In 2001, the last year of the 2 stroke era a young Valentino Rossi rode one of these bikes to overall victory. If you dreamed of owning a machine like that particular Honda NSR 500, the Ronax will be pretty high up on your wishlist. Although there are a few key differences, it is very much a recreation of that machine. Grand Prix fans will always remember it fondly because of both the engineering that went into it and the young rider who has become so famous all over the world since.

In the 90s, street bikes were already pretty much all already big, powerful four strokes. Only small displacement bikes persevered with enhanced two stroke technology.

The single biggest reason for this was emissions, the unburned fuel coming out the tailpipes of the larger displacement two stroke bikes made them serious polluters, especially the bikes that had not yet adopted EFI systems and depended upon carburetion.

One exception to the large two stroke was top level racing, with no emissions concerns and the sheer weight advantage making it something of a no-brainer at the time.

Nothing could stop these bikes when they reached their peak, with weight restrictions as low as 250 pounds and power figures as high as 200 horsepower.

With a lot of high end sportbikes making this kind of power today, we could quickly dismiss their numbers, but the way these bikes made their power was rather different, and they didn’t get the benefit of all the modern safety nets that make modern bikes so accessible.

It is the other bugbear that would come out of these high power two stroke machines, their powerband. Having 200 horsepower come on all at once is an unimaginable experience today. For them, it was just racing. Recreating that sort of experience means you need to be prepared for quite a fight, although power is dialed to 160 horsepower it is still going to be a scary bike to ride.

Although they do put mirrors and other accessories on the bike, there are very few other road legal requirements included, it seems it was always destined to be more of a limited edition track bike.

Its production number is another nod to the man who really inspired the machine; Valentino Rossi. It is a clear recreation (at least design wise) of the title winning NSR he rode in 2001.

Almost the entire bike is hand made, in fact the only parts that are not made by hand are bespoke aftermarket items like the Ohlins forks and Brembo brakes.

The bodywork (including the entire subframe and fuel tank) is all hand made carbon-fiber, the chassis is handcrafted aluminium and all the rest of the components are from the top shelf of the aftermarket.

Its engine actually isn’t something from another manufacturer, it is, by nature, similar to the other famous two stroke race bikes but has a different architecture.

It has a 80 degree V4 as opposed to the Honda’s 112 degree V, it also makes use of an advanced EFI system, something that was still in its infancy back when the Grand Prix bike was competing.

Fundamentally, art is rather subjective. It is not necessarily the most beautiful of creations, (again others may disagree) but it is in our opinion a piece of engineering art.

With all the modern adornments and its incredible light weight, it is a machine that brims with purpose, everything else is secondary.

It is clearly designed to be a bit of a dream machine, for the extremely wealthy it needs to be said. It has actually got one up on the old two stroke bikes that raced in the 90s, because it has some of the best aftermarket components from the 21st century attached to an improved chassis.

Unlike the closest rivals it is technically street legal, in some countries. In most of the developed world it will still struggle to pass emissions and noise regulations, but it has all the necessary attachments.

All of which seem pretty easy to hide/remove when you get to the track, fulfilling the dreams of those that like the idea of riding to the track.

No way around it, this is a very exclusive machine, with an equally exclusive price tag at 100,000 Euro. It is one of those creations that is intended to be used, but the rarity and price may limit the usage most of the 46 bikes will see in the real world.

Credit: hotcars

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