Description
15th Sep, 2024 10:00
The September 2024 Auction
1998 Honda NSR500V
Raced in Moto GP 2000 and 1998 TT
Estimate
£90, 000 - £110, 000
Buyer's premium: 15. 00%
Lot details
Registration: N/ A
Frame: 81029
Odometer: N/ A
MOT: N/ A
500cc
V-Twin water cooled V2 motor
Fully restored
Never crashed
Perfect example
Beautiful paintwork
Vimto decals
Fully recommissioned
Perfect working order
Signed by John McGuiness
Raced by John McGuiness 1998 TT
Raced at Donnington Moto GP 2000
Road by John McGuiness at Goodwood Festival of Speed 2023
Long term ownership of 20 years by current vendor
Spare wheels, spare fairings, stock NSR exhaust system
Tyre warmers
Barbon breaks
Lots of spares, sprockets etc.
When Grand Prix racing resumed after WWII, the grids were made up of a few riders on factory bikes plus a lot of privateers, all going from event to event, earning the series the nickname Continental Circus. If you had a competitive machine, could get an entry, and were good enough to qualify in practice, you could race! As the sport matured and became more competitive, riders needed more sponsorship but the basic ‘if you’re fast enough, you can race’ proposition remained. By the mid-1990s the supply of competitive 500cc GP machines available for purchase was drying up. Although factories were leasing bikes to well-financed teams, this choice eliminated selling it off at the season’s end to recoup some of the expense. Yamaha responded by offering engines only but Honda decided to offer complete motorcycles. Encouraged by the performance of Loris Reggiani on Aprilia’s V-Twin, Honda decided to build the RS500V V-Twin. Grand Prix rules allowed Twins to have a lower minimum weight compared to Fours, plus the cost of running a Twin was less. A prototype was raced in 1996 by Tadayuki Okada, and a year later Honda produced machines ready for purchase at an eye-popping price (in 1997) of over £100, 000! However, in the world of GP racing with well-funded teams, this price did not deter buyers.
