Yamaha Introduces Racing Heritage Club At EICMA 2021

Vintage bikes need some EICMA love too.

By: Dustin Wheelen

Nov 24, 2021 at 1:29pm ET

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New bike launches and updated model announcements dominate EICMA headlines every year. However, not all motorcyclists are keen on newfangled tech and shiny new toys. Some folks enjoy fiddling with carburetors, pre-mixing fuel, and turning the wrench on older bikes. For those folks, the Yamaha Racing Heritage Club (YRHC) is the kind of EICMA news that perks up ears.

Team Blue’s historical preservation club will bring together owners of classic Yamaha racing bikes from multiple disciplines. Once collectors register their machines with YRHC, they will gain support from Yamaha engineers and access to technical data to help maintain the vintage motorcycle. Members will also receive discounts on genuine Yamaha parts and assistance with suitable replacements for discontinued parts.

"We have founded the Yamaha Heritage Racing Club not just to commemorate Yamaha's rich and storied racing history, but also to safeguard it and to bring it alive for future generations to enjoy in person,” noted Yamaha Motor Europe Marketing Director Paolo Pavesio. “We want these bikes to be seen and heard once again, not just to sit idle in a collection, which is why supporting collectors to restore and maintain their bikes is one of the primary objectives of the YHRC.”

The program will accept road racing Grand Prix machines from 1955 until the end of the two-stroke era (2003) along with production class Superbike World Championship (WSBK) and Endurance World Championship (EWC) motorcycles from 1987-2009. YHRC will also admit Dakar rally bikes raced in Africa before 2007 and motocross bikes raced before 1998.

“We want to share our racing heritage with as wide an audience as possible, which is why the YRHC will attend a number of events each year to showcase these historic bikes, bringing them together with riders both past and present to keep our heritage alive,” concluded Pavesio.