Australian Motorcyclist — January 2018

TECHNICAL

feeds the gearbox and clutch, plus the
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oil cooler.
The ignition system on the RC30
was high tech and expensive to
produce in its day, although it’s
unremarkable now. A CDI system
with a pre-programmed ignition
curve was used and the fuelling
system was via four 38mm Keihin
downdraft CV carburettors, giving
smoother throttle operation than
flat slides. It is a non-pressurised
gravity feed system filtered via a
paper filter and relatively small
airbox by today’s standards.
One component that seemed to
skip the no expense spared claims
is the exhaust system. In order to
meet stringent emission and noise
regulations, the heavy and tortuously
routed system knocks a fair bit
of top end out of the bike. But if
you had a stock bike, you’d never
de-devalue it with an aftermarket
system (despite our photo bike

having one) unless you got your

hands on a genuine HRC titanium

system – but that’s a dream!

The WEC and F1 derived

handmade aluminium frame and

RVF750 inspired Elf designed

single-sided swingarm were

incredibly compact and lightweight.

Even by today’s standards, the RC30

is tiny. Smaller than most 250s and

certainly a lot more compact than a

modern 750.

With Showa conventional forks

that were the top spec available

in their day, complete with quick-

release axle mounts a la World

Endurance – and a trick fully

adjustable Showa shock with HRC

engineered linkages, the RC30 was a

seriously well-handling motorcycle.

In fact, Wayne Gardner still rates

the bike as the best steering

motorcycle he has ever raced. “It’s

The bad

‡ Price

‡ Many examples raced

and trashed

‡ Rear tyre availability

The good

‡ Increasing value

‡ Best steering in history

‡ Glorious V4 big

bang HRC engine

almost as good as the endurance

racers I won the 8 Hour on back

in the day”.

The RC30 won the inaugural WSBK

Championship, just as Sochiro Honda

predicted, in the hands of Fred

Merkel, backed up the following year

with another win by the same talented

rider. That same year Carl Fogarty

won the World F1 Championship on

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ever 120mph lap of the Isle Of Man

TT course. From there the bike went

on to win multiple championships

around the world, including here in the

hands of Mal Campbell, Troy Corser

and Anthony Gobert. A legend was

born and the RC30 to this day is the

most successful world championship

winning four-cylinder Japanese

motorcycle of all time and one of

the most expensive and collectable

Japanese bikes ever made. D