Honda NR500 (1979, Takazumi Katayama)

NR500 was an innovative racing motorcycle developed by Honda HRC in 1979 to compete in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. The NR stood for New Racing.^[1]

The motivation behind the NR500 was company founder Soichiro Honda's desire to compete using four-stroke engine technology since the majority of motorcycles manufactured by Honda used four-stroke engines. When the FIM announced new regulations for the 1968 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season that limited the 500 cc engines to four cylinders, this gave an advantage to teams using two-stroke machinery. Honda decided to withdraw from motorcycle racing to concentrate on its automobile division.^[2]

In November 1977 Honda announced it would be returning to motorcycle Grand Prix racing using four-stroke technology.^[2] Even though two-stroke engines dominated motorcycle Grand Prix racing in the late 1970s, Honda felt bound by their convictions to race what they sold and thus decided to compete using a high-technology, four-stroke race bike.^[3] Since a conventional four-stroke, four-cylinder engine could not produce the same power of its two-stroke rivals, Honda had to increase the valve area in order to be competitive.^[4] The rules at the time allowed up to four combustion chambers so Honda designed a 32-valve V8 with four pairs of linked combustion chambers. This then evolved into an innovative engine with four oval-shaped cylinders. The oval cylinders allowed room for 32 valves and eight spark plugs, the same as that of an eight-cylinder engine while staying within the four-cylinder rules limit. Another innovation used on the NR500 was its monocoque body which wrapped around the engine like a cocoon and helped reduce weight.^[5] In an effort to reduce drag, the bike also used 16-inch wheels instead of the mainstream 18-inch versions.

Honda overcame significant manufacturing problems to develop its oval cylinder technology and by late 1979 the bike made its much-anticipated debut at the British Grand Prix ridden by Mick Grant and Takazumi Katayama. Both bikes retired, Grant crashing out on the first turn after the bike spilled oil onto his rear tire. Katayama retired on the seventh lap due to ignition problems.^[6] Honda persevered for two more seasons but never managed to make the bike competitive.^[7] The monocoque frame had to be abandoned because it made it too difficult for mechanics to work on the engine during races. The 16-inch wheels also had to be abandoned for 18-inch wheels.^[8] American Freddie Spencer was able to reach 5th place at the 1981 British Grand Prix before the bike broke down. The NR500 never managed to win a Grand Prix, a thirteenth place by Katayama at the 1981 Austrian Grand Prix being its best showing.

Honda decided to abandon the project and designed the NS500 two-stroke bike to compete in the 1982 season.^[9] Spencer would ride the NS500 to Honda's first 500 cc world championship in 1983. Ultimately, what doomed the NR500 project was that Honda had tried to develop too many technologies at one time. The NR500 did experience a few successes. Freddie Spencer rode the NR500 to a heat race victory at Laguna Seca in 1981 and Kengo Kiyama won the Suzuka 200 kilometer race that same year.^[10]

References[link]

Takazumi Katayama
Nationality	Japanese
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1974 - 1985 First race 1974 250cc Belgian Grand Prix Last race 1985 500cc Belgian Grand Prix First win 1974 250cc Swedish Grand Prix Last win 1982 500cc Swedish Grand Prix Team(s) Yamaha, Honda Championships 350cc - 1977 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 83 11 35 5 6

Takazumi Katayama (片山敬済, born April 16, 1951 in Japan) is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion.^[1] He was the first Japan-based Korean rider to win a motorcycle road racing world championship when he claimed the 1977 350cc title aboard a Yamaha. In 1979 he accepted an offer from Honda to develop their exotic oval-cylinder, four-stroke NR500 race bike. After retiring from competition, Katayama became a motorcycle Grand Prix racing team owner

Motorcycle Grand Prix Results[link]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

References[link]

Thijsje Oenema

Personal information
Born	(1988-06-06) June 6, 1988 (age 24) Heerenveen, Netherlands
Sport
Country	Netherlands
Medal record Women's speed skating Competitor for the  Netherlands World Single Distance Championships Bronze 2012 Heerenveen 500 m

Thijsje Oenema (born June 6, 1988 in Heerenveen) is a Dutch speedskater and "short-track sprinter". She is specialised on the short distances.

