Honda's 2008 gamble - EXCLUSIVE.

By Peter McLaren

Despite finishing second in the 2007 world championship with Dani Pedrosa, Honda is gambling on an all-new RC212V to try and regain the MotoGP crown - but at present it's slower than last year's bike.

The safe option would have been to tweak the 2007 machine but, with only two wins last season, Honda felt that a bold engineering step was needed to provide a performance leap.

So, despite gaining significant ground on Casey Stoner and Ducati during this season, and winning the Valencian season finale, HRC has unveiled a radically redesigned 2008 RC212V - featuring a new engine, with pneumatic valve springs, plus a new chassis and exhaust system.

"From the start of this year, one project team got on with developing this year's bike and another project team got on with the new [2008] bike," HRC sporting director Chris Herring told Crash.net. "Obviously the [2008] project team watched what was going on with the '07 and learnt lessons, but the new bike is completely different. It's very, very early days."

Such a big step means starting almost from scratch, since little of the 2007 data can be transferred directly across and, as such, the performance of the new bike is currently well below that of the old.

"I'd say the '08 is about one second off [the '07]... at least," Nicky Hayden told Crash.net after the final day of testing at Sepang, where he said goodbye to the '07 bike with a record-shattering qualifying-tyre lap.

The 2008's biggest performance limiter at present is its engine, which - despite the new valve system - is down on power and has a harsh delivery. That not only limits the lap time but is delaying chassis development.

"Right now the engine is quite a way down and it's really hard to tell what the chassis is going to be able to do until we get more power in it, because then it's going to react differently," explained Hayden. "At the moment the power is not smooth and overall is just really slow.

"It's still too early [to judge the impact of the pneumatic valves], we'll have to see in the future," added the 2006 world champion. "We've got a lot of work to do with the '08, but we're going about it in the right way. We've got a base that's not too bad."

Herring said that teething issues with the new engine were to be expected, but is confident that the benefits of the air-operated valves, as already used by Kawasaki and Suzuki, will soon be seen.

"The team is new to this type of [pneumatic valve] engine," he said. "It's just technology moving forward. Honda, in years gone by, has had some projects that have worked and some that haven't. But, either way, the engineers have learnt from it. I'm sure all the research was done in advance to prove the benefits of the pneumatic valves.

"I think, coming here to a fast circuit, we thought it was going to be a bit more of a struggle, because after the Valencia test it was clear that the new engine needed a lot more work, but this test has just got better from the first morning. And the good thing about a completely new machine is that, as you saw from the start of this year to the end of this year, there's lots of scope for development.

"It's obviously a long way off the first race at the moment so there's an awful lot of work still to go into the new bike - and probably one of the biggest improvements expected will come from Michelin," Herring revealed. "They are really, really putting a big effort in - a lot more staff and a lot more tyre options to test."

Indeed, with Honda's two main MotoGP rivals - Stoner and Yamaha's Valentino Rossi - both using Bridgestone tyres next year, the Repsol team has the chance to gain a grip advantage... providing Michelin can respond to the Japanese brand.

"It's definitely an opportunity," confirmed Herring. "The question is whether or not Michelin is willing to react to losing the title to Bridgestone, it's as simple as that - and it's clear that they are. It's only ever going to move forward and get better and better now. Michelin are a big company, they have a lot of expertise, they have Formula One experience from a few years ago and engineers that know exactly what they are doing. It will definitely, definitely improve."

But did Honda, which was also considering a move to Bridgestone, ever need reassurance from Michelin?

"I suppose a little bit, but at the end of the day you've also got to be professional," Herring replied. "They are a company that are not just here to make numbers up. They want to win, the same as Honda."

Repsol Honda will now take its new RC212V to the last 2007 test, at Jerez from November 27-29, where Pedrosa will join Hayden in development of the new machine.