away from any prying eyes. It is expected the engines will be good for several events before Yamaha exchanges them for fresh motors. The Moto3 Yamaha engine is to be a muchmodified version of the series production 689cc parallel-twin engine, known as the CP2, introduced in 2014 with the Yamaha MT-07. This engine powers multiple Yamaha models. In New Zealand and Australia, a Learner Approved Motorcycle( LAM) was available from the 2014 launch of the MT-07, using a 655cc version of the parallel twin. The 689cc version has a bore and stroke of 80.0 x 68.6mm, produces 73.4hp at 8750rpm and maximum torque of 67.0Nm at 6500rpm. The engine is also used in the XSR700, YZF-R7, Ténéré 700, and Tracer 700 models. It is expected that in order to meet the weight limit, many external castings on the series production engine will be replaced with magnesium alloy. It is possible that all that
will remain of the original engine will be the crankcases, cylinder and cylinder head castings( the teaser video appears to show a dry clutch- Ed).
TOUGH ASK Clearly there were many details to be finalised: it was originally thought an official announcement would be made at last September’ s Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi. Yamaha Motor Racing Managing Director Paolo Pavesio admitted that meeting the overall criteria( 120kg, 95hp and the € 50,000 price cap) was very challenging and involved a lot of time in feasibility studies.“ It was not an easy task,” Pavesio said in the the June 25 press conference, adding,“ In the moment we feel comfortable that all those criteria could be really correctly put together and this bike could be built as envisaged by those defining the rules.”
26 KIWI RIDER