Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter

April 14, 2017 (Issue No. 52)

The “Rev” in Yamaha’s Businesses

Yamahaʼs Endeavors in Motorsport Furthering Technology and Skills While Sharing the Joy of Victory

Maverick Viñales and of the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team scored double podium finishes at both the opening and second rounds of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship, and the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team’s two rookies finished Round 2 in 5th and 6th, getting Yamaha’s 2017 campaign off to a superb start.

The 2017 motorsport season got underway with the adventure that is the world-renowned Dakar Rally. This season, Yamaha Motor continues to field factory teams in series like the MotoGP World Championship and the Motocross World Championship’s MXGP class while working closely with its bases around the world to contest a wide range of racing categories and championships with official teams and rider support programs. With each and every win, we further the technological and personnel development that helps secure those victories, aiming to fulfill our “Revs your Heart” brand slogan. In this issue, we introduce the foundation of historic results and achievements Yamaha has achieved since it began as a company, and the aims, meaning and efforts behind Yamaha’s motorsport activities conducted today with an even more global scope.

Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter 1 Victory Makes Yamaha Shine: around the world, taking numerous race Raising Brand Value wins as well as seeing consider able success in local marketing efforts. Shortly a fter separ ating the motorcy cle This is how our mo torsport a ctivities business from Nippon Gakki Co ., Ltd. began, and with Y amaha on t rack this (today’s Y amaha Corpor ation) and MotoGP season to clai m its 500th Grand becoming an inde pendent c ompany, Prix win (across all classes), Yamaha Motor Co ., Ltd. entered its first this historic achievement will stand as a race on July 10, 1955. The goal was to symbolic testament to the road the promote sales of its first product that had company has paved along the way. just been released, the YA-1. At the time, there were already around 200 different motorcycle manufac turers act ive in Japan, so for a brand originating from a musical instrument compan y making a first-time entry i nto the industry with a product nobody had heard of, a promotion that would mak e a strong impact was needed. To that end, Yamaha chose to be gin the challenge with one of Japan’ s largest motorcycle ev ents: the Mt. Fuji Ascent In 2013 at Round 17, the GP of Japan, Yamaha took its Race. “If you’re going to do it , try to be 200th victory in the pinnacl e class of Gr and Prix road the best! ” With fo unding president racing (500cc/MotoGP). Genichi Kawakami’s words driving them on, the ri ders and Y A-1s—developed Feedback from Hard-Won based on the German DKW R T125—met Results: Technology and Yamaha’s expectations with their Product Development performance, not only winning the 125cc class r ace but also taking sev en of the In motorsport, one of the most important top nine spots at the finish. Then at the factors in taking a w in is the machine Asama Highlands R ace in No vember, itself. In 1 957, Yamaha entered its first Yamaha s wept the podium and all of factory machine, the YD Racer, into the Japan q uickly learned of Yamaha Asama Hi ghlands Race. From then, motorcycles and the race-winning YA-1. Yamaha dev eloped machines while Then in 1958, Y amaha entered the making entries into the premier classes Catalina Grand Prix to gain a foothold in of a ho st of championships—both the U .S. mark et under President domestically and int ernationally—from Kawakami’s firm belief of “it isn’t a the R oad R acing World Championship product if it isn’ t world-class.” As the (today’s MotoGP) and motocross to trials Yamaha ri der from Japan made a and rallies. tremendous charge from the very back of At the sa me time, the technological the pack, passionate cheers went up successes and know-how gained in these from the crowd of spectators. Judging by pursuits w ere fed ba ck into pro duction the enthusiasm, it w as cle ar that models an d offered t o priv ateer teams Yamaha’s racing efforts had transcended and amateur racers on a wide scale. For national b orders to bring Kando* to example, the YDS-1 launched in 1959 many and raised the value of the brand. was a spor t model dev eloped ba sed on the YD Racer, and the D T-1 tr ail bik e Kando * is a Japanese word for the simultaneous released in 1968 w as dev eloped feeling of deep sati sfaction and i ntense excitement t hat peopl e experi ence when they reflecting technology from Y amaha’s encounter something of exceptional value. factory m otocross machine. For suc h models, Yamaha provided a wealth of kit From the 1960s, Y amaha became parts suita ble for competition and this actively involved in motorsport in North gave birth to dedicated production racers America, Europe, Asi a and other areas for the road racing, motocross and trials

Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter 2 categories. Y ear by y ear, these models in the All Japan championships and the underwent further development as they Endurance R oad R ace. permeated the moto rsports landscape This in turn pro vides v aluable feedback around the world. Together with the that mak es its w ay into our products. exploits of the facto ry racing teams, Yamaha also set up a system to better these production r acers helped solidify supply parts and info rmation to official Yamaha’s image as a brand for racing. teams and Y amaha-supported teams competing in various regions.

