Yamaha News,ENG,No.4,2007,10月,10月,Technology Without Borders,Technology ,Up Front,Opening the doors to a new future of global technology deployment,Motorcycle,T135,DiASil Cylinder,Building an ASEAN market strategy around the “DiASil Cylinder” and the T135,PT. Yamaha Indonesia Motor Manufacturing,Shinji Terashita,Decisive leaders taking on new challenges,PT. Yamaha Motor Parts Manufacturing Indonesia,Toshikatsu Koike,Creating a high-value-added market in the ASEAN region,Hiroshi Yoshii,Dedication to the DiASil Cylinder,Wataru Fuchigami,Another challenge and a new evolution,Mineo Yamamoto,Yamaha people connecting Japan and the ASEAN region,Takeshi Oishi,What is the DiASil (Die-cast Aluminum-Silicon alloy) Cylinder?,Shoutarou Tanaka,Masashi Yagi,Hiroki Yamaki,Kunio Adachi,The Yamaha Tales - Vol. 8,Looking to the frontiers – “Crossing the Eurasian continent on a Majesty 250”,Shinji Kazama,Majesty 250,The adventurer Shinji Kazama,A new adventure on a scooter,Touring the Eurasian continent,Visiting hospitals,Future activities,Racing Express,Antonio Cairoli and the YZ250F Win Second World Title!,Racing,MX2,De Carli Yamaha Team,Antonio Cairoli,YZ250F,Injuries drop Coppins to 3rd in the ranking,MX1,YAMAHA RACING 21,Josh Coppins,YZ450FM,Back on the top step of the MotoGP podium,MotoGP,YAMAHA RACING 81,Marc de Reuver,YZF-R1,Round 11 win keeps Hagaʼs title hopes alive!,WSB,YAMAHA AUSTRIA RACING TEAM #07,Valentino Rossi,Top Yamaha team finishes 9th,Suzuka 8-hour Endurance Race,TEAM ZONE ROUGE YAMAHA BELGIQUE,Colin Edwards,Suzuka,PHASE ONE ENDURANCE,Noriyuki Haga,ENDURANCE MOTO 38,Troy Corser,TEAM LTG 57,MACO MOTO RACING TEAM,World Topics,3,500 fans enjoy Yamaha Days event,2007 Yamaha Days,Yamaha Motor Deutschland GmbH,Germany,Beach clean-up event draws national attention,CSR,Eduardoño S.A.,Colombia,TYM booth wins “Best Design Award” at Bangkok Motor Show 2007,Best Design Award,Thai Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.,Thailand,YAMAHA Letʼs Ride the Pride,Bangkok Motor Show 2007,29th Pan-European Distributors Meeting,29th Pan-European Distributors Meeting,Yamaha Motor Europe N.V.,Ireland,Preparing for future growth,YMES mounts grand presentation for new Yamaha Neoʼs,Yamaha Motor España, S.A.,Jorge Lasheras,Neoʼs,Spain,“Caring Donation Campaign” for flood victims,China,16th Yamaha Fishing Tournament draws record turnout,Marine,Yamaha Fishing Tournament,Panama,Celebrating 30 Years of YAMAHA Cup Racing,YAMAHA Cup,The new FIM President visits YMC,FIM,Vito Ippolito,Japan,Venemotos C.A.,Yamaha wins national award for youth aid program,Yamaha Motor Vietnam Co., Ltd.,Vietnam,The 2007 “YES! Rally” promotes “assurance,” “reliability” and Kando,Shanghai Yamaha Jianshe Motor Marketing Co., Ltd.,YES! Rally,What's New,Supporting people who challenge to achieve in sports – Yamaha Motor Foundation for Sports,Yamaha Motor Foundation for Sports,YMFS Sports Challenge Grant Program,YMFS sports challenge experience grants,Zoom In,“F350A” powering market growth with new value, and the worldʼs largest hp for a 4-stroke!,Outboard Motor,F350A

