HONDA CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE ‘THE BIGGEST UNKNOWN ON THE GRID’

2024 Riders and teams

Tommy Bridewell Honda Racing UK Andrew Irwin MasterMac Honda Dean Harrison Honda Racing UK Lee Jackson MasterMac Honda Charlie Nesbitt MasterMac Honda Franco Bourne Rapid Honda

The jury is out for me with the new bike but Honda deserve to do well as they are a huge part of the championship. I also like Tommy Bridewell and Andrew Irwin because they are both good lads.

One of the main differences with the new bike is that it uses split throttle bodies.

There isn’t much wrong with the chassis and it’s always been a good handling bike – that goes for all the Fireblades over the last 30 years.

Saying that, I can’t really work out why it hasn’t been that competitive in WSBK or BSB. Honda know where the engine needs to be and how the bike needs to be balanced and if you look at British Superstock, it is THE bike to be on. So it’s difficult to see why it’s not working in BSB.

For me it’s the biggest unknown on the grid. It has a great engine and it’s fast but I do think it’s probably a bit like the BMW in terms of its delivery. There might be a bit of an issue with that. But it has the power, not through

Billy McConnell C&L Fairburn/Look Forward Racing Honda

Jamie Van Sikkelerus TAG Honda Fraser Rogers TAG Honda Alex Olsen Cumins by

Team IWR Honda doing anything clever like variable valve timing instead they’ve addressed every single part of that engine, angle of intakes, valve material etc, etc.

I hope it works for Honda because I never thought I’d see the day when a multiple MotoGP world champion was paying his way out of his HRC contract to ride a secondhand Ducati.

Honda’s mentality is build a road bike and then turn it into a race bike, while Ducati look at the regs, build a race bike and put some lights on it. So you do wonder sometimes whether building a really good road bike like Honda and BMW can actually detract from it becoming a winning race bike.