1960 YAMAHA YDS1 SCRAMBLER
Today the name Yamaha is synonymous with racing.
Yamaha Motor Corporation was originally created in 1955 as a repurposed company from long-standing Nippon Gakki, a conglomerate with roots dating back to 1889 when Torakusu Yamaha formed the musical company Yamaha Organ Manufacturing; thus the famous tuning fork logo. The new motor company’s mission was to develop and manufacture motorcycles.
Fittingly, Yamaha’s race history begins with the very first Yamaha, the YA1, launched in May 1955 and powered by a nondescript 125cc 2-stroke engine based on DKW’s RT 125 piston-port single. Two months after releasing the YA1 to dealers, Yamaha’s factory race team, itself still in the embryonic stage, entered a small squadron of the 125cc roadster for Japan’s most prestigious domestic race at the time, the Mt. Fuji Ascent Race. This marked the third year for the event that featured a one-way 24.2-kilometer (15.1 miles) course snaking its way partially up Mt. Fuji before reaching an altitude of 1,400 meters (4,600 feet) at the finish line. Racers were timed on the course to determine the winner; Japan’s fledging motorcycle industry paid close attention to who won — and who didn’t win.
Subsequently, Yamaha entries dominated the commercial bike division at Mt. Fuji in 1955, not only winning but crowding seven bikes among the top 10 finishers. Later that year a small armada of YA1 team bikes swept the top four spots at the inaugural closed-course Asama Highlands Race. Success breeds success and YA1