YAMAHA MOTOR CO., LTD.OCTOBER 1, 2007 ENGLISH

No.4

In a Yamaha first for pro-active transfer of technology, teams of engineersand technicians from Japan and Indonesia launched an advanced newmanufacturing technology that is changing the ASEAN motorcycle market

Technology Without Borders

on that challenge and solving the prob-lems to make it work,” he says withpride. Then he took the technology histeam had developed and turned it over tothe manufacturing division along withthe inspiration he had received fromTerashita and Fuchigami. At this point the baton was passed toHiroshi Yoshii of the 1st SyS Division,SyS Operations. “The level of perfor-mance and quality they wanted left noroom for compromise. But I knew thattheir expectations were so high becauseof their trust in the manufacturing divi-sions. Seeing the passion in their eyes asthey talked about setting up the DiASilmanufacturing capability at YIMM andYPMI and then building a model thatcould change the market, made me wantto say, ‘OK, we will do our part.’ It wasa job that required technologies far moreadvanced than any casting technology ofthe past, but we on the Japan side andthe staff on the Indonesia side all workedpassionately and diligently on the jobuntil it was done. And I believe thatwhat we all achieved is more that justthe establishment of a new manufactur-ing technology, it is something that willprove to be an important asset for Yama-ha from now on,” says Yoshii.

2 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007

UP FRONT

that embodied this new strategy was theT135 with its all-aluminum die-castDiASil Cylinder. “That was a big decision to make,”recalls Shinji Terashita of YMC’sMotorcycle Headquarters, one of theleaders of that project. “If we had triedto compete with the market leader at thetime with a 4-stroke model of the samequality as the one it had already estab-lished a dominant share with, it wouldbe an uphill battle even to try to catchup. We believed that our efforts wouldbe meaningless unless we could intro-duce a model so different and with suchstrong appeal that it could overturn theexisting market. Also, we knew that itwas important that this new model bemanufactured there in the ASEANregion. That was because we believedthat it was important to show the marketand our rivals that we could pioneer anew market with our own unique tech-nology. And at the same time, wethought it was important to have theemployees of the local Yamaha group

cooling performance and good recycle-ability. After that, it was decided to usethe DiASil Cylinder on the GrandMajesty scooter model for the Japanesemarket. Then, on October 1, 2002 theproject to mount it on the strategicASEAN market model T135 waslaunched. Terashita and Fuchigami con-vinced the T135 development projectleader, Toshikatsu Koike of Research &Development Operations about thenecessity of using the DiASil Cylinderon the T135 and he set about the task ofreadying development for manufacture inIndonesia. “Developers tend to getobsessed with the idea of developing andusing new technologies. However, in thiscase, after hearing over and over theimportance of transferring the technolo-gy overseas to the ASEAN manufactur-ing base, I realized the importance ofwhat they were saying. Two things cameto my mind, the vision of the YIMM andYPMI staff taking over this technologywith pride and successfully putting it towork and the vision of the satisfactionthat customers would get from it. Therewould be the difficult task of getting themanufacturing process to the point wherehundreds of thousands of units could beproduced, but we all succeeded in taking

companies experience that process andbe a part of the eventual success. Weknew that it would be a difficult task butwe wanted to see YMC and the ASEANgroup companies join hands and makean effort that would change the market,”he explains. Says Wataru Fuchigami of (present)YIMM and a leader in the effort at thetime in Indonesia to bring the T135 andits DiASil Cylinder into mass-produc-tion, “We knew that as a late-comer tothe 4-stroke category, Yamaha wouldhave a hard time opening itself up aplace in the market with a model thatwas simply brought to market for thesake of introducing a 4-stroke. We knewthat our challenge was to introduce amodel with technologies that the cus-tomers wanted so much that they wouldpay the purchase price.”

