Description
National Motorcycle Museum | Solihull, West Midlands
Viewing: Tues 21st July from 1pm
Auction: Wed 22th July from 10am
Location: National Motorcycle Museum, Coventry Road, Bickenhill, Solihull B92 0EJ
Registration No: P741 HAL
Frame No: JH2RC30960M-000034
MOT: T. B. A.
A rare Spanish market example (1 of circa 171)
Current family ownership since 1997
Highly original and well preserved
Among the greatest homologation specials yet made
Held in 1988, the inaugural Superbike World Championship was intended to be more privateer friendly than the contemporary 500 World Championship or Tourist Trophy Formula 1 series where works prototypes ruled supreme. Blurring the lines between a production superbike and a factory racer, Honda launched its VFR750R contender (codenamed RC30) at the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show. Designed with motorcycle racing’s newest class in mind, it boasted an extravagant and very single-minded specification. Displacing 748cc, its V4 DOHC engine featured a 360-degree ‘big bang’ crankshaft, titanium conrods, magnesium cam covers, minimal piston rings (one compression, one scraper) and twin radiators. Developing some 112bhp at 11, 500rpm and allied to a six-speed gearbox viâ a slipper clutch, the result was class-leading (and race-winning) 150mph-plus performance. Notably compact, the Honda’s aluminium beam frame was fitted with fully adjustable Showa suspension, quick release front forks and a single-sided Pro-Arm rear. The latter was based on an ELF design and facilitated rapid wheel changes. Generously sized discs all round (two fore, one aft) meant that braking was a strength too. An exotic creation even by homologation special standards, the RC30 was priced at $15, 000 in America and £8, 995 on these shores (the equivalent to almost £27, 000 today). Responsible for winning the 1988 and 1989 Superbike World Championships with Fred Merkel aboard, it was also ridden by the likes of Carl Fogarty, James Whitham, Roger Burnett, Terry Rymer, Niall Mackenzie, Steve Hislop, Joey Dunlop and Phillip McCallen (all of whom contributed to its silverware haul). Total production is thought to have amounted to just 4, 782 machines split between eighteen markets. The best superbike money could buy when launched, the RC30 now enjoys legendary status.
The old V5 and V5C Registration Documents which accompany frame 000034 state ‘New at First Registration’ and ‘Declared New at First Registration’ respectively. The vendor understands the Honda to have been unused prior to his late uncle acquiring it from AFT Ltd of Tamworth for £12, 000 on April 1st 1997. Granted its current ‘P741 HAL’ number plate that same day, the RC30 boasts an odometer reading of just 802 miles. Known to have been built for the Spanish market during the 1989 model year, AFT’s proprietor, Andy Fraser, apparently remembers the motorcycle still being wrapped in protective plastic when he bought it from an endurance racing team some eight years later. Not ridden on the public road in two decades, the Honda will require careful recommissioning. Surviving RC30s are rarely this well-preserved or offered from such long-term family ownership.
** Bidding will take place live at the venue, online via our H&H website, by telephone and commission - T&Cs apply**
Entry by catalogue and can be purchased for £20 (admits 2 people)
