Yamaha Motor Europe is making the most out of Toprak Razgatlıoğlu’s WorldSBK Championship title (along with the tuning fork brand taking the triple crown in the World Superbike series), and they have something special for 21 lucky buyers.
Making a limited-edition replica of Toprak Razgatlıoğlu’s Yamaha YZF-R1, the PATA Yamaha squad is making the bikes in Crescent Racing workshop.
Race replicas are nothing new in the motorcycle industry. Take your street model, slap some paint and sponsor graphics on it, and call it good. Easy peasy. The folks at Yamaha Motor Europe didn’t get that memo, however.
Teaming up with the YART GTYR Pro Shop, these stalwarts of the tuning fork brand have created a unique YZF-R1 that pays homage to another of their sister outfits, the Petronas-backed Sepang Racing Team.
For a brief moment, the Yamaha Factory Racing Team was a five-time winner (in a row, I might add) at the Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race.
That reality was eventually snatched away by the FIM Endurance World Championship race direction officials, who this weekend learned something new about their rulebook, but the race run by the factory-backed Yamaha team was no less impressive.
For nearly eight hours, the team’s three riders (Alex Lowes, Michael van der Mark, and Katsuyuki Nakasuga) kept in check the best efforts by the Kawasaki Racing Team and Red Bull Honda squads, and it wasn’t until the final stint that Alex Lowes lost track of a raging Jonathan Rea.
Just last week, Yamaha unveiled the latest iteration of its YZF-R1 superbike, which sees a number of updates coming to the original liter-bike for the 2020 model year.
The machine is more evolution than revolution, and if we are really honest, the 2020 Yamaha YZF-R1 is really a refresh to keep the folks at Iwata relevant in the big-displacement sport bike category.
As such, we see changes coming to the bike’s cylinder head, airbox, and bodywork, along with updates to the software and suspension.
All of this is to ensure that the Yamaha YZF-R1 is inline with what is being offered by other brands in the superbike space.
Did you feel that? Updates have landed for the 2020 Yamaha YZF-R1 and 2020 Yamaha YZF-R1M motorcycles, with Yamaha debuting the bikes this weekend at the Laguna Seca round for the WorldSBK Championship.
As our bothan spies already reported, the updates are subtle ones, mostly geared towards refining the R1 to keep in touch with its competitors, and to provide the race team with the necessary changes they need under the homologation rules.
This makes the 2020 update very much an evolution, not revolution, for the Yamaha YZF-R1. As such, we see changes coming to the bike’s cylinder head, airbox, and bodywork, along with updates to the software and suspension.
The 2020 Yamaha YZF-R1 has been the subject of much rumor lately, as it appears the Japanese brand is getting ready to bring a new version for the next model year. What the bike will entail though is subject to some debate, however.
Over in Europe, there has been no shortage of speculation about the new superbike, fueled by patent applications from Yamaha over the past few years.
Reading those rumors now, our own Bothan spies from within the Iwata factory’s ranks have reached out to us, in an effort to set the record straight. The news is a mixture of good and bad.
Rumors of a new Yamaha YZF-R1 continue to swirl in the motosphere, and for the most part they rehash the same lines that we heard a month ago.
Namely, that would be a new four-cylinder engine, a seamless gearbox, variable valve timing, and updated electronics. Today though, we see another feature added to the list, one that is actually pretty interesting.
Get the gears turning, because the rumor mill is starting to churn away on speculation for the next generation Yamaha YZF-R1.
This particular rumor looks towards the 2021 model year, when the Euro5 regulations for motorcycles take effect. Of course to that, we say “well of course there is.”
We will get to all that in a minute, but first, the buzz from Europe on what we can expect to see from Yamaha in two years’ time.
Ten Kate Racing will be making a return to the WorldSBK paddock. At either Imola or Jerez, the Dutch squad will be racing a Yamaha YZF-R1 with Loris Baz.
With still some testing and development left to do, racing at Imola in early May is a tough challenge, but Ten Kate will definitely be racing at the Jerez round of WorldSBK to be held from June 7th – 9th.
If you were hoping to get your hands on a Yamaha YZF-R1 GYTR superbike, well…you have probably missed your chance.
A limited production of only 20 motorcycles, the Yamaha YZF-R1 GYTR sales window was open for less than 24 hours, before the bike completely sold out.
Based off the machine that won this year’s Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race, which in turn is based off the original R1 livery design from 1999, the Yamaha YZF-R1 GYTR is quite the looker and it comes with a bevy of go-fast parts.
The Yamaha YZF-R1 clocked its 20th anniversary this year, a monumental achievement for the original 1,000cc superbike.
Potent from its first debut in 1998, the YZF-R1 is still at the top of the heap, winning the 2018 MotoAmerica Championship, as well as an unprecedented four-in-a-row victories at the prestigious Suzuka 8-Hours endurance race.
To help celebrate this birthday, Yamaha Motor has been touting a throwback livery on its racing machines, and now the Iwata brand is making that red and white livery available to its European fans.
More than just a paint job though, this 2019 Yamaha YZF-R1 GYTR superbike has some very trick parts, which will make the 20 lucky souls who buy one very happy.