RUMI HONDA RC30
World Superbike title winner of Fred Merkel.
The text read: “nip round to my brother’s garage; he’s just about to fettle Fred Merkel’s Honda RC30 for Goodwood”. SMS messages like that tend to grab your attention. Fellow villager, bike-mad enthusiast and occasional wind-up merchant Andy Kirkwood does like the odd bit of leg pulling now and again but this time he assured me he wasn’t setting me up. Queue the raising of the roller shutter door by way of a roll on the drums and there it was, the real deal. If there’s one thing our classic world has yet to be able to replicate it is good, old fashioned, genuine patina. It’s those marks, snags, cracks and the like that delineate the real deal from the regimented replica. And the Honda RC30 in camera has patina by the shovelful; everywhere you look there’s evidence that this is a bike that’s been used in anger in the heat of competition. You can even spot the scars on the lower fairing either side of the radiator where the front wheel has rubbed against it under fierce braking. And this bike is genuinely not just any old competition machine either but arguably
one of the most significant in recent times. The frankly strange and curious colour scheme of the machine defines it as the very bike that won the inaugural World Superbike Series piloted by Fred Merkel (more on whom see page 34-on). Oscar Rumi sponsored the bike and ran the team and RC30 together, made history by winning the first two titles in 1988 and 1989. After winning the championships Oscar Rumi gave the bike to Roberto Partinano, a well-known racer and journalist, who kept the RC30 for a few years before passing it on to rally driver Gilberto Sandretto who, along with co-driver Corrado Pattono, had won the truck category of the Rallye des Pharaoh back in 2001. Still unrestored, the bike then went to yet another petrol-head when Sandretto consigned it to a Bonhams auction in Paris in 2013. Won by former bike journalist Mark Revelle the Merkel/rumi Honda then travelled to the western fringes of rural East Anglia. Its new owner had planned to ride the bike in parades such as The Festival of a Thousand Bikes, Goodwood etc. following a full restoration. As is the way of these things the bike never got touched and eventually was sold to its latest owner, Andy Kirkwood, who coincidentally also happened to have been bidding on the self-same bike at the Paris auction but lost out. From late 2015 onwards the Honda held pride of place at Andy’s office while he tried to work out what to do with it. He wanted the bike to be appreciated, enjoyed and recognised for what it was, a truly significant piece of racing history. A plan was hatched to get the bike to the 2017 Biker’s Classic at Spa, Belgium. Brother Steve Kirkwood fitted a new water pump and carb kit to the Honda which soon had the engine up and running ready for its historic rebirth… which actually went rather flat sadly. Half a lap in, it seized its brakes which rather took the edge off the weekend! Not wishing to take any chances whatsoever the entire braking system was dispatched to Brembo who held stocks of the unusual sized seals needed to overhaul the calipers. Brembo also recommended the fitment of a more modern front master cylinder which remains one of the few deviations from the original build. There have been two other significant changes from 1988 specification. Firstly the fitment of modern Pirelli tyres, secondly the cylinder heads appear to have been changed from whatever was fitted by the Rumi mechanics in the day, to what looks like standard RC30 heads; even in this format the bike still delivers some 120bhp at the rear wheel. With everything now at last sorted and sussed, Fred Merkel’s Honda finally took to the track in anger late in 2017 at Donington Park where Andy and his brother gave it the beans. The consensus is that, in its current state, it feels like an extremely well-mannered yet pokey road bike. So far so good but where was this famous RC30 going from here? Former track and TT racer Andy decided that there was far too much history embedded in this bike and elected to keep it as is and as close to the way Fred Merkel raced it as humanly possible. Brother Steve again rehomed the bike in his garage along with his own machines and gave it a thorough going over although nothing serious needed to doing. The early carbon fibre seat/tail piece needed just a little specialist repair to strengthen it. With no sub-frame beneath and years of being heavily pushed to bump start the engine, cracks were appearing in the irreplaceable tail. With the carbon-fibre suitably fettled an electric roller starter was promptly acquired which makes firing up the bike significantly easier and preserves one rather rare piece of plastic. With the carbs cleaned and set up once again the bike readily bellowed into life through its original Arrow race can. Look hard and you can see the Arrow name
embossed on the can beneath the decal; period shots show the very same set-up. From there on a plan was concocted to get the bike to the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed; when the organisers saw shots of the bike they were extremely keen to have it blasting up the hill. And when they then realised who’d be riding it they almost ripped owner Andy’s arm off. He just so happens to sponsor TT winner Peter Hickman. Somewhat down on power from Hicky’s normal BMW ride, he nonetheless did the bike and its owner proud – firing it up Goodwood’s hill with the front wheel as often as not pawing the air much to the delight of the crowd. Partnered in Goodwood’s pit with a Kawasaki GPZ 750 and a super rare Kawasaki KR500 fettled by Nigel Everett, the RC30 along with Hicky were focal points for the entire event. Looking ahead Andy says: “It’s pointless hiding the bike away, I want race fans to see it, hear it and enjoy it still looking just like it did when Fred Merkel rode it to victory back in 1988.” Sounds like a fine plan to us!