 6 cilinder engine that sounds like this. Call it the Sabre and watch the money flow Honda, mark my words!
+luuk341 in finding profection look back. as hind sight is always 20/20. this is what i hear, a vfr is what i see. and the reliability of my first cb750 is the love that i will never likely beat.
Only poetry can help us to understand the mythical proportions of this bike * ages away from now when we all drive electric she will be remembered as the dirty girl who was the greatest singer ever
In about 1999 or maybe 2000 Jim Redman rode a few demo laps of Brands Hatch on a Honda 6. It was absolutely deafening, but something I have never forgotten. Incredible sound
This makes the hair on my neck stand up and gives me goosebumps! Does anyone know how long such an engine would have survived in racing conditions? Unbelievably advanced engine for the time!
If Honda had the technology then that they do today, this could have been built like a F1 engine with pneumatic valve springs, adjustable valvetrain, water-cooling, teflon-coated pistons, electronic engine management (including digital fuel injection), and be making 100+ hp. at 24,000 rpm. Mounted in a good stiff aluminum box section frame with modern suspension, it would be a stiff contender for the 500 cc. class! It's amazing how well these things ran with early 60's technology, 6 finicky carbs, normal valve springs, points ignition, lousy suspension, and drum brakes. Truly a marvel of engineering for the time!!😁👍👍
@@joepkortekaas8813 No, there was no electronic ignition in 1967. It had an impulse magneto mounted on top of the engine behind the carburetors. 3 sets of breaker points fired 3 coils which supplied high voltage to 2 plugs each. Both plugs fired simultaneously, but one cylinder was on the compression stroke, while the other was on the exhaust stroke. They carried this design on to the production 4 cylinders a few years later, although they moved to battery ignition by then. I bought a CB350F in 1974 and it used the same system (2 coils and 2 sets of point for 4 cylinders).🙂 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4SkyAnVIChE.html (that's the RC166 -250, but same design) Notice later on in that video where they put the magneto in a special fixture to set the timing of each set of points. Check this out when you get a minute: www.motorcyclistonline.com/honda-rc174-rc-reborn/
@@danw1955 You're quite right - the youtube video shows breaker points. Problem is, that I have original Honda publications, and one of them says magnet, the other one magnet/transistor. In my book "Honda's Four-Stroke Race History" I've gone for transistor, maybe I should have said "magnet/transistor. In the Bruce Beale story I don't see any evidence of either, but the 297 six of my late friend Jan Keessen (who bought his bike from Rodney Gould, leading to long lawsuits by Pauline Hailwood, in which I was an expert witness) had definitely transistor ignition, so maybe both systems were used - the RC166N at the same time as the RC174 had transistor ignition, as had the 1965 RC115 50 cc twin., and the 1965 4RC146 125 cc four. I find the whole thing, as so many things Honda, often quite confusing! When I was at the Honda restoration workshop, I should have asked Ozaki-san, but I wasn't thinking about writing a book then!
I couldn't believe the 250 when I heard it run at Del Mar California once. No words for the sound really. I still want one or an early race Honda that will scream it's brains out. Closest I came was a 305 Scrambler with a 250cc head and roller cam with X'd gearbox. At 13,000 rpm the rings quit sealing and it would smoke. Power probably peaked at 12,000? Forks on that bike were raked out 7 degrees. Last saw it on the freeway near San Diego California many years ago. Anyone still got it?? Thanks, Paul in Thailand
If I remember correctly this machine won the 350 cc Race plus the 500cc and I belive a larger cc Race with Mike Hailwood all on the same bike, It was the end on the line for the One Cylinder Norton !
Not quite sure which I prefer the RC166 or the RC174 , they both sound ear shatteringly marvellous when accelerated hard what a melodious screech on song! Those were the days!
Having seen Mike ride the Hondas a few times when I marshalled at Brands and Snetterton I was gutted that my first year on the Island was 68 and No SMBH.
there is no one there beat honda in innovative technology. they have tried all the things of to see what works best.. and we should probably note that the in-line 4 is the best engine, cheap to produce, good parformance and durability but the old honda 2 stroke race engines is some of the greatest engine ever made this 6cylinder 4stroke 350 cc is also one of the most respected engines ever made in the raceing scene.. sad there just used it for 2 years,, im a big honda fan,, i also like other japanese brands, yamaha, kawasaki, and a few suzuki models.. but honda is and will always be in my heart.. honda is the best, there made the best cars in durability.. and there make the best bikes also in durability... honda 4 ever.. honda focused on small economical cars. but if they instead focused on racing cars .. so did Ferrari and Lamborghini got a real strong opponent
Honda did build F1 cars back in the 60's and again in 2004 till 2008 when they pulled out of F1 and Braun GP bought the team , Jenson button's car was practically a honda chassis with a mercedes engine ..
I like to think about all the little tiny pistons and valves and rods and cams, etc., all exquisitely machined... just the sheer purposeful mechanical beauty of it, jewel-like yet subject to tremendous violence via the thousands of small explosions within it's 6 cylinders occuring every minute. Operatic. Is it my imagination or does this seem to have a markedly deeper timbre than the 250? It is slightly larger, of course, but it sounds...different. To the point: Is this an enlarged 250 or a new engine?
+romahahaha Not even close, it has just under 70HP. Doesn't matter, this is an amazing bit of history. And don't forget it's only 350cc. Decent power even today from that kind of capacity.
The RC174 is marginally over 297cc and at 66 BHP makes more power per cc than an F1 car (particularly a Honda one!). Weight is only 113 Kg so its still properly quick... But, a modern 600 has nearer to 130 BHP despite being as heavy as a tank by comparison, so... no.
