Up-Close with the Yamaha YZF-R1 Suzuka 8-Hours Race Bike

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.

Featuring three riders who were close in lap times, and capable of carrying the load equally, the Yamaha Factory Racing Team was the only factory outfit to run all of its riders at the Suzuka 8-Hours.

Of course, running at the pointy end of the Suzuka field means more than just good riders, you need to have a strong team and motorcycle with you as well.

The Suzuka 8-Hours Yamaha YZF-R1 is a superbike on steroids. Free from spec-tires, spec-electroncis, and the other rulebook trappings of modern motorcycle racing, Yamaha has been able to bring the best of the best to this machine.

Machine-learning traction control from the MotoGP glory years, race-specific rubber from Bridgestone, a bevy of quick-change parts. It is quite the motorcycle to see in person, and unless you were at Suzuka this weekend, this is as close as you will get to it.

Click through the gallery below to get an up-close look at the 2019 Yamaha YZF-R1 “Tech 21” Suzuka 8-Hours race bike. We’ve left notes on photos we thought of particular interest.

Keep your enemies close.

Crash bobbins are a must at Suzuka 8-Hours. Note, the KYB suspension.

That billet aluminum front stand mount matches up with a very trick front stand.

Check out the beefy bracket for the rear stand, which doubles as a swingarm “shark fin” protector.

Safety wire everything, including the transponder. That Brembo master cylinder for the rear brake is pure sex too.

Full titanium exhausts are standard at the Suzuka 8-Hours, as are copious amounts of carbon fiber.

“I’m sorry Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Carbon fiber brake levers, because race bike.

Tech inspected, Yamaha approved.

That’s a proper safety wire job on the right-hand grip. Also, note the remote lever adjuster for the front brake.

Will 2019 be five in a row for Yamaha at Suzuka?

It looks easy on the bike…

Alex Lowes is easy to spot with his King Kenny Roberts tribute helmet.

Everyone should remember Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga for his MotoGP podium at Valencia, but here at Suzuka is where he really shines.

Alex Lowes contemplates life, the universe, and everything.

But, this is the face of a man that just did an hour at the Suzka 8-Hours

Michael van der Mark eyes the competition before the start.

Kats putting the Yamaha Factory Racing Team R1 on “full send” during qualifying.

Michael van der Mark celebrates a hard-fought day, but it wasn’t over yet.

Photos: © 2019 Steve English – All Rights Reserved

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