Oh, look. It's a new Honda. Bet it's a nice, sensible, reliable, hatchback with... Bloody hellfire, what's that?
That is the Honda Project 2&4, a concept car set to debut at next week's Frankfurt Motor Show. It's the product of an internal Honda design competition, which was supposed to draw on the best of Honda's twin traditions as a bike maker and a car maker.
Rather like a mental Japanese Ariel Atom, the 2&4 weighs a tiny 405kg and has a 210hp, 118Nm bike engine. Not just any bike engine though - this is the RC213V 999cc V4 four-stroke engine from Honda's Moto GP bikes, a proper racing engine, retuned for road use. It revs to a ludicrous 14,000rpm and peak power is delivered at 13,000rpm. Peak torque is at a hilarious 10,500rpm, and all of that is channelled through a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox.
The bodywork, what there is of it, is inspired by Honda's 1965 RA272 Formula One car, although we don't remember the 272 having its driver set off to one side, with no bodywork around the seat. Could be an idea to liven up a dull season of F1 though... Honda reckons the whole thing "provides the freedom of a motorcycle and the manoeuvrability of a car." We reckon it should just get on with providing us with a production version. That's incredibly unlikely to happen though. Imagine the product liability wrangling over that dangling, offset seat...
Neil Briscoe - 8 Sep 2015