Yamaha Motor Co. exhibition in “Communication Plaza” Japan (March 2009-January 2010)

The history of Yamaha racing from 1955 until today...

Yamaha Motor’s first President, Mr. Genichi Kawakami, was so convinced about the qualities of his first motorcycle, the now famous YA-1, that he gave his men the task ‘to win the 3^rd Mount Fuji Climb Race and show the whole nation how good their product was.

It is 50 years ago now since Yamaha started racing and during this time Yamaha won many races in all levels of Motorsport, road racing, motocross, trials, etc.

These efforts helped Yamaha Motor a lot in the development of the normal motorcycles and brought many new technologies into the market. The reputation of Yamaha Motor as an innovative brand was firmly established with all these results. The motorcycle race activities were used in an exhibition this year at “Communication Plaza” near the Yamaha factory in Iwata, Japan, to show their importance in the corporate identity of Yamaha Motor today.

It all started with the Mount Fuji Climbing Race.

The Mount Fuji Climbing Race started already way back in 1953 as a time-trial over a 24,2 km course going up to 1.450 m from the start near the Asama Shrine in Fujinomiya City up to the second Station on the Mount Fuji Climbing route. In that first year the “race” was nothing more than a recreational event organized by the Fujinomiya Sightseeing Organization, but already in its second year all the leading motorcycle factories wanted to compete and win.

The third event in 1955 was organized therefore already by a publisher of a motorcycle magazine and already both a 125 cc and a 250 cc class were scheduled. Yamaha eagerly wanted to participate in this event and a dealer in Tokyo found 10 suitable riders who all went to a base camp in Fujinomiya.

The team practiced on the track by using short wave operators at the start, the First Station and the finish in order to check the times of all the riders. As the regulations did not allow for any modifications to the bikes, the team could only improve all the small details of the machines. Here they learned already a little about how muffler shape could improve the performance of the two-strokes.

On the race-day, July 10^th 1955, Teruo Okada won the 125 cc class with his YA-1 “race” Red Dragonfly, in a field of 49 machines from 16(!) different brands. And from the 10 Yamaha’s 6 more riders finished in the top nine.

Yamaha YDS1-YC1-YA1

The following year 1956 saw the 4^th Mount Fuji Climbing Race and Yamaha now also entered their new YC-1 175 cc bike in the 250 cc class (next to the YA-1’s of course in the 125 cc class).Top places in both classes were the result and Yamaha had their first victory parades in the cities of Tokyo and Osaka to celebrate the success.

1^st and 2^nd Asama Highland Races.

In November 1955 the first Asama Highlands Race was organized and planned by the Japan Small Vehicle Manufacturing Association. The idea came from the T.T. races on the Isle of Man and the official name for this event was “All Japan Motorcycle Endurance Race”. The riders had to lap a 19,2 km circular course on closed-off highland roads and included 4 classes, 125-250-350-500 cc.

As the race was organized by the Automotive Industry everyone was very keen to do their very best and it appeared that hard negotiations between factories, riders and others took place.

As soon as the 3^rd Mount Fuji Climbing race had ended in July, Yamaha cleverly rented some terrain near the Asama Highland track and started their preparations from this base camp. So with this advantage the Yamaha riders took the first 4 places in the Ultra light 125 cc class. Winner was Noboru Hiyoshi.

As a new high-speed test course was built, the “Asama Highlands Automobile test Course”, the 2^nd Asama Highlands Race was held in October 1957 with a new name, the now famous Asamo “Volcano” Race. The new track was a flat, unpaved 9,35 km course, where the competitors could reach speeds of around 180 km/h. Here Yamaha introduced for the very first time a factory racer.

