The Honda RC163 is a air cooled DOHC inline 4 racing motorcycle that was manufactured by Honda in 1962 to compete in the 250cc World Championship. The machine won 8 of the 9 GPs it participated in. Rider Jim Redman won the World Championship on a RC163 and Honda won the Manufacturers Championship. Honda cut back their racing budget for 1963 and no new bike was developed so the RC163 was used for a second season. Redman retained the Championship by a small margin and Honda retained the Manufacturers Championship.

History 1962

The previous year's RC162 had been dominant in the 250cc World Championship, winning 10 of the 11 and securing the World Championship for Mike Hailwood. The RC163 was an evolution of the previous year's RC162. The engine had larger cooling fins and power output increased to @ 14,000 rpm with maximum engine speed increased to 15,000 rpm. The frame had been strengthened and a new double sided twin leading shoe front brake fitted.

Hailwood had left Honda and signed for MV for 1962. Works riders for this year were Jim Redman, Tom Phillis, Bob McIntyre, Teisuke Tanaka and Kunimitsu Takahashi.

The season started well with Redman, McIntyre and Phillis taking the first three places in the opening two GPs at Montjuïc and Charade.

The UK concessionaire Honda UK lent Derek Minter an RC162 for the Isle of Man TT. Minter was reminded before the race that Redman was leading the championship on the works RC163, with the implication that he should not beat Redman in the race. Ignoring this Minter won the race which displeased Honda and affected the chance of a future factory ride. McIntyre had led at the start of the race and set a new lap record but had later suffered an engine failure. In the Junior TT (350cc) Phillis had a fatal crash while riding a 285cc Honda RC170.

Irishman Tommy Robb, who had been racing in 50cc and 125cc for Honda, was brought into the 250 team as a replacement for Phillis. In his first race on the RC163 in the Dutch TT he fell. Redman won the race with McIntyre second.

At the West German GP McIntyre agreed to help Redman win the championship. Redman won with McIntyre second.

In August, while riding a Manx Norton in the 500cc British Championship at Oulton Park, McIntyre crashed and died in hospital a few days later.

Redman and Robb were pushing each other hard at the Ulster Grand Prix, the lead going backward and forward between the two. On the penultimate lap Redman's bike went onto two cylinders and Robb won his home race.

At the East German GP at Sachsenring Hailwood was given a one-off ride on the new tein-cylinder MZ. MZ works rider Alan Shepherd led the race ahead of Hailwood and Redman who were fighting for second place. Shepherd dropped out when his engine stopped. On the last corner Hailwood and Redman touched fairings and Redman recovered slightly quicker to beat Hailwood over the line by less than a wheel's length.

Honda did not compete in the final GP of the season, the Argentine GP.

With six wins Redman won the Championship and Honda the Manufacturers Championship.

1963 Honda cut back on its racing budget for 1963, a lot of resources being used to develop their Honda RA271 Formula 1 car. No new 250 was developed and the team had to use the previous year's RC163. The race team was cut back to Redman, Taveri, Takahashi and Robb.

At the start of the season there was an unexpected challenge to the Honda domination in the 250 class from Tarquinio Provini on the single cylinder Morini. Provini won the first two rounds, the Spanish and West German GPs, with Redman finishing second in Spain and third in Germany.

The French GP was cancelled due to dense fog at the circuit. Redman won the next 2 races, the IOM and Dutch TT, but fell in the 125 race at Assen, breaking his collarbone. This kept him out of the next race in Belgium which was won by Fumio Ito on the new Yamaha RD56.

In East Germany Hailwood and Shepherd on MZs dominated the race and finished first and second. Redman was a long way back in third and commented after the race that the MZs were much faster than his Honda.

The championship went down to the wire at the season finale at the inaugural Japanese GP, held at the Honda built Suzuka Circuit, Redman won in front of Honda's 150,000 home crowd. Redman retained his Championship and Honda the Manufacturers Championship.

Replicas A number of replicas have been made. Phil Morris made a series of 21 replicas using the four cylinder MC14E engine from the Honda CBR250F.

Racing results Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race. Only the best six races were counted.

Position  1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th  Points 8 6 4 3 2 1

Year Rider 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Points Rank Wins Jim Redman ESP1 FRA1 IOM2 NED1 BEL2 GER1 ULS2 DDR1 NAT1 ARG- 48 1st 6 Bob McIntyre ESP2 FRA2 IOMDNS NED2 BEL1 GER2 ULS- DDR- NAT- ARG- 32 2nd 1 Tom Phillis ESP3 FRA3 IOM3 NED- BEL- GER- ULS- DDR- NAT- ARG- 12 4th 0 Tommy Robb ESP- FRA- IOM- NEDRet BEL- GER- ULS1 DDRRet NAT- ARG- 8 6th = 1 Luigi Taveri ESP- FRA- IOM- NED- BEL3 GER- ULS3 DDR- NATNC ARG- 8 8th 0 Teisuke Tanaka ESP- FRA- IOM- NED- BEL- GER3 ULS- DDR- NAT- ARG- 4 15th 0 Jim Redman ESP2 GER3 FRAC IOM1 NED1 BEL- ULS1 DDR3 NAT2 ARG2 JPN1 44 1st 4 Tommy Robb ESP3 GER2 FRAC IOM5 NED5 BEL5 ULS3 DDR7 NAT6 ARG- JPN8 20 4th 0 Luigi Taveri ESP5 GERNC FRAC IOMNC NEDNC BEL4 ULSNC DDR5 NAT3 ARG- JPN5 13 5th 0 Kunimitsu Takahashi ESP GER FRAC IOM NED BEL ULS DDR NAT ARG JPN 7 9th 0 Sources: Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Notes

References

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