2023-07-28 07:24:57
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Yamaha R1, the Japanese manufacturer invited current and previous racers to Mugello for two days, where they rode current and previous racing machines.
In addition to the endurance riders and former Yamaha aces, the six Superbike World Championship riders Toprak Razgatlioglu, Andrea Locatelli, Domi Aegerter, Remy Gardner, Bradley Ray and Lorenzo Baldassarri were also present in Mugello.
Aegerter was allowed to do a few laps on Steve Baker’s Yamaha TZ 750, which was used in the Formula 750 from 1974 to 1979 – the conceptual forerunner of today’s Superbike World Championship, in which tuned series machines were also used.
The TZ 750 has a water-cooled four-cylinder two-stroke engine, the last production model in 1979 had around 120 hp. It was the most powerful and fastest commercially available racing motorcycle of its time and was nicknamed “The Beast”.
For use in the Formula 750, Yamaha built special factory machines that were technically far ahead of the production bike and achieved up to 140 hp.
“It was a great experience that I was allowed to ride this bike on a racetrack like Mugello, which has a lot of history,” said Aegerter when meeting SPEEDWEEK.com in the Most paddock. «My bike was from 1977, every hair on my head stood up when I warmed it up. This smell and sound are very special, I was a bit nervous too. When I wanted to drive off, I stalled them first, which was embarrassing. Then I knew that I had to accelerate a little more and let the clutch slip a little longer. It was almost 15 years since I drove a two-stroke. Then it was really cool, I was able to do three laps. The seating position and the casing were of course completely different.”
“In terms of performance, I would have thought that she had more,” admitted the Swiss. “There’s no comparison to today’s superbike. But they also told me that the carburettor setting and the compression weren’t what they were at a race weekend. You could have gotten ten more horsepower out of that, they thought. But they didn’t want to break the original bike. We all drove very carefully, there weren’t any tire warmers on either. There was no timing either, it was just for fun. The bike sucks, but I honestly expected more. Gardner rode the 750 and the 500 and said the 500 has a lot more power.”
Aegerter described the 45-year-old racing machines as “another world” and made it clear: “The brakes are completely different. The grip was already there and the suspension worked a bit, they also had a windscreen. It’s not completely different. But back then they were a long way from the brakes, electronics and performance we have today. Today we brutally have a lot more power, but you can’t compare that so many years ago. Development comes with time. At that time, these were the fastest motorcycles that the heroes rode. If I attend an event like this again, I’ll be at the top of the list to test a 500. I’m really looking forward to it now.”
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