Dedication to the DiASil CylinderThe DiASil Cylinder research and devel-opment project got underway with theconcept of creating a Yamaha-exclusivetechnology that would be a major asset inthe company’s future. When it was intro-duced in July of 2002, it attracted muchattention as a technology that enablesgood manufacturing efficiency, excellent

(From front left) Shinji Terashita, Toshikatsu Koike and Hiroshi Yoshii (from rear left) Wataru Fuchigami and MineoYamamoto

The Indonesian market model T135 at its 2005launch

OOppeenniinngg tthhee ddoooorrss ttoo aa nneewwffuuttuurree ooff gglloobbaall tteecchhnnoollooggyyddeeppllooyymmeenntt

OOppeenniinngg tthhee ddoooorrss ttoo aa nneewwffuuttuurree ooff gglloobbaall tteecchhnnoollooggyyddeeppllooyymmeennttBBuuiillddiinngg aann AASSEEAANN mmaarrkkeett ssttrraatteeggyy aarroouunndd tthhee ““DDiiAASSiill CCyylliinnddeerr”” aanndd tthhee TT113355In 2002, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.(YMC) began development of theworld’s first all-aluminum die-castcylinder for motorcycles, the “DiASil(Die-cast Aluminum-Silicon alloy)Cylinder.” And, before this new cylin-der had even been successfully putinto production in Japan, YMCjoined with the Yamaha Motorgroup’s Indonesian manufacturingbases, PT. Yamaha Indonesia MotorManufacturing (YIMM) and PT.Yamaha Motor Parts ManufacturingIndonesia (YPMI) in a project to putthe DiASil Cylinder into production.That project reached successful com-pletion with the release of the newASEAN-market 4-stroke model T135in 2005. In all, the project involvedthe cooperative efforts of over 100Yamaha people from 14 divisions,and its success represented more thanjust the development of a new tech-nology. In many ways it pointed theway to a new era in global Yamahatechnology development and deploy-ment.

●

Decisive leaders taking onnew challenges

●

Creating a high-value-addedmarket in the ASEAN regionIn the mid-1990s, the ASEAN marketunderwent a critical change when theASEAN countries introduced emissionregulations like those already in place inmarkets like Europe, North America andJapan. The customers began to beincreasingly aware of the need for pro-

tecting the environment, and with thatconsciousness came a shift from the 2-stroke motorcycles that had previouslydominated the market to 4-stroke mod-els. As a prominent maker in the 2-stroke category, Yamaha began to losemarket share drastically to the 4-strokemodels of its competitors. Yamaha responded by introducing itsown 4-stroke models, but that alone wasnot enough to win back the market shareit had lost. As the ASEAN market con-tinued to grow in importance, winningback Yamaha’s share of this marketbecame a critical task not only for theregional Yamaha group companies butalso for YMC itself from a global per-spective. The strategy that Yamahaadopted to deal with this crisis was notone of competing head-on with the mod-els of the other makers that had sold inthe millions already, but to develop tech-nologies that no competitor had and usethem to pioneer new market sectors withhigh-performance, high-quality modelsbased on those technologies. The model

YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007 3

on that challenge and solving the prob-lems to make it work,” he says withpride. Then he took the technology histeam had developed and turned it over tothe manufacturing division along withthe inspiration he had received fromTerashita and Fuchigami. At this point the baton was passed toHiroshi Yoshii of the 1st SyS Division,SyS Operations. “The level of perfor-mance and quality they wanted left noroom for compromise. But I knew thattheir expectations were so high becauseof their trust in the manufacturing divi-sions. Seeing the passion in their eyes asthey talked about setting up the DiASilmanufacturing capability at YIMM andYPMI and then building a model thatcould change the market, made me wantto say, ‘OK, we will do our part.’ It wasa job that required technologies far moreadvanced than any casting technology ofthe past, but we on the Japan side andthe staff on the Indonesia side all workedpassionately and diligently on the jobuntil it was done. And I believe thatwhat we all achieved is more that justthe establishment of a new manufactur-ing technology, it is something that willprove to be an important asset for Yama-ha from now on,” says Yoshii.

