To challenge has been in our DNA from the very foundation of our company. As we were at that time new to the already existing motorcycle business, we had to prove ourselves. To make sure the media, customers and other players in the industry took Yamaha seriously, we put all our efforts into preparing the YA-1 for winning the 3rd Mount Fuji Ascent Race, that took place only one week after Yamaha was officially founded on 1st July 1955! Yamaha rider Teruo Okada won that race. Moreover, six more YA-1 riders finished in the top ten of that race. The next race - the 1st Asama Highland Race – was four months later. There, Yamaha took the 1st to the 4th place in the 125cc class and went on to win the 125cc and 250cc class races in the 2nd Asama Highland Race in 1957. The excellent performance and quality of the YA-1 but also the “never-give-up” attitude convinced them all that Yamaha was a serious contender that was to be taken into account.
However, we don’t race solely for the sake of racing. New technologies developed by the Yamaha Racing teams have been shared with the production team and implemented into production models. This is still the case today and it will always be the case in the future.
