Tag Archives: Yamaha

Wayne Rainey vs. Kevin Schwantz

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The MotoGP website put together this documentary about one of the most fierce and unique rivalries in the history of the series between Americans Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz. They raced against each other for 7 years in MotoGP, Rainey for Yamaha and Schwantz for Suzuki. Their relationship started off as hatred for each other as both riders had vastly different riding styles. Over the years, the guys started to learn from each other and develop a deep mutual respect that they still have to this day. Unfortunately embedding has been disabled so click over to YouTube to check out the video:

Rainey vs. Schwantz: An all-American duel

Source: MotoGP on YouTube

2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on a Yamaha R1

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Here’s some exciting on-board footage from a Yamaha R1 racing up this year’s Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. This particular rider posted a 11:02.201 which was good for 2nd in class, 4th fastest motorcycle and 14th overall. The overall motorcycle record was a 9:52.819 set by Carlin Dunne on a Ducati Multistrada 1200 S. Even though the course was fully paved this year, Ducati still though the adventure bike had more benefits than an all out street bike. If I had to guess, I would say it probably has to do with acceleration torque coming out of the tight bends.


Source: YouTube user TheGECCO

2012 Superbike Shootout – Cycle World

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Cycle World rounded up the the current crop of superbikes and took them for two days of testing at Miller Motorsports Park with Eric Bostrom. They first tested the “workhouse” bikes that cost under $20,000 and then pitted the winner up against the “exotics” that were over 20 grand. This year has been pretty interesting in the motorcycle industry because just about all of the big companies are introducing traction and stability control. Eric Bostrom says this shootout is really about who was able to best tame the power and inertia of the 1000cc engines.


Source: Cycle World Magazine on YouTube

Record Motorcycle Lap Around Nurburgring

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This is the on-board footage of Andy Carlile, a 33 year old Englishmen who lives in Germany, setting the record Bridge to Gantry Nurburgring lap time on a motorcycle. He’s not part of a massive factory backed effort or professional race team. He’s riding his personal street legal 2005 Yamaha R1. The bike is mostly stock outside of wheels, tires and shocks. His lap time? 7 minutes 10 seconds with a couple of seconds lost to traffic. To put that in perspective, a Dodge Viper ACR runs a 7:12, the Lexus LFA Nurburgring package runs a 7:14 and the Corvette ZR-1 runs a 7:19. Carlile thinks he could go faster, but not so fast that he could break the 6 minute mark.


Sources: BridgeToGantry.com via Asphalt and Rubber