Connect With Us
The 1960s-1980s race scene set the stage for Yoshimura’s greatness.
In 1964, a Yoshimura-tuned Honda CB77 won the Suzuka 18 Hours race and in 1971 a Yoshimura Honda CB750 led the Daytona 200 until a camshaft failure took them out of the race. In the late 1970s, Yoshimura began working with Suzuki and in 1978 together, they won the 1978 and 1979 Superbike with a 1978 and 1979 Suzuki GS1000. During this time, nonstop engineering kicked off at Yoshimura. After each race, the Yoshimura team worked on the bikes preparing for the next. In 1983, a 1983 Yoshimura TTF1 won the Suzuka 8 Hours race and in 1989, a Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R won the US Superbike Championship. Other 1989 wins included the All Japan TTF1 and TTF3 with a GSX-R750 and GSX-R400.
#yoshimura #yoshimurapower #suzuka18hours #hondacb750 #daytona200 #suzuki #suzukigs1000 #superbike #suzukigsxr #gsxr
For 25 years, Pop Yoshimura was the best Japanese four-stroke tuner, and his ethic remains with the company to this day.
In the early days of Yoshimura R&D, Pop was known for his “god hands”. He ground camshafts by hand, forged pistons, polished cylinder heads, and more. Pop even made his tools such as porting equipment and drills. He used his engineering skills to bring engine performance and durability to motorcycles that simply weren’t built for that level of performance.
Pop trained his son Fujio in his methods and together they continued to build and advance Yoshimura R&D.
#yoshimura #yoshimurapower #racing #engineering #handbuilt #performance #durability
The story of Yoshimura R&D dates back 77 years ago to a young man in post-WWII Japan, who wanted to become a pilot.
At the beginning of WWII, Hideo “Pop” Yoshimura was drafted by the Japanese military. Pop was training to become a fighter pilot but towards the end of his training, his plane’s engine failed, forcing him to jump for safety. His parachute didn’t deploy until moments before he hit the ground barely saving his life. Due to his injuries, Pops was no longer able to fly but, he was able to become a flight engineer, working on four-stroke gasoline engines.
After the war, Japan was populated with motorcycles—many of which belonged to American servicemen. Pops began utilizing his engineering skills to tune these motorcycles at his first shop near a USAF base and in 1954 he established Yoshimura Motors.
After the explosion of superbikes in the early 1970s, Pops moved to Los Angeles and established Yoshimura Racing (later Yoshimura Racing & Development of America). During this time Pops along with his son Fujio primarily worked on Honda and Kawasaki motorcycles.
In late 1976, Yoshimura R&D discovered the Suzuki GS750 and realized was Suzuki was going to be a serious competitor in the racing world. Pops and Fujio met with Suzuki America and a decades-long partnership was formed.
#yoshimura #yoshimurapower #popyoshimura #wwii #motorcycles #tuning #japan #losangeles #superbikes #suzukigs750 #suzuki
In 2015, the Brittens invaded Barber at the 11th Barber Vintage Festival. John Britten’s family as well as former Britten riders traveled to Birmingham for a weekend honoring the life and work of John Britten. At this once-in-a-lifetime event, nine of the ten Britten motorcycles were at the museum and five were able to hit the track with riders Chuck Huneycutt, Andrew Stroud and Stephen Briggs.
The Britten V1000 revolutionized the motorcycle industry with its futuristic design and engineering. What would you consider today’s Britten? Who's making a similar impact on the motorcycle industry?
#brittenv1000 #barbervintagefestival #cardinal #kiwi #bvmm #motorcyclesofinstagram #daytona
The Britten’s beauty was rivaled only by its engineering—engineering which led to numerous wins and broken records.
Between 1991 and 1999 the Britten V1000 won 39 races and set multiple top speed records. In 1993 the V1000 set the top speed at the Isle of Man Timed Trials, won the New Zealand Grand Prix and broke the world record for the standing start 1/4 mile at 134.617mph.
Behind many of these record-breaking races was rider Andrew Stroud. Stroud rode the Britten V1000 at Daytona in 1992 and 1994 and won the 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 Battle-of-the-Twins at Daytona. In 1995 Stroud won the World B.E.A.R.S Series just weeks before John Britten’s death.
#grandprix #worldrecord #isleofman #speed #britten #v1000
To design the Britten V1000, John Britten pulled inspiration from days past while utilizing unconventional ideas to forge the future of the superbike.
Older bikes such as 1920s Indians gave inspiration for the V-twin, stressed member engine. John utilized an under-seat, horizontal-mounted radiator and spent 70 hours creating the twisted exhaust system. Most parts were built by the Britten team (Murray Aitken, Hans Weekers, Mike Brosnan, Rob Selby and Jason Monopoli) but some came from outside sources such as the Kawasaki ramp clutch, Brembo brakes and Ohlins shocks.
John Britten’s early adaptation of carbon fiber and intense involvement of aerodynamics revolutionized the industry.
(photos one and two via "Dare to Dream. The John Britten Story" book)
#motorcyclesofinstagram #racing #custom #motos #superbike #supermoto #instabike #instamotogallery #brittenv1000
Today motorcycle enthusiast, published author, and founding partner of CR&S motorcycle firm Giorgio Sarti was an honored guest of Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.
Since 1998, Sarti has published books such as Bimota 25 Years of Excellence, the Historical Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle (currently at nine volumes) and Tutti gli Scooter del Mondo. Sarti’s passion for scooters also led him to publishing multiple Vespa titles.
Sarti is the most published Italian author of motorcycling titles and we are overjoyed to welcome him.
#vespa #bimota #motorcycles #motoengineer #bvmm #scooter
The Britten V1000’s colors are highly recognizable today, but developing these colors was an intense team effort.
Upon returning from a trip to Australia, John Britten presented Bob Brookland of AutoColor (now PPG) with an iridescent blue/purple, handblown starfish and challenged him to recreate the color. Brookland succeeded and to this day PPG is the only entity that knows the special mix. Next, John presented the team with a pink mudguard which was immediately rejected. He later returned with the mudguard a slightly darker pink and eventually, the team grew to love the color.
John also made sure to pay homage to his home country in the motorcycle’s design by incorporating the Southern Cross constellation from the New Zealand flag.
(photo two via britten.co.nz)
#brittenv1000 #1000cc #bikesofinstagram #instabike #supermoto