The orthodox chassis structure made it possible to complete the project quickly.
Honda released a perspective illustration of the NV0B during the 1985 season.
Given the four-month deadline, it was clear that they needed help to afford to develop a new engine from scratch. Instead, if the engine were to follow the design of the previous year's model, the NV0A, it would take less time than a new development, so the plan was that it would be possible to postpone the full-scale start of development until October. However, even so, what about the chassis equipped with that engine?
The first NSR500, the NV0A, attracted considerable attention for its upside-down layout, in which the fuel tank was placed under the engine. Freddie Spencer, Honda's absolute ace rider at the time, won three out of five World Grand Prix races on this bike. However, there were significant drawbacks to having four exhaust chambers pass through where the fuel tank would be on a standard layout and to having the fuel tank under the engine.
HRC could have eliminated them with time and enhanced the advantages of having the fuel tank under the engine. But they did not have that luxury at the time. With the NV0B, they must create a high-performance machine with minimal effort and get good results. The only option was choosing a standard body structure instead of the upside-down layout.
1984 NSR500 [NV0A] (Photo/Yoshihiro Ishizuka)
When the body configuration for the NV0B was being considered in the summer or fall of 1984, Takeo Fukui, who was in charge of the development and racing operations at HRC back then and would serve as the president of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in later years, did not object at all to the decision to quit the upside-down layout adopted the previous year even though it was inspired by his solid instruction, saying "Invent something new and special."
Takashi Kudo, who participated in the design of the NV0B's chassis, said in an interview in 2012, "I don't remember Mr. Fukui ever objecting to not adopting an upside-down layout. As the actual designers, we had no conflicts about going conventionally. We couldn't afford to continue with the problematic layout.
Kaoru Yamamoto, also in charge of the NV0B chassis design, said, "In 1985, our number one priority was to regain the championship. So we engineers had a strong sense of having to make a machine that could race properly and win."