Training the Next Generation: Spread and Promotion

Another very important fa ctor in Yamaha’s racing activities is the people, especially the riders who act as the team’s face and are instrume ntal in achieving results. Numerous rid ers lik e former ro ad r acing world ch ampions , Eddie Lawson and Wayne In Japan in the 1970s, one-make races held for DT Series Rainey or motocros s greats Heikki motorcycles modified with kit parts helped popularize Mikkola and Stefa n Everts, b uilt up a motocross and promote sales at the same time. strong relationship of trust with Yamaha Also, sev eral indivi dual technologies as they co ntested their races, and their were intro duced on a wide variety o f racing exploits and presence helped products, such as the Y amaha P ower strengthen the Yamaha brand, making it Valve System (YPVS), a variable exhaust shine. Again in 2017, stars that include valve system that smoothed out the dips MotoGP’s V alentino R ossi and Ma verick in the torque curv e of 2-stroke engines, Viñales are contesting the premier the Monocross suspension that classes of various world championships. overturned conventional riding practices And in regi onal championships in North of the tim e with its lighter handling America, Europe and Asia as well as characteristics and the Deltabo x fr ame, national championships, riders racing for which greatly impro ved chassis rigidit y Yamaha are aiming for titles. and strength. In various fields, from At the sa me time, Y amaha has been riding a round town to more sport y devoting its efforts in recent y ears to excursions or produc tion-based r acing, developing young, promising riders. Like Yamaha m otorcycles inherit a handling its production racers of the past, Yamaha character unique to the brand epitomized wants to use its R-Series and YZ/WR by a light , agile feel and ex ceptional Series of machines to help the next performance. This has been passed down generation of ride rs achiev e their in recent years from the MotoGP factory dreams. With thes e hopes, Y amaha machine to the YZF-R1, with s tandout began holding the one-make Y amaha examples being the crossplane ASEAN Cup R ace in Asia, a reg ion with crankshaft engine for d ramatically enormous demand for motorcy cles. improved usabilit y and chassis-related Following that, the focus switched to the technologies lik e the bik e’s Inertial Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC), Measurement Unit (IMU) that senses where Yamaha runs or supports teams in attitude changes across six axes. the SuperSport 600 (S S600) and Asia On top of these and other achievements, Production 250 (AP250) clas ses. In Yamaha returned to entering factory addition, Y amaha and V alentino R ossi’s racing teams in 2015—the year marking VR46 Riders Academ y came together to the compan y’s 60th anniv ersary—in create and put on the VR46 Master Japan, the home base for Yamaha Camp, a special project to tr ain and Motor’s technical dev elopment. Yamaha develop y oung r acers. One of the strengthened its data gathering and participants w as 2 016 AP250 Class analysis efforts in actual r acing, such as Champion Apiw at W ongthananon. The

Yamaha Motor Monthly Newsletter 3 Thai rider’s future prospects and more riders in the Eu ropean Motocross were highly praised and he was given the Championship. In Japan, Yamaha’s youth opportunity to contest the 2017 CEV teams in road r acing and motocross will Moto3 Junior World Championship. both have a rider step up to compete on factory teams. Of those, road racer Kohta Nozane will also make his full-time debut in the Endur ance W orld Championship . The achievements of these young riders not only bolsters r acing culture but also acts as a driving force in s parking interest in and demand for motorcy cles in each respectiv e region, and their continued growth is something to look forward to. Racing is also an environment well-suited to helping young engineers grow. From Anupab Sarmoon of the Y amaha Thailand R acing Team entering a Yamaha employee-run team finished on the podium in the opening two AP250 races of the 2 017 ARRC seaso n. The ARRC is f ast be coming a in the 2015 Suzuka 8 Hours to getting gateway fro m Asia to i nternational motorcycle experience as part of race crews in the competition. ARRC and All Japa n championships, In North America, the bLU cRU program Yamaha sees racing as a chance for these was started in 2013 to offer support to engineers to pick up diverse and valuable beginner and amateur racers. Initially for skills about Yam aha Monozukuri off-road motorcy cle racing, it now (engineering, manufacturing and includes road r acing as well as A TV and marketing). ROV r acing. The pro gram has steadily That is wh y Yamaha Motor asks what it achieved results such as produc ing the can offer c ustomers through racing and likes of Cooper W ebb and other activ e how it should approach r acing as a AMA Supercross riders, and the initiative manufacturer. Y amaha has alw ays is now being put i nto place in Japan, moved forw ard in the world of Europe and other a reas, each with its motorsports while asking these own unique arrangement. In Europe, the questions with an eye on the future, and bLU cRU C hallenge has been se t up to that will not change as we continue to coincide with the new Supersport 300 challenge for the win. World Championship established for 2017 with six riders chosen for the program competing on YZF-R3s, while a newly formed youth team will field three

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Message from the Editor

The 2017 season of MotoGP finally got started on the last weekend of March, and Maverick Viñales has already taken two consecutive wins and Valentino Rossi joined him on the podium both times in 3rd and 2nd place! The following week saw good starts for Yamaha riders in various championships, such as Spanish rider Daniel Valle finishing 2nd in the first‐ever Supersport 300 World Championship race, and Anupab Sarmoon taking 3rd in the overall AP250 class standings at the opening round of the Asia Road Racing Championship. Yamaha’s global racing heroes and local racing heroes are bringing excitement to the races and helping to increase their popularity. According to in‐house surveys, the percentage of Yamahas on the grid in races around the world is going up every year. With the close support we have in place, I hope we’ll see this trend continue!

Ryoko Ota

Communication Planning Group, Corporate Communication Division, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. 2500 Shingai, Iwata, Shizuoka, 〒438-8501 Japan TEL. 0538-32-1145 FAX. 0538-37-4250 E-mail: [email protected]

*Prior to any use of the article(s) and photographs contained within this newsletter, please contact me.

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