Yamaha yzf r1 2009

“MotoGP technology for the street.” We’ve all heard this more times than we care to remember, from the very second GP racing went back to four-stroke machines, thus relating them to the production world. No matter how tenuous the connection, GP to street became a PR mantra. Personally, my ears started bleeding about the 100th press release or intro I attended where this was the spin of the day.

After a 15-hour flight to Eastern Creek Raceway outside Sydney, Australia, the first words from Yamaha’s mouth about the 2009 Yamaha R1 are: “born from MotoGP.” Not again... But they did fly us halfway around the world to see the thing, so before I brushed it under the table as hopeless PR propaganda and turned my iPod on, I gave them a couple minutes to explain. And, for once, it was actually worth a listen