2 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007

UP FRONT

that embodied this new strategy was theT135 with its all-aluminum die-castDiASil Cylinder. “That was a big decision to make,”recalls Shinji Terashita of YMC’sMotorcycle Headquarters, one of theleaders of that project. “If we had triedto compete with the market leader at thetime with a 4-stroke model of the samequality as the one it had already estab-lished a dominant share with, it wouldbe an uphill battle even to try to catchup. We believed that our efforts wouldbe meaningless unless we could intro-duce a model so different and with suchstrong appeal that it could overturn theexisting market. Also, we knew that itwas important that this new model bemanufactured there in the ASEANregion. That was because we believedthat it was important to show the marketand our rivals that we could pioneer anew market with our own unique tech-nology. And at the same time, wethought it was important to have theemployees of the local Yamaha group

cooling performance and good recycle-ability. After that, it was decided to usethe DiASil Cylinder on the GrandMajesty scooter model for the Japanesemarket. Then, on October 1, 2002 theproject to mount it on the strategicASEAN market model T135 waslaunched. Terashita and Fuchigami con-vinced the T135 development projectleader, Toshikatsu Koike of Research &Development Operations about thenecessity of using the DiASil Cylinderon the T135 and he set about the task ofreadying development for manufacture inIndonesia. “Developers tend to getobsessed with the idea of developing andusing new technologies. However, in thiscase, after hearing over and over theimportance of transferring the technolo-gy overseas to the ASEAN manufactur-ing base, I realized the importance ofwhat they were saying. Two things cameto my mind, the vision of the YIMM andYPMI staff taking over this technologywith pride and successfully putting it towork and the vision of the satisfactionthat customers would get from it. Therewould be the difficult task of getting themanufacturing process to the point wherehundreds of thousands of units could beproduced, but we all succeeded in taking

companies experience that process andbe a part of the eventual success. Weknew that it would be a difficult task butwe wanted to see YMC and the ASEANgroup companies join hands and makean effort that would change the market,”he explains. Says Wataru Fuchigami of (present)YIMM and a leader in the effort at thetime in Indonesia to bring the T135 andits DiASil Cylinder into mass-produc-tion, “We knew that as a late-comer tothe 4-stroke category, Yamaha wouldhave a hard time opening itself up aplace in the market with a model thatwas simply brought to market for thesake of introducing a 4-stroke. We knewthat our challenge was to introduce amodel with technologies that the cus-tomers wanted so much that they wouldpay the purchase price.”

Dedication to the DiASil CylinderThe DiASil Cylinder research and devel-opment project got underway with theconcept of creating a Yamaha-exclusivetechnology that would be a major asset inthe company’s future. When it was intro-duced in July of 2002, it attracted muchattention as a technology that enablesgood manufacturing efficiency, excellent

(From front left) Shinji Terashita, Toshikatsu Koike and Hiroshi Yoshii (from rear left) Wataru Fuchigami and MineoYamamoto

The Indonesian market model T135 at its 2005launch

OOppeenniinngg tthhee ddoooorrss ttoo aa nneewwffuuttuurree ooff gglloobbaall tteecchhnnoollooggyyddeeppllooyymmeenntt