Oenema skates for the VPZ-skating team and is a member for skating club S.T.D. Sint Nicolaasga. Her breakthrough was during the 2009 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships, winning the bronze medal at the 500m. This was very surprising because in the season 2007/2008 she was not able to skate because of Pfeiffer's disease.^[1] With this 3rd place she qualified for the first time for the World Cups.^[2] Oenema also showed that season that she is also very strong at the 100m. In 2006 and 2007 she was already the Dutch champion at this distance. In 2009 she regained her title she lost in the year before by winning on the ice of Lekkerkerk.^[3] In the same season she took the title at the Dutch championships supersprint.

Although her start of the season 2010 was weak, she managed to qualify for the Olympics in Vancouver by beating Marianne Timmer in a skate-off.

Results[link]

year	Dutch Distance	Dutch Sprint	World Distance	World Cup
2006	16th 500 m
2007	11th 500 m
2008	13th 500 m 16th 1000m
2009	500 m	16th		100 m 17th 500 m
2010	4th 500 m 9th 1000 m	NS		8th 500 m
2011	5th 500 m 18th 1000 m	5th		12th 500 m
2012	500 m 1000 m		500 m	6th 500 m

Medals[link]

Championship	Gold	Silver	Bronze
World Distance	0	0	1
Dutch Distance	0	0	1
Worldcup	0	1	0

References[link]

Margot Boer

Margot Boer in 2009 after winning the Dutch sprint championships
Personal information
Born	(1985-08-07) August 7, 1985 (age 26) Woubrugge, Netherlands
Website	www.margotboer.nl
Sport
Country	Netherlands
Turned pro	2006
Medal record Women's speed skating Competitor for the  Netherlands World Single Distance Championships Bronze 2009 Vancouver 1000 m Bronze 2012 Heerenveen 1000 m World Sprint Championships Bronze 2011 Heerenveen Sprint Dutch Single Distance Championships Gold 2007 Assen 500 m Gold 2011 Heerenveen 500 m Silver 2008 Heerenveen 500 m Silver 2009 Heerenveen 500 m Silver 2010 Heerenveen 500 m Silver 2010 Heerenveen 1000 m Silver 2011 Heerenveen 1000 m Silver 2012 Heerenveen 500 m Dutch Sprint Championships Gold 2009 Groningen Sprint Gold 2011 Heerenveen Sprint Gold 2012 Heerenveen Sprint Silver 2010 Heerenveen Sprint Bronze 2007 Groningen Sprint Bronze 2008 Heerenveen Sprint

Margot Boer (born August 7, 1985 in Woubrugge) is a Dutch speed skater. She is specialised in riding the 500 m, 1000 m and 1500 m.

After spending a few years at local teams in the Zuid-Holland area Margot Boer was seen as one of the Netherlands main future talents and was offered a contract at the KNSB Youth Development Team for the 2006-07 speed skating season. In the years before she already participated in several World Cup meetings.

Her first success in her new team was winning a gold medal on the 500 m at the 2007 KNSB Dutch Single Distance Championships. She won the both races beating all the opponents, including favourites such as Marianne Timmer and Annette Gerritsen.

2010 Winter Olympics[link]

Boer qualified to participate in all of her specialty distances at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. She just missed out on medals in each of them, coming in 4th on both the 500 and 1,500 m and 6th on the 1,000 m, 0.22, 0.14, and 0.22 seconds from winning a bronze medal, respectively.

Results[link]

jaar	Dutch Distance	Dutch Sprint	World Sprint	World Distance	Olympic games	World cup
2007	500m
2008	500m
2009	500m			1000m		500m
2010	500m 1000m					500m 1000m
2011	500m 1000m					500 m 1000m
2012	500m

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Margot Boer

• Official website
• Profile page of Margot Boer on Teamliga.nl

Awards
Preceded by Paulien van Deutekom	Ard Schenk Award 2009	Succeeded by Ireen Wüst

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