Most manufacturers offer a range of products to enhance their supersport offerings, but few brands do it on the same level as Yamaha. Following in the footsteps of the brand's coveted YEC tuning parts, the introduction of GYTR (Genuine Yamaha Technology Racing) in more recent years has brought a broader, more sophisticated and more readily available range of performanceenhancing products to the market, catering for all of Yamaha's models from the R3 all the way up to the R1 and offering everything from cylinder heads to underslung rear caliper mounting kits. Quite simply, if you own a Yamaha and want to make it a weapon on the track, you owe it to yourself to check out the huge range of kit hosted on www.yamaha-racing.com. You'll be blown away by what's on offer, but you might also be left wondering just what kind of difference all these fancy parts actually make on a bike? Are they really worth the investment? And which products offer the best return for your money? Those questions were answered fully for me following a chance to head out to the Paul Ricard circuit in France to try out not just GYTR brimmed machines, but standard counterparts too – meaning I had a proper gauge of the differences made.
R6 RACE
To start the test and become familiarised with the circuit, it was the R6 Race I swung my leg over.
Although this machine is labelled with ‘Race’, it is in fact slightly misleading as it's just the standard bike with the non-essential road parts – such as the number plate, mirrors and lights – removed.
The R6 is no longer available to the European market as a roadgoing machine due to tightening emission regulations and a shift in the EU market, so it is only available as a track bike and can be purchased in this basic state – a blank canvas, if you will.
It is priced at £12,400 and although it isn't spec'd with any GYTR parts, it's still a weapon. You must remember this is still a road bike though, so ABS is present and that soon became an issue out on track. For the average track day rider, it probably wouldn't be a concern, but
