Track time on a race-prepped Honda CBR250R

Both the CBR150R and the CBR250R have undergone some changes for the Honda One Make Race. The most noticeable change, even from afar, is the sound. Both bikes come kitted with free flow racing exhausts and the roar of the engines is unbelievably loud, more so for the larger 250R. Up close, and at first glance, the changes seem to be more cosmetic than anything else.  The stock bodywork, headlight, turn signals and other street parts are shelved and replaced with a racing fairing kit. 

Both bikes get soft compound racing tyres from MRF Racing, jointly developed by Honda and MRF. Stock seats are removed as well and the race bikes get a thin ultralight foam patch for a seat. The CBR150R gets a free-flow exhaust from Endurance and a reprogrammed ECU, although engines on both bikes are stock and no other modifications are permitted as per the rules. But that’s where the similarities end.

In the CBR 250R, the mods go a bit further. Although the engine is stock – similar to the mass production CBR250R, there are a number of changes in addition to the racing body kit and other cosmetic weight reductions. In all, the CBR250R weighs between 5-8 kg less than the mass production CBR250R.

The bike gets racing clip on handlebars, adjustable steering dampers, front fork suspension pre-load adjustment, racing wiring harness, reprogrammable ECU with two active modes – which can be changed with the toggle of a switch to two different air-fuel mixtures – and an electronic transmission quick shifter as well as a pit lane rev limiter.

Other mods include an Endurance racing exhaust, Endurance variable aluminium sprockets with three optional sizes for both rear and front sprockets and aluminium racing rear-set footpegs, machined and manufactured in India. The electronics and exhaust systems are manufactured in Japan and Thailand.

Get latest updates on
the automobile community

Login Now

We take the bike out for a short spin on Day 1 of the race weekend during lunch break. The morning was spent looking at racers doing practice rounds of the track, admiring the speeds at which each bike was tackling the corners of the racetrack. When it was our turn to hit the track, ace racer Sarath Kumar chaperoned us around the track.

Looking at Sarath move around the corners first time around seem easy enough, and he isn’t even racing but just keeping up a healthy clip for us to follow. First couple of laps were spent with pure joy, both at the sound of the bike accelerating under you as well as the way it performs – pulling cleanly and redlining almost at 11,000rpm through the gears.

It’s only after the first couple of laps, when Sarath pushed up the pace a bit, we realize that riding on a track at those speeds seem easy but the key to being competitive is to maintain speed – both on the straights as well as around the corners.

The two ECU maps have a different feel altogether – one map is for free revving, power coming in all the way up the rev band; the other with power low on the rpms, for overtaking and getting more power along the corners. The transmission quick shifter can only be used for clutchless upshifts with the press of a button. Downshifting is done the conventional way, clutch pulled in.

The soft compound race tyres provide fantastic grip on the track, but they are used only for one race. That is the beauty of the Honda One Make race – as long as you qualify, you get the bike, gear and tyres to race for the weekend, all provided by Honda. Of course, this is true only for the 150cc class. For the Expert 250cc class, you need to have sponsors, or better still, be a part of a racing team, who leases bikes from Honda at a nominal cost and even gets spares support. But I digress.

The pit lane limiter on the CBR250R is to be used while entering the pit lane and it limits the speed of the bike to a maximum of 60 kmph while pulling over to the pits. It was a short burst on the first day, four laps in all, but it only left us wanting and thirsting for more track time.

Next day, we managed to wrangle some more track time during lunch time, and this time, Honda CBR 150 winner R Rajanikanth chaperoned us around the track. The more time you get on the track, the more confident you get. In reality, we’re not used to sliding knees around a bend, at least I’m not. But by the second day, the stiffness of the body had dissipated somewhat and the bike felt more at ease and slowly started becoming an extension of the body. But there are more lessons to be learned, when to slow down on a corner, to brake or not to brake, to downshift or just roll down on the throttle. These are nuances, which a short 30 minutes of track time proved to be inadequate.

On the final day of the race weekend, it seemed like there was no scope for us to take out the bikes on to the track. Lunch break was to be a gymkhana event on the track for Honda customers, followed by different classes of races all afternoon. Only after the awards ceremony were we allowed to take out the bikes on to the track. But this time, the heavens opened up and we did get some track time with lovely cool weather, very unlike the muggy heat of Chennai.

But we were warned not to race on the wet track, and one misjudgement and a small slide of the rear wheel before a corner, totally thrashed my confidence. A spill on a wet road many years ago has somehow lurked in the subconscious, and even with the grippy soft compound tyres, riding in the wet track wasn’t half as fun as putting the CBR through the paces on the heat of the first two days at the MMRT.

Yes, riding on a track is fun, and it’s more fun when you are astride a race-prepped bike, like the CBR250R we rode. And the more you ride, the more you improve your riding skills. I’m raring to hit a track again, anywhere, and soon.