Yamaha Enters 50th Year Of Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix

2011 witnesses a landmark of World Championship Grand Prix racing
for Yamaha, having successfully competed at the highest level for
50 years. From the very first Grand Prix entry in the French GP of
1961 to today, Yamaha has been an icon at the forefront of Grand
Prix racing with countless victories delivered the world over to
the delight of the many loyal and dedicated fans. Yamaha will
commemorate this incredible achievement over the course of this
year with a number of actions.
A special 50th Anniversary logo has been created using Yamaha's
corporate colours and will be used during the season. The logo will
be proudly displayed on the 2011 YZR-M1 fuel tank, on all Yamaha
Factory Racing Team uniforms, within the pit garage of riders Jorge
Lorenzo and Ben Spies and also on the Yamaha Factory Racing
trucks.
The World GP 50th Anniversary will also be celebrated online with a
special dedicated website - 50TH YEAR OF ROAD RACING WORLD
CHAMPIONSHIP GRAND PRIX - live from tomorrow, 1st February 2011.
The website features an impressive archive tracking the history of
Yamaha's involvement with racing along with detailed historical
information. Throughout the season the site will be regularly
updated with columns and videos along with exclusive messages and
interviews of key people involved in the Yamaha story.
Several exciting events are also planned to bring some of the
glorious racing history to life. A special demonstration run for
the public and global media at Motegi in Japan will see iconic
machines back on track. The legends on the circuit for this special
event will include the 1974 YZR-500 (OW20), Yamaha's first 500cc
factory bike and the 1978 YZR-500 (OW35K) which delivered three
championships at the hands of Kenny Roberts. This event will also
be scheduled for Assen to allow European fans to take part in the
celebrations and see Yamaha's racing history come alive.
When Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies take their places on the grid to
contest the Dutch TT at Assen, their YZR-M1 race bikes will wear a
unique Yamaha 50th Anniversary livery design, reflecting Yamaha's
legendary GP racing activity.
Message from Hiroyuki Yanagi
President, CEO and Representative Director of Yamaha Motor Co.,
Ltd.
"As we enter the 2011 race season, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. will be
celebrating the 50th anniversary of the start of our Road Racing
World Championship Grand Prix category. These 50 years of continued
challenge at the top level of the sport would not have been
possible without the support of the fans, our suppliers and
sponsors and the race organizers. I would like to take this
opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to everyone for this.
Yamaha Motor Company began participating in races from the year of
our company's founding in 1955. Our history of competition in the
World GP began in 1961, when we entered a team with riders Taneharu
Noguchi and Fumio Ito in that year's French GP.
In these 50 years of competition, Yamaha has tasted sweet victories
as well as bitter defeats, but through it all we have never lost
the "spirit of challenge" that we started out with. Those ongoing
efforts have brought us countless technological breakthroughs and,
equally important, has enabled us to share the Kando* of racing
with people all over the world.
We are both grateful and proud that one of the highlights of our
history of World GP competition came last season, when Yamaha won
the Triple Crown of rider, team and manufacturer titles in the
pinnacle MotoGP class for the third consecutive year. This is
another achievement that would not have been possible without the
support of the fans and everyone involved. At the same time, I
believe it stands as proof that our spirit of challenge is as alive
today as it was five decades ago.
Although economic conditions and the business environment may be
tough at the moment, I promise that we will continue our race
efforts as the "Kando Creating Company" we strive to be. In
closing, I would like to express my gratitude once again and ask
for your ongoing support of Yamaha Motor's corporate
activities."
*Kando is a Japanese word for the simultaneous feeling of deep
satisfaction and intense excitement that people experience when
they encounter something of exceptional value.
Message from Shigeto Kitagawa
Senior Manager of Motorsports Development Division, Motorcycle
Business Operations, and President of Yamaha Motor Racing
Srl
"It is my honour to announce that this year marks the memorable
50th Anniversary of our great challenge for the Road Racing World
Championship Grand Prix, started in 1961.
Since then we have consistently produced many exciting scenes for
our global audience and various motorcycles for our customers with
excellent cutting edge technology from the racing world.
In this memorable year we are planning to express our gratitude to
the people all over the world who supported us with their help and
expectation. We will do this through the various events throughout
the season.
We will start strongly for the next 50 years remembering our
primary mission which is to create fresh emotion, new technologies
and potential engineers to contribute for the promised future".