The 125 cc racers were called YA-A and YA-B, both still air-cooled single cylinder machines, but with a different bore x stroke (54x54 mm and 56x50 mm), measurements which Yamaha would use for many, many years. The twin-cylinder models were called YD-A and YD-B and had the same bore/stroke dimensions as the 125 cc machines. They had double cradle frames individually tailored to the team members! On the race day these 250 cc racers carried a kind of huge “dolphin” fairing. The winners in both classes were Yamaha riders of course; Hideo Oishi won the 125 cc class and Osamu  Masuko the 250 cc class.

The first Production Road Racer TD1 starts its role as the main contender in the Clubman’s class.

Yamaha RD56-TD1

As the economical burden for the 2^nd Asama Highland Race in 1957 had been quite heavy for the manufacturers, the 3^rd one was cancelled. Alternatively a new race organization was set-up by race enthusiasts and was named “Motorcycle Club federation of All Japan (MCFAJ) and in August 1958 the 1^st All Japan Clubman Race was held.

The 3^rd and final Asama Race was held in 1959 as the 2^nd Clubman Race. Instead of participating with a full works team as before, Yamaha supplied the Clubman Team with no less than 50 YDS-1 racer “kitted” machines. Taneharu Noguchi won the 350 cc class with a YES-1 (bored-up to 260 cc) and this gave a lot of publicity and excitement to the Clubman Race. According to old records, 270 out of the total 320 riders were “Clubman” members.

So Yamaha quickly started to consider the development of a “full” production racer based on the YDS1. That bike would become the famous TD1. The TD1 started to sell early in 1962 in the overseas markets and back home in Japan Minoru Mitsuhashi won its first race in July during the 5^th Clubman Race (in 1962). Officially the TD1 was launched during the Tokyo Motor Show in October that year and was raced during the 1^st All Japan Road Race Championships in November. This event was held on the newly opened Suzuka circuit. Mitsuhashi won the 250 cc class and his team mate Yoshimi Katayama won the 350 cc class on a bored-up TD1 (255 cc).

The machine was marketed as the TD1A with the race kit parts already fitted to it and received a glorious race record in road race competition in the USA, Australia, Europe and Southeast Asia.

The Yamaha Production Racer now started the era where these machines were the driving force for private riders in the World Championship events.

When Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha started to participate in the World Championships in the early 1960’s, it changed racing completely. All classes from 50 cc to 350 cc were dominated by the Japanese makers, with the exception of the 500cc class, which remained the domain of MV Agusta.

When the FIM introduced the new regulations for 1968, both Honda, Suzuki withdrew their factory teams and Yamaha followed a year later. Yamaha however, thanks to its production racers, could fulfil the demands of the private riders, now with the TD2 250 cc and TR2 350 cc machines.

Yamaha TD1C-TD2 (from the r.h. side)

The TD1 which had been originally developed for the Japanese market only, had evaluated into the TD1A, TD1B and TD1C, getting more and more popular along the way. Yamaha believed rightfully that by further refining these models they could be worthwhile contenders for the World Championships. When the TD2 and TR2 hit the tracks around the world, soon most riders in the 250 cc and 350 cc classes were equipped with these machines on the starting grids.

Riders like Kent Andersson, Rodney Gould, Kel Carruthers, Phil Read and Jarno Saarinen were riding these bikes. When Yamaha resumed participation on W.C. level in 1973 the role of these production racers remained, now with the TZ series. All this proved Yamaha’s reputation as the two-stroke leader in the World Championships.

Yamaha YZ634, Jarno Saarinen

Yamaha raced at Catalina, Daytona and finally at the World Championships with various bikes.

Yamaha Motor’s first overseas race was at Catalina Island G.P., California in 1958 and from 1961 onwards the Yamaha Team began competing in the World GP races.  Even when the change of the regulations by the FIM forced Yamaha to withdraw the official teams from the World Championships in 1968, the seasons up to that point showed tremendous development. The factory machines changed completely.

The glory of Yamaha Racers.....

