Yamaha: the New Dawn

In the 1960s, Yamaha transitioned from instruments to motorcycle racing, quickly dominating with their innovative two-stroke engines and riders.

In the early 1960s, Japanese firm Yamaha, previously known as a musical instrument maker, took their first faltering steps into the arena of top flight motorcycle racing. They were comparative latecomers in this world, but soon made stars of riders like Phil Read and Bill Ivy. Their two-stroke engines developed quickly, and within a few short years they were challenging rivals Honda for the top places in the world’s most prestigious race, the Isle of Man TT. By the early 1970s, Yamaha had emerged from the shadow of their competitors to dominate Grand Prix motorcycle sport with their TZ models. More than this though, Yamaha democratised racing by building a machine that was both capable of winning, and also within the reach of any aspiring motorcycle racer. The engine was so versatile – and so effective – that it even lent itself to powering three wheeled machines, and a clutch of sidecar World Championships also fell to Yamaha as a result. The biggest names of the decade – Grant, Mortimer, Williams, O’Dell and Taylor – wrote their names in the TT history books under the Yamaha banner.