Page 6 - Sound Rides June 2022

I love going to Martyn and Helen’s for casserole nights in winter, as they have a beautiful warm fire to
sit around. We were lucky enough to get a front row seat and even though it was a small gathering,
the food was delicious. I also made a crock pot full of mulled wine which was shared around and then
out came the port. Wow, it was a very pleasant night and by 10pm we were home and tucked up in
bed ready for the Breakfast Club ride in the morning. Martyn and Helen are having a wine and cheese
night at the end of June, so if you haven’t been before, try and get there for that, you will be well
looked after.
Thanks to everyone who joined us.
Derek and Julie

Here's How (And Why) Honda's Oval

Piston Bikes Worked

To get a four-stroke, four-cylinder engine to make the kind of
power that the two-stroke competition was generating with
ease, Honda had to think differently. Increased airflow was a
must, so the engineers started thinking about the valves. If
you could get more airflow, more combustion, and higher revs,
that engine could theoretically generate the kind of power
needed. That’s how Honda’s engineers came up with a design
involving eight valves per cylinder. Naturally, those eight
valves all need room to operate, which is how the piston
came to be oval-shaped. Furthermore, the new piston design
and high revs expected required two connecting rods per
piston, as well-not to mention a complete rethink of the piston
ring design. To make a long, incredibly weird story short, each
problem Honda tackled seemed to lead to a number
of other problems, all of which the team also had to tackle if it
was going to successfully create its newest racing power-
plant. The result of all this hard work was the NR 500, which
Honda finally ended up racing in 1979. Unfortunately for the
team, it didn’t perform as well as they’d hoped, only managing
to eke out two race wins the entire season.
From: Ride apart by Janaki Jitchotvisut

The truly

amazing,

oval piston

Honda NR.

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