From the humble YD Racer used on the Asama highlands Yamaha came up with the rotary valve RD48 and RD56 machines. They debuted at the 1^st Japanese Road Race Championships in the hand of Fumio Ito (who else) and Ito also clinched the first overseas victory with the RD56 at Daytona in 1963. After that Phil Read won 2 World Championships with this machine in 1964 and 1965. The RD56 evolved into the V4 cylinder RD05, (air-cooled/liquid-cooled) and the RD05A (liquid-cooled).

Yamaha RD05-RD56

These bikes were good for the 3^rd rider and manufacturer’s title. The 125 cc machine started life as the twin rotary valve RA41, then RA75, followed by the parallel twin RA97. Phil Read won the 125 cc T.T. race on the liquid-cooled RA97 in 1965. In 1966, the RA31 V4 cylinder followed the RA97 and Bill Ivy won 4 races, ending the Championship in 2^nd place. In 1967 he clinched the World Championship on the RA31; Phil Read did the same in 1968 with the RA31A.

Yamaha RA31-RA97

From the prototype YX26 to the famous DT1 or how technological advances open the golden age of motocross.

The very first participation of Yamaha in motocross was during the 8^th All Japan Motocross Championships in the autumn of 1963. In 1964 the Yamaha riders Ichiji Arai, Shigeyoshi Mimuro and others participated on production models tuned-up with kit parts, like the YG1, YA6 and YDS2. Motocross became very competitive in Japan and these bikes were not good enough. So Yamaha quickly started to develop proper Motocross machines. In May 1967, the first YX26 250 cc was ready and entered in the 4^th Motocross Japan G.P. and won at its debut race with rider Tadao Suzuki. The engineering from this machine was used very much for the first DT1 trail model. The impact of the DT1 was enormous and Yamaha capitalized on the success with the FT1, JT1, HT1, AT1, CT1 and RT1. Race kit parts were marketed as well for all these models and a lot of promotional efforts were done, like organizing riding courses and staging race series in order to create more customer demand. Finally, when Yamaha introduced the Monocross suspension (it changed the world’s view on suspension!), the factory machines gained an enormous advantage and the Suzuki brothers Hideaki and Torao won the All Japan Motocross titles. With similar machines Yamaha also started winning the World Championships and that marked the beginning of the Golden Age for Yamaha’s Motocross Competition.

Yamaha TY and MX/YZ models

The Trial boom in Japan became popular as a result of the right mix of competitions and promotions.

After Yamaha realized the aim of World Championship winning in World G.P. racing and Motocross and opened a new market with the Off-road bikes, trial sports was a next challenge. The first prototype, named YZ649, was started in 1972. The bike was ready for the market in 1973 (July) and at the same time Yamaha managed to contract one of the best riders of the day, Mick Andrews. Mick got going and scored immediately a 2^nd place during the gruelling Scottish Six Days trials and also took 2^nd place in the European Championship. In 1974 Mick rode a completely new factory machine, the YZT250 (0W10). With this bike Mick won the SSDT both in 1974 and 1975. At the same time, Yamaha developed an extensive program of promotions (like with motocross), in order to spread the relatively new sport of trials riding. Mick Andrews (the Magician) showed on courses around Japan the art of trials riding and during the 2^nd Yamaha grand Sports Festival at Fuji Speedway Mick won in front of 95.000 excited fans! In November that year (1973), young 19 year old Haruo Kimura became the first All Japan trial Champion with his TY250. Hiroshi Kondo, who had been Mick Andrew’s pupil, won the Championship in 1974. The Ty250 was followed by TY50, TY80, TY125 and TY175 models and there was a huge boom in trials business, which flickered again in the early 1980’s, but pitifully faded away later.

The biggest and fastest road racer during the era of the Formula 750 cc class.

