Continued

Q. It was that bad, eh?

A. We encountered that a few times this year, that the oil leak was so bad, all over the tire and the rim, that you couldn't get out of the corner. It was hard to keep my feet on the pegs at times.

Q. The good news is that you get an '04 Honda ride, but the bad news may be that you will be without Adrian Gorst, your long-time engineer. Your thoughts?

A. First off, I love Adrian to death. We get along great. There were some incidents this year, though, there were some times when he wouldn't let me ride (the Aprilia) knowing that it was unsafe. He'd have me go to a spare bike or whatever. Then again there were times where I felt like maybe the bike was unsafe (laughs) but he still sent me out. Okay, everything was fine and dandy but we've had a good run. But basically the facts are that Telefonica didn't need any more crew. They didn't need anybody. I asked. I asked and pushed for him to come but they simply didn't need anyone. The team was basically there and existing, ready to go.
(A feature on Gorst, written by Mark Bracks, is here)

Q. On to the 211V Honda. You had not ridden it since it was a test bike. What did you think after your first laps back?

A. I know we talked after I got off the RC45 and onto the RC51. It was about the same in getting off the Aprilia and onto the RC211V. I spoke with Kenny Roberts Senior over the weekend and he said (about the Aprilia) that when it comes out of the corner, the rider has to spend the whole next straightaway gathering it back up again for the next corner. I've been saying that all season and for someone to come to me and say that, who could see it, was like music to my ears.

That was the deal with the Aprilia. You're always gathering it back together to get it ready for the next corner. You're filled with "what's next?".

On the Honda, it's completely different. You don't have to worry about trying to get out of the corner in one piece and if the bike is going to try and stand on its ass at 150mph and what you're going to do to stop that.

Q. A few times this season on TV you could see the bike lifting the front wheel in top gear as you accelerated. That's a lot of power.

A. I felt like I spent most of the season riding it, standing with my foot on the rear brake trying to keep the front end down on the Aprilia.

With the Honda you just focus on getting into the next corner as best you can. It leaves a lot of free time in your brain, which for a rider is good. That's how you concentrate on going fast.

Q. Whereas the Honda appears as if it's so tractable it almost won't wheelie in the top gears without a pull on the bars.

A. Yeah, they've done a good job with it. After you get off the Aprilia and ride the Honda, the Honda seems slow. That's how good it is. It's not trying to loop out in fifth gear like the Aprilia. The Aprilia will loop in fifth gear on a straight. The Honda didn't even wheelie. In second or third gear it might have a little tiny lift, but you can keep it pinned and it won't loop out on you.

As far as what a rider wants in a motorcycle, the engine characteristics of the RC211V are it.

Q. 2004 will be an exciting year in GP. Two more Ducatis, Rossi on a Yamaha, you're on a Honda, etc. You've got to be pumped.

A. If you look back at my career, even back so far as the Yamaha in AMA, I mean, I think this is the first time in my career that I am on the best bike out there. Even when I was on the Honda in (World) Superbike, it was never really the best bike out there. That part of it I'm happy about. I'm thinking about nothing but winning. I'm shooting for the podium but only the top of the podium.

Q. I'll put you on the spot. Do you think Rossi can win on a Yamaha?

A. Rossi is pretty special because he's fast and has loads of talent. But my own personal opinion is that Yamaha could have saved a bucket load of money and just tried to hire ten or fifteen of Honda's engineers to build them a bike. They would have had to almost kidnapped them and forced them to work, but that's what they should have done, hired the engineers, not the racer.

Q. Why?

A. There's a development process that goes into a motorcycle that the rider doesn't really see. The very initial design and the first baseline. I've developed bikes on the track for my entire career and I'll tell you that the most important part is that you need to be given good pieces. It's key. You can ask for things, but a lot of the progress comes from the development riders back at the factory.

Sure, you can ask for better traction or better steering or more power, better weight-transfer or more squat, but when it gets to the track, you're given a bike to finish. These are the kind of things a rider expresses. A rider doesn't say 'We need 2.5 millimeters more here and seven millimeters there'. That's not what we do.

Read Some Prior Edwards Stories
A 2002 Interview A 1994 story/interview on Edwards moving to World Superbike

That's what I'm saying, you have to be given the right stuff to extract the right information from the rider.

And that's where Honda are so good. They know what to give you. They're always thinking like two steps ahead of the rider. Their test riders are pretty damn good, so they have ideas of what to do as soon as you request something. You say, 'It needs this' and back in Japan they have already tested two possible solutions and have data to study. And they have five different ideas on where to go from there.