~ Auto Buzz ~: UP CLOSE: Honda RC213V Our Technical Editor relishes a close look at Honda’s 2015 MotoGP machine.

Honda has released photos of its 2015 RC213V MotoGP race bike, powered as before by a 1000cc V-4 engine, probably with a 90-degree V-angle. Like good cigars, these machines are fully packed—there is no wasted volume anywhere, and you can’t see through the bike as you could through bikes of the 1960s and 1970s. While powerful streetbikes like Suzuki’s Hayabusa frankly admit they are “street dragsters” by having extended wheelbases, roaracing’s need for quick, agile turn-in keeps wheelbase short. As Valentino Rossi once said, “The wheelie is the enemy.” The higher the front wheel rises, the less acceleration it takes to lift it higher still, in a vicious circle that can get away from the unwary. Maximum acceleration occurs with the front wheel barely off the pavement, and electronic anti-wheelie systems seek to keep it there.

Only when you see one of these engines out of the chassis do you realize how massive they are, from the big sealed resonant airbox on top, down through the mass of camboxes, cylinder banks, crankcase, and gearbox, down to a deep “dagger sump” on one side, which is necessary to assure that only oil can be taken up by the oil pump—no air, no foam. A slug of air is death to the superfinished plain bearings that support the rotating parts in these 16,000-rpm, 250-hp engines. Why is the sump on one side? To leave room for the pipes from the front cylinders to pass under the engine, next to the sump. I like to explore such pictures without haste, hoping to see something interesting. We can see there is a shifter switch in the linkage on the left; even with Honda’s well-developed “seamless” transmission, the system needs to know that the rider is making a gear change. In this case, seamless means that an upshift engages the next higher gear without first disengaging the previous gear. In a seamless box, the higher speed of the new ratio drives the old ratio backward, which through pawls and rods kicks it out of engagement before the gearbox can lock up. Yes, we’d like to see the parts laid out on a table, but such gearboxes are serviced in closed facilities by designated factory personnel only. Turn up the collar of your trenchcoat, pull down the brim of your fedora in front, feel for your Walther P38, and revel in secrecy.

Because riding a motorcycle requires so much concentration, the rider cockpit stays simple. There’s a little rectangular screen on the dash, next to the 17,000-rpm tach, and there are also off/run switches and a mode switch. The brake lever guard prevents even light contact with another bike from applying the front brake and downing the rider. Just as 40 years ago, two bindings of safety wire make sure rubber handgrips stay put. Up front, the flattened-oval air intake seeks to recover as much energy as possible from the airstream; at 225 mph, there’s a potential for a 6 percent power gain. Denied the luxury of a wheelie-resisting longer wheelbase, MotoGP machines have achieved similar effect by moving their riders radically forward. The short windscreen is barely there, allowing the rider to look down at the steering head, and the butt-stop of his seat is far ahead of the rear axle.

Last year, 340mm carbon-carbon brake discs were required on certain circuits because hard braking with the grip of Bridgestone’s remarkable front tire could push disc temperature over 1,000-degrees C. With the previous 320mm discs, the calipers could be slid off with the discs in place. With the 340s, the discs had to be unbolted to allow caliper removal. Beautiful Brembo calipers weigh one pound each. A single tiny steel disc and small caliper are provided for the rear wheel—not so much for extra braking power, but for their usefulness in partially compressing the rear suspension. The lower the bike’s center of mass, the harder the rider can brake without lifting the rear wheel (yes, there is an electronic system to help control this as well). Some riders use the rear brake more than this, and they are given more robust hardware.

Who could know, looking at the enigmatic perfection of finish of chassis and swingarm, that they are just the latest in a series of intensive experiments, aimed at using chassis flexure to improve tire hook-up on un-smooth corners? If the past is a guide, these perfect parts will shortly be replaced by others—looking just as perfect but better-adapted to 2015 tires. All is change.

Looking from the left rear, we see the two pipes of the rear cylinder bank curl and join into a megaphone up in the seatback. Honda first made such curled-up seatback pipes for Freddy Spencer’s Triple. There is a screen over the meg to prevent foreign objects from possibly being ingested, and to contain engine parts (Heaven forbid, but in the past, valves and other bits have showered onto the track). The beautiful colors on the titanium surfaces come from interference filtering effects in an oxide layer. The pipes occupy the right side, while an extension of the fuel tank occupies the left. As I said, space is at a premium. When engines were given sealed airboxes, the fuel that formerly occupied that high, forward volume had to go elsewhere. That “where” was downward and to the rear, under the seat, in turn forcing suspension linkage to retreat under the massive, boxy swingarm.

In the views of the front wheel you can see there is a wheel speed sensor on both sides, just below the fork’s bottom lug. Better safe than sorry—remember last year, when a wire was knocked loose from Pedrosa’s rear wheel-speed sensor? In the photo of the right front, you can see bits of the front suspension travel sensor apparatus just behind the Öhlins gold hard-coated fork tube. The front fender extends to the sides to protect the hard coating from stone nicks which, sawing up and down through the fork seals, might release damping oil. With my first liquid-cooled bike of the 1970s, I learned the same lesson Honda demonstrates here—that a wire screen over each radiator (see the giant area it takes to cool such beasts!) prevents the steady rattle of track debris thrown up by the sticky front tire from hammering significant amounts of thin radiator core shut. These are objects of great beauty in detail. I love them.