At Bonhams, a unique piece of motorsport history will soon be under the auction hammer: the 1988 Honda VFR750R RC30 with which Joey Dunlop Obe MBE managed to win the Formula 1 TT and the Senior TT on the Isle of Man that same year.
The VFR750R RC30 was developed by Honda Racing Corporation as a homologation model for the World Superbike and was the most exotic production engine of his time. With a hand-built 748cc V4 with camshafts with gear drive, a six-speed gearbox with slipper clutch, four-piston brakes, Quick-release fork legs and a single-sided swingarm, he brought Grand Prix technique to the public road. During the launch, the RC30 cost more than 30 thousand guilders, almost double a Suzuki GSX-R750-making it an exclusive pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair of pair.
The success did not fail: Fred Merkel won Honda’s first from two WorldSBK titles, Carl Fogarty took successive Formula 1 TT championships, and the RC30 also proved itself in endurance classics on Le Mans, Spa and Suzuka. At the moment there is no other engine from the late 1980s as coveted as the RC30 – a sentiment that still applies.
On the Isle of Man Mountain Course, however, the RC30 made the biggest difference. In June 1988, Dunlop rode the Formula 1 TT on this machine 56 minutes and 50.2 seconds with an average speed of 116.25 mph. He then won the Senior TT on the same RC30 and set a new speed record of 118.54 mph per round. Dunlop himself later said that the RC30 gave him the precision and the confidence to go faster than ever and called it “the engine that changed everything” for him on the Mountain Course.
In addition to the TTs, Dunlop also used the RC30 during WSBK races in 1988, including the historic first round in Donington Park, where he finished on stage, and competitions on the Hungaroring and Hockenheimring. For example, he showed both his own versatility and the competitiveness of the RC30 on circuits and public roads.
Since Dunlops died in 2000, this RC30 has been retained by the family and exhibited in Joey’s Bar in Ballyymoney, with the exception of some special occasions such as the Classic TT and the ‘Joey 25’ commemorations. This is the first time that this historic machine has been publicly offered for sale.
The engine has a factory-stamped frame plus an extra stamped plaque, and a NLOB Full Kit HRC engine with rare magnesium flat-slide carburateurs, signed by the famous Honda V4-Motor Tony Scott. For collectors this is a unique opportunity to get the engine on which Joey Dunlop achieved his legendary TT-Hattrick.
It is rare that a motor with such direct TT successes appears on the market, let alone one that was ever ridden by the most iconic road racing driver. Standard RC30s nowadays change the owner for amounts around £ 30,000-£ 50,000, but insiders expect that this copy-partly due to the TT victories-can rise towards the £ 100,000.
More information or make an offer: check the Bonhams website.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.