Racing Philosophy

Sharing the passion and joy of motorsports with people all over the world

For Yamaha Motor, racing is in our DNA. It has been an integral part of our corporate culture since the company's founding. Yamaha Motor entered its first race at the Mt. Fuji Ascent Race—one of the biggest in Japan at the time—with our newly released YA-1 model just 10 days after the company was founded. So, you could even say that the history of our race activities is a central pillar of our corporate history as well. Yamaha was an unknown brand at the time, but we won our debut race in dominating style. Despite being a latecomer among the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers, Yamaha’s racing success quickly spread word of the performance and reliability of its motorcycles.

Then, taking to heart our founder's vision of “If you are going to do it, try to be the best,” Yamaha Motor set out to compete on the world stage, beginning with our first international race entry at the 1958 Catalina GP in the United States, and later our entry into the World Championships in 1961. Since then, we have expanded our racing activities to regions around the globe with participation in the Road Racing and Motocross world championships and more. For over half a century, these challenges we have taken on in the race arena together with numerous legendary riders have brought Yamaha a brilliant record of success.

The Yamaha Motor group is currently conducting its racing activities in line with the following three basic policies: branding, feedback of technology and promotional activities. More specifically, we see racing activities—from local events to MotoGP—as a way to bring Kando^* and the “joy of watching motorsports” to people all over the world; a rolling laboratory to develop advanced technologies; and a way to offer young people opportunities and establish a step-up type structure to help train the next generation of riders. All of this is powered by the Spirit of Challenge that we have embraced as a company since our founding in 1955.

*Kando is a Japanese word for the simultaneous feelings of deep satisfaction and intense excitement that we experience when we encounter something of exceptional value.