OOppeenniinngg tthhee ddoooorrss ttoo aa nneewwffuuttuurree ooff gglloobbaall tteecchhnnoollooggyyddeeppllooyymmeennttBBuuiillddiinngg aann AASSEEAANN mmaarrkkeett ssttrraatteeggyy aarroouunndd tthhee ““DDiiAASSiill CCyylliinnddeerr”” aanndd tthhee TT113355In 2002, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.(YMC) began development of theworld’s first all-aluminum die-castcylinder for motorcycles, the “DiASil(Die-cast Aluminum-Silicon alloy)Cylinder.” And, before this new cylin-der had even been successfully putinto production in Japan, YMCjoined with the Yamaha Motorgroup’s Indonesian manufacturingbases, PT. Yamaha Indonesia MotorManufacturing (YIMM) and PT.Yamaha Motor Parts ManufacturingIndonesia (YPMI) in a project to putthe DiASil Cylinder into production.That project reached successful com-pletion with the release of the newASEAN-market 4-stroke model T135in 2005. In all, the project involvedthe cooperative efforts of over 100Yamaha people from 14 divisions,and its success represented more thanjust the development of a new tech-nology. In many ways it pointed theway to a new era in global Yamahatechnology development and deploy-ment.

●

Decisive leaders taking onnew challenges

●

Creating a high-value-addedmarket in the ASEAN regionIn the mid-1990s, the ASEAN marketunderwent a critical change when theASEAN countries introduced emissionregulations like those already in place inmarkets like Europe, North America andJapan. The customers began to beincreasingly aware of the need for pro-

tecting the environment, and with thatconsciousness came a shift from the 2-stroke motorcycles that had previouslydominated the market to 4-stroke mod-els. As a prominent maker in the 2-stroke category, Yamaha began to losemarket share drastically to the 4-strokemodels of its competitors. Yamaha responded by introducing itsown 4-stroke models, but that alone wasnot enough to win back the market shareit had lost. As the ASEAN market con-tinued to grow in importance, winningback Yamaha’s share of this marketbecame a critical task not only for theregional Yamaha group companies butalso for YMC itself from a global per-spective. The strategy that Yamahaadopted to deal with this crisis was notone of competing head-on with the mod-els of the other makers that had sold inthe millions already, but to develop tech-nologies that no competitor had and usethem to pioneer new market sectors withhigh-performance, high-quality modelsbased on those technologies. The model

YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007 3

time is an important first step towardthat kind of environment.” On March 17, 2005, the first ASEANmarket production model mounting theDiASil Cylinder came off the assemblyline in Indonesia. As Yamaha Newsspoke with the people involved in thisimportant project, they all spoke withpassion about the development processand the episodes involved, as if it wereyesterday. An important part of the spirit of Yama-ha product creation is to constantlystrive to develop new technologies. Thatis a big part of the reason why peoplearound the world love Yamaha prod-ucts. And it is a spirit that Yamaha peo-ple around the world should all share.The development of the Yamaha DiASilCylinder and its transfer to overseasmanufacturing is a typical example ofthat spirit.

UP FRONT

4 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007 5

Another challenge and a newevolution It is clear that the transfer of the DiASilCylinder manufacturing capability to anoverseas Yamaha base was successfulbecause of the high levels of technologi-cal expertise of the design, developmentand manufacturing teams involved. But,in the case of a giant project like thisinvolving more than 100 people from14 different divisions, the role of anoverall coordinator is also very impor-tant. That job fell largely to MineoYamamoto, presently of YMC’s Pro-duction Control Division. He says, “Theleaders of the various branches of thisproject had made a big decision andstarted a big project in progress withtheir efforts, and to bring it to successalso required the dedicated work andpassion of many other people. When welook at the project as a whole, I wouldhave to say that the key to the project’ssuccess was the Indonesian staffinvolved. They brought to this task agreater passion than we had expected.This project was possible becauseeveryone, including the technical staffon the Japanese side and staff theIndonesian side that took the technologyand made it work, had a strong desire todo something that hadn’t been donebefore and to make it succeed. All I didwas to act as a bridge between the two.” Mr. Terashita told us about another aimof this project besides regaining marketshare in the ASEAN region. “Until now,there has been a process of taking tech-nologies that have been developed andproven in practice in Japan and transfer-ring them in tact to overseas productionbases. But the ASEAN region is now avery large market that has its own tech-nical center in Yamaha Motor Asian

