Video: ELF R, of record
2024 Author: Nicholas Abramson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-10 16:57
In 1986, with H. Auriol, E. Courly and C. de Liard at the controls, this ELF-R (record erre) reached top speed of 321 Km / h on the Nardó ring in Italy. During the 1970s and 1980s ELF was synonymous with revolutionary chassis and suspension motorcycles, and was also synonymous with bikes plagued with technical problems and unreliability.
ELF had a long history in the development of competition engines, starting with Renault in the 1970s when the French brand began developing the turbocharged engines that would make its Endurance and Formula 1 cars famous. its benefits and also because of the delicacy of its mechanics.
The alma mater of the ELF project was Andre de Cortanze, the engineer who developed Renault turbo engines. Cortanze was passionate about motorcycles and had a head full of ideas that he wanted to apply to racing motorcycles. Starting from the base of a Yamaha TZ750 engine, the construction of the ELF-X (X for experimental) that was presented unfinished at the Paris Motor Show in 1978. The bike already presented what would be its distinctive in subsequent years; single-sided swingarm and double front swingarm replacing the conventional fork. In addition, the chassis had almost completely disappeared since the suspended elements were anchored directly to the engine. The latter was his main problem, since the engine was not designed as a resistant element and it began to give problems almost immediately.
In any case, it served to impress the all-powerful Honda bosses, who signed an agreement with the French oil company and Andre de Cortanze himself. The following year the FAITH (for endurance) at the Bol d'Or. Powered by a Honda 1000 RSC engine, the bike raced the World Endurance Championship from 81 to 83, reaching its best position in the TT1 endurance race at Mugelo. But its history was once again plagued with problems, now because of the constantly failing chassis. ELF continued in the competition when the TT1 World Championship with 1000cc prototypes was canceled, moving to the 500cc Grand Prix. In this new adventure they continued hand in hand with Honda, but now with two-stroke engines, the famous three-cylinder RS, and without the help of Andre de Cortanze, who was pushed aside by his new contract with Peugeot.
Thanks to these experiments he arrived in 1987 Honda's first single-sided swingarmI think the RC-30, but the other innovations of the ELF project still remain in the drawer of patents that Honda has in its offices. Anyway, thanks to this project we saw for the first time the importance that a chassis and suspensions really have on a motorcycle, whether it is a competition or not.
Recommended:
Raúl Fernández puts more pressure on Remy Gardner with another record pole position in the Algarve
Raúl Fernández is going at a different speed in Portimao. The Spanish rider has won both races that he has contested on the Portuguese track, and everything indicates that
Ducati closes the third quarter of 2021 with a record: their sales have increased by 25% compared to the same period of 2019
Ducati has just finished an extremely positive third quarter of the year with total sales of 49,693 units spread throughout the world
Spectacular! Pecco Bagnaia dominates in Misano breaking the circuit record with a stratospheric time of 1.31.065
If the rain was the protagonist in Friday's training sessions, the sun and falls were in the classification on Saturday. A weather that made
New record for Marc Márquez's record
Marc Márquez also becomes the youngest rider to lead the MotoGP classification alone, taking the record away from Jorge Lorenzo
Elf product range presentation for 2013 and races with Wayne Gardner
Presentation of the new range of Elf products for 2013, which includes a new specific oil for twin-cylinder engines, MOTO4 Twin Tech