In the USA, where together with Europe a high level of road racing existed, Yamaha production racers had been very popular since the introduction of the TD1 250 cc in 1962 and many riders like Gary Nixon rode these machines to victories. But in the USA the big displacement classes were most popular. The long traditions of races like the Daytona 200 miles race was difficult to ignore. Yamaha started participating during this race in 1967 with the 350 cc prototype, the TR2 (YZ608).  Don Emde was the first to win this prestigious race on a Yamaha; he did this in 1972 with a TR3. In 1973 Jarno Saarinen won the race with the prototype YZ634 (TZ350) and proved again the formidable weapon the 350 cc Yamaha was against all the large capacity 4-stroke bikes. But in 1973 the FIM launched the new Formula 750 category. This gave Yamaha the change to develop the new production racer TZ750. Immediately in 1974 Giacomo Agostini and Kenny Roberts rode the factory TZ750 bikes to a dominant 1-2 finish.

Daytona 1974, Kenny Roberts and Giacomo Agostini's TZ750's

In 1975 Gene Romero won the Daytona race with the factory TZ750R and all the other remaining 16 top places went to Yamaha TZ750 riders…..!

Yamaha 0W31 YZR750

In Europe the YZR750 and TZ750 dominated to class every season until its final year 1979. But as the Daytona 200 miles continued under the AMA classification, the Yamaha machines could still be used there until 1984, bringing Yamaha’s total Daytona wins to 13.

Yamaha 0W69 1984 (680 cc)

The first 500 cc G.P. Road race title gave Yamaha its long awaited reputation as 2-stroke leader.

After 1969, Yamaha continued to support the World Championships with the production racers but when the 1970’s arrived Yamaha decided that it was time again to field a factory team, not in the 125 and 250 cc classes, but the major 500 cc class. This coincided with the aforementioned Formula 750 class. Thus the very first 500 cc GP racer (0W20) was developed along the same lines as the YZR700 (0W19) machine. The riders for this new bike would be Jarno Saarinen from Finland, the 1972 250 cc World Champion and Hideo kanaya from Japan, Japanese over 251 cc class National Champion. Both riders battled for the 1^st place from the first race, the French G.P. until that very tragic accident in Monza during the Italian G.P., where Jarno Saarinen lost his life (together with Renzo Pasolini). This ended Yamaha’s participation of course for that year. In 1974 Yamaha had contracted Giacomo Agostini and although Agostini just missed the individual title, Yamaha scored the first manufacturers title in the 500 cc class.

Yamaha 0W20-0W23 500 cc, 1974-1975

The 0W20 had been developed further into the 0W23 mid-season in 1974; further development of the machine gave Agostini the change to clinch both the rider’s and maker’s championship in 1975.

Giacomo Agostini's winning Yamaha 0W20 and 0W23 500 cc G.P. bikes

Yamaha continued to lead the G.P. 500 cc class with innovative technology and exceptionally good riders.

After Yamaha entered the mainly  “4-stroke” World G.P. in the 1960’s with 2-stroke bikes and started winning many races and titles, the company continued to spread the superiority of the 2-strokes with the performance of the production racers TD/TR/TZ, etc. Then, after the entry in the 500 cc class in 1973, more and more 2-stroke machines followed. New technologies followed, like the Monocross suspension, soon imitated by competitors. It gave light, responsive handling to the very powerful YZR500 bike that Giacomo Agostini rode and helped him to become 1975 World Champion. In 1977 the YPVS system was launched and utilized on the YZR500 (0W35K). That was the machine which helped Kenny Roberts to achieve his 3 consecutive World Championships during the 1978-1979-1980 period.

Kenny Roberts triple 1978-1979-1980 World Championship Winners

The 1980 bike (0W48) was the first with a high-rigidity aluminium frame. This frame concept was later “translated” into the now famous “Deltabox” configuration frame. In 1982 Yamaha changed the outline of the engine into a V4 (oW61)

Yamaha 0W76-1982

and Eddie Lawson had his 3 World Championships with these machines in 1984-1986-1988. After that nearly all other brands adopted the V4 engine for their G.P. bikes until the 4-stroke racers took over in 2003.

Yamaha V4 G.P. racers