For newly-formed HRC, there wasn't the technical back-up that factories have today, as Spencer says: "They didn't have computer models. They had standard dimensions they felt would work but that was pretty much it."
For Satoru Horiike and the team, the answer to build the 250 was simple.
Horiike-san says: "We looked at things and realised we should simply cut the 500 in half! Half a 500 is a 250! At the time we had experience with 500s but not 250s. This was our first factory 250. We didn't have long to build the bike. From idea to actual machine it was maybe three months. Then that bike to ready-to-race bike another three months."
Horiike and the team then had to literally pre-empt any potential problems with the machine, as Freddie had to develop and test both bikes. How did they manage it all?
"Because back then I was young!" says Horiike-san. "We were all young! We tested every bike from the Kawasaki and Yamaha 250s but we noticed that development time was not enough so we prepared a basic machine and made many test parts. I clearly remember that as the main chassis designer we had to work out the brakes. The 500 had double discs, but for 250 I thought a single disc was enough. I did the calculations and worked out this was enough to give good braking. But I thought maybe we'd have to prepare some double discs, just in case."
Using this 'be prepared' approach, much time was saved during testing, which had to be done as far from prying eyes as possible.
Horiike-san explains: "We prepared many, many parts and took these along with the new 250 machine to Suzuka for a test. Normally we used the standard pit at the front of the circuit, but because Suzuka is so long it has a smaller pit around the back. It's small and no-one could see us."
Here's where the workload shot up for Freddie, as he remembers: "This was really the start of the testing situation you see in GPs now. With so many parts and things to test, every lap had to be 100 per cent. Remember, I'm developing two bikes - the new NSR500 and the new 250 - and I want them both to have similar characteristics but the riding style for both bikes is going to be different. We basically simulated everything during a test. We did back-to-back riding of the 250 and the 500 to replicate a practice session ending and starting and did lots of race mileages. I also tried to ride the 500 then ride the 250 straight after, and only de-brief when I was done with both bikes, just like a practice session on a race weekend. It made things very complicated, but I trained myself to do that. It was an approach that Erv and I spent time in the winter developing."
Adding to the workload were the radial tyres, a relatively new proposition in 1985.
Spencer: "We'd had a radial Michelin rear in '84, but a cross-ply front. Sometimes we'd have something like 200 tyres to test. From '85 we had to develop the bikes and the tyres as well as doing a morning's testing on the 250 and an afternoon on the 500."
It was here in testing that people saw the true genius of Freddie Spencer, maybe more so than on the track during a race weekend.
Horiike-san recalls: "Freddie came and we started to test. Freddie was such a good test rider. He was a natural rider so it was very easy for us to test what was good about the bikes and what was wrong. You had to simply look at the laptime. Then it was clear. If he was going fast, that was good, if slow it was bad. For example, with the front brakes. Freddie complained the large single disc pulled to one side in braking. Lap times were slow, so we changed to two, smaller discs which we had already brought along. From that time, front discs had to be double."
By the first GP Freddie had worked out how to approach a race weekend. The critical thing was not just his overall performance but the information he gave his crew to develop two bikes simultaneously, as well as handling tyre improvements from Michelin.
After the pre-season race at Daytona, things weren't going well on the 500.
"During the first GP at Kyalami that thing chattered so bad my teeth hurt," Freddie grimaces, remembering the pain. "It didn't show up at Daytona earlier as the banking meant we had to run a stiffer construction front. I tried everything to win but Eddie Lawson had me beat. I won the 250 race."
It was imperative for Spencer and the team to find what was causing the chatter.
Spencer: "We had three weeks between South Africa and the GP at Jarama. We had a test at Rijeka, in the former Yugoslavia. We tested real hard; tyres, engine combinations, different crank weights, different steering geometry and strengths to see if a bit of flex would help. Eventually we worked it out, but it was the biggest problem we had with the 500, aside from some small stability issues."
With the 500 effort the main focus - "Honda told us the 500 title was the top priority" - new parts were always trickling in, but with the 250, the bike wasn't in line for constant improvements all season-long.
Freddie recalls: "Sure, the 500 we got new parts for, but the 250 development stopped about a quarter of the way through the season. Guys like Honda's Anton Mang and Yamaha's Carlos Lavado were coming on strong and all that time the Yamaha was being developed further. We were a little down on power towards the end of the season and Anton and Carlos were smaller than me so I struggled in some places. We eventually won seven races on the 250, all hard races. You'd have anything between 20-30 laps to go through and all after a draining 500 race. People like Toni Mang never made mistakes. Every corner was hard-fought for."
Spencer achieved his first 250/500 double win during the season at Mugello where help came from an un-looked for source.
"I'd just completed the 500 race and won after a hard battle with Eddie. It was a hot race. I'd been up on the podium and then rushed back to my motorhome, drunk as much water as I could and then tried to get onto the 250 grid on time. It was tight, but Toni Mang - perhaps the greatest 250 rider ever and on a non-factory RS250 - had not left the form-up grid to give me time to get there and take part. What a man. Remember, this was a GP and despite having taken part in a 500 race, I couldn't give these guys a three or four lap head start. You couldn't take time to get into a rhythm, so when I got off the line 10th or 12th it took until the half way point in the race to catch up with Toni and Carlos Lavado. Braking markers, turn-in positions, lines and apexes would all be a little different to the 500. That's why we did race simulations in testing, as in the race you had to respect the guys who were racing in the class. They weren't going to give it to you."
His second double came at Austria that year and a third double looked likely at Rijeka, until he hit a straw bale with his knee, prompting Lawson's caustic, deadpan but hilarious quote to the TV cameras when asked to comment about the incident: "Yes, it was also possible to miss the bale." At Spa and Le Mans came another four wins. Fourth place at Silverstone would secure the 250 crown, allowing Spencer the luxury of concentrating solely on the 500s, but the British event was almost a disaster race.
Freddie was left with a broken right hand following a practice high-side crash in the 250s but he rode through the pain to win the 500 race ahead of Lawson.
"Those races were the hardest," recalls Spencer. "The wet conditions dictated that we had to be very careful to wrap up the 250 series. I had to finish fourth, which means it's sometimes harder to do that than go for the win. The conditions were so bad, it was hard just to survive the race. Silverstone meant we could wrap up the 500 title at Sweden, where I beat Eddie to lift the title.
"It was a proud moment. More so because out of everybody in racing at the time there were maybe only five people who thought I could really do it, and that was my team."
