Yamaha is unquestionably one of the great names in motorcycle racing with extraordinary commitment to racing, rather than just building and selling the bikes commercially. It was Yamaha who produced the first over-the-counter racing superbike, the TZ750 whilst also gaining over 350 GP victories to date. Colin MacKellar, with the help of interviews with some of the key personalities that influenced Yamaha's fortunes and covering both technical advances and racing success, charts the development of the first YAl and its successors. He looks at the early factory RD and RA racers, the giant-killing TDs and TRs and the mythical TZ750 superbike, before rounding off the story with an analysis of the YZ250, the mainstay of production racing over the last twenty years, and the OW and YZR factory racers in the Blue Ribband 500cc GP class. AUTHOR: Colin Mackellar is an expert on the sport and the great racing marques. He is the author of two books on Yamaha's street and competition machines. He has also spent time at Silverstone trying our racing for himself. ILLUSTRATIONS: 150 b/w photos

Author Biography

Colin MacKellar has been writing about motorcycles for the past twenty-five years. He was an early adopter of web-based journalism, working with Motorcycle Online from 1996 until 2002, including stints as World Super Bike and Moto GP correspondent. He lives in Holland.