TO THE TUNE OF 60
Yamaha hasn’t won as many grand prix races as Honda, but the Hamamatsu manufacturer is arguably the greatest racing brand of them all. The company contested its first grand prix in May 1961 and since then has always featured in GPs, either with factory bikes or privateer machines, unlike GP racing’s other great marques, Honda and Suzuki.
During the last 60 years Yamaha has anointed some of motorcycling’s greatest world champions, including Phil Read, Jarno Saarinen, Giacomo Agostini, ‘King’ Kenny Roberts, Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.
Yamaha started out making musical instruments – hence the tuning fork logo – in the late 19th century and expanded into motorcycles in the 1950s. Its first GP bike wasn’t even a Yamaha. The RA41 was made by rival motorcycle manufacturer
