Yamaha R1 Race-only version revealed

Japanese giant Yamaha is all set to make a serious play to get back in the top ranks in WSBK. To help them along, they’ve just unveiled an off-the-shelf version of its 2016 R1 that’s built purely for race teams. That’s right; this won’t be available for customers but only for racing teams. It’s basically a lower-priced version of the base R1. This striped down version comes with most of the road-orientated parts already removed to help cut down on costs. So there’s no license plate hanger, pillion seat, mirrors or graphics. Just an all-black, part-stripped machine ready to be ridden hard and turned into a complete performance racing machine.



For now it’s only on sale through selected race motorcycle dealers in Japan and is based on the European-spec R1. The European-spec R1 is the most powerful and tuneable version from Yamaha and will only be offered in limited numbers to bona fide race teams. Surprisingly though the orders have already started rolling in with bookings soon to be closed on December 21st 2015. In Japan, the motorcycles price is 1,944,000 yen, or around Rs.10.58 lakh. Yamaha will also be offering a similarly stripped version of the R6 for the same purpose of racing and for a limited ordering period ending on December 21st as well with much of its road-going kit removed. The R6 surprisingly though retains its mirrors. Like the R1, it’s based on the European-spec model despite only being on sale in Japan.