Honda RC delayed

HRC Executive Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto has said that Honda's customer MotoGP machine, the Honda RC, is a month behind schedule.

Honda will offer the machine to private teams in 2014 but the machine is yet to be track tested as Honda are still putting the engine through its paces on the dyno. The RC won't be quite the same motorcycle as the factory RCV machines; they won't be fitted with pneumatic valves and gearboxes will be conventional as opposed to the ‘seamless’ systems of Repsol Honda Team. The bikes will come with Showa suspension as standard.

MotoGP riders Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista are testing new parts for the RC, including the new Nissin brakes and Showa suspension.

Perhaps a clue to the RC's delay is in Nakamoto's comment on Bradl's progress this season: "He has fallen a lot and perhaps too much. We will work with the LCR Honda MotoGP team to ensure a change in fortunes and help him finish races.”

Honda's RC road bike will be running to a different schedule and it's doubtful the delay in the MotoGP schedule will affect it.