Nowadays the MotoGP grid is predetermined in advance and the riders are stars. But it was not always like this, and the 500 pilots were divided between the officers and the private ones, but truly private ones. We talked about how at the end of the ’70s and during much of the ’80s, they were still driving their van to the circuit on duty without even knowing if they would be allowed to go out on the track.
The organization of the championship was not in the hands of Dorna, the IRTA did not exist and the permanent places were not established in the same way as now. So, sometimes, they traveled to the track on duty without being sure of being able to go out and compete. They also did it with machines that, in most cases, they themselves prepared, repaired, transported…
The problem is that at the beginning of the eighties, those motorcycles were quite outdated. Motorcycles from the late seventies at a time when changes were being extraordinarily rapid, and there was an evolution that meant they had no chance.
Then Honda arrived with its RS500R, the bike with which Honda put aside the nightmare that was the four-stroke NR500 and got serious with the two-strokes. In its second year, in the hands of Freddie Spencer, the RS500R with a three-cylinder engine took the title before Honda moved on to the NSR500.
The Honda RS500R is a historic motorcycle in many ways
There was born its second facet, the most important, that of becoming a relatively economical, accessible and competitive motorcycle for private riders. From the first units in 1983, when they began to arrive, until the last one manufactured in 1986, there were updates to the chassis and engine to reach the 130 HP of the latest model, which was on the track until the end of the decade in the hands of different drivers. Then the ROC and Harris Yamaha arrived, and with an obsolete RS500R the adventure came to an end.
But it was a bike that saved the championship, because without it the grids would have diminished as they did after they disappeared. And in the ’80s there were grids of 500 with more than 30 drivers.
The fact is that a piece of this history can be yours thanks to the auction of a 1985 unit, which was more competitive than the ’83 one, but less than the ’86 one and which is decorated in honor of Joey Dunlop wearing the legendary decoration he wore in the NW200. And the RS500R then continued to bounce around the world on tracks, and in road races in even more private hands.
On this occasion, this almost unique and restored piece will go up for auction at the end of the month, specifically on October 29 at 10:00. Although it is an auction, it is expected that the amount raised will be between 40,000 and 50,000 pounds, which at the current exchange rate is an approximate range of between 46,000 and 57,500 euros. A lower quantity than the last 500 that we have seen auctioned or for sale.
