racing is an actual laboratory

[dcstrom]

This is not news - we know the Super Tenere's electronics didn't get their sophistication just because a bunch of electronics geeks came up with some good ideas in a lab... they came from years of development and testing, mainly on the MotoGP bikes. Yamaha's position on new rules for MotoGP in 2013 confirms this again;

Red line #2: No development freeze

"Cost reduction is an essential matter," said Masahiko Nakajima, general manager of Yamaha's Motorsport Development Division.

"But if there is a freeze on development - such as you must continue to use the end of 2012 spec engine for three years [similar to F1] - then Yamaha is not interested in MotoGP.

"We go racing to introduce new technology and then feed that technology back to the production bike. For us 'racing is an actual laboratory'."

 

[Tremor38]

Classic example of the wrong people having too much power, and brokering it out to slant the playing field. I agree with Yamaha's position. Either keep up or get out of the way. I guess everyone else is just happy to get a paycheck.

 

[creggur]

Exactly! Racers are our test pilots for new technology.

I worked for Audi for 12 years, starting in 1997. It was amazing to see how much better, and more advanced, the street cars became after they got back into racing the Le Mans Series in 2000. It was like a technological whirlwind on the development, and deployment into street cars, over the last 9 years I was involved with the brand.

Racing makes a huge difference - plain and simple...

 

[Yamaguy55]

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday? Hmmmm, what a thought.