Center Co., Ltd. (YMAC) in Thailand.So, I felt that it was time for us to goone big step beyond the former processof simply transferring technologies as acomplete package. By working as wedid this time together with the local staffin Indonesia to establish a new manu-facturing technology, I was hoping tosee the spirit of taking on new chal-lenges spread to more people while alsobuilding a sense of unity in members ofthe Yamaha Motor group that transcend-ed national borders. We feel that it wasthe passion of the staff in Indonesia thatmade this project a success. Yamahaproducts are built in bases all around theworld today, and if we are able to havetechnical development of the kind thattook place in this project lead to high-level product creation and manufactur-ing around the world, this will be atremendous strength for Yamaha. Ibelieve that the success in Indonesia this

Yamaha people connecting Japan and the ASEAN regionTakeshi Oishi, Research & Develop-ment Operations“In order to make this cylinder effective, wehad to give the piston a ferro-plating, whichis something that has never been donebefore for a motorcycle. On top of that thespec requirements from the design depart-ments were also very strict, to the point thatit was even hard to make the first proto-types. Time and again I went into the testswith confidence only to have the platingpeal off. In Indonesia we had to begin byexplaining what a ferro-plating was, andthen we worked with our Indonesian coun-terparts through repeated tests until theygot the plating technique working effective-ly. What impressed me most was the senseof unity that was born out of working hardtoward the same goal, and the exhilarationof making this thing together. I will neverforget the radiance of the moment when Ifinally saw the finished T135 on display inthe Jakarta Motor Show.”

Shoutarou Tanaka, Product Develop-ment Operations“The customers in the ASEAN region arevery sensitive to an engine’s sound. Whenthe engine begins to sound strange it iscommon for them to bore the cylinderagain. With the DiASil Cylinder, however,you can’t re-bore it. So, it was very impor-tant that we make it very durable andproved that durability. We gathered sleevedcylinders from various markets that hadbeen run for long distances and examinedthem. Those tests showed us that theDiASil Cylinder technology would enable usto design a cylinder a much smaller clear-ance gap between the piston and the cylin-der than with a conventional sleeved piston.With this, I knew we had a product thatcould beat the competit ion. In theendurance tests we conducted with the helpof the Indonesian staff, I was really movedas a fellow Yamaha person to see themrunning up to 400 km a day to get a reallysignificant test distance. Seeing that, Iremember feeling that we were definitelygoing to make a success of this model.”

Masashi Yagi, 1st SyS Divi-sion, SyS Operations“I was in charge of the cylinderhoning process, and I went all theway to Germany to do the test cut-tings. I remember as if it was yes-terday the day when we finallyfound the present processingmethod after a long period of trialand error. I was so happy I wantedto dance for joy with some of mycolleagues. It was truly a difficulttask to get that technique down,and then to transfer the processoverseas to Indonesia was another importantand painstaking job. The reason is that withthis cylinder we must control a large numberof factors like the size, the percentage andthe exposure height of the silicon particles.And to evaluate these factors we have totake microscope photographs and comparethem to standard photos with a trained eye.Seeing the rapid progress the Indonesianstaff made in learning this analysis techniquewas inspiring and made me forget all of thetough work I had been through to that point.”

Hiroki Yamaki of YIMM (at the time), cur-rently of the 1st SyS Division, SyS Oper-ations“This was a casting process that had to becontrolled to ensure that the right metallurgicmatrix was achieved. YIMM was very positiveabout introducing this technology, and theyhad increased their staff and changed the lay-out of the factory space and acquired newequipment from two years prior to the start ofproduction in order to be prepared. Also, we

were able to do more trial castings than areusual for a manufacturing set-up process. Thisallowed us to verify a number of important fac-tors, such as mold erosion and wear. Andthese tests helped the Indonesian staffbecome quite skilled in a short period of time.Since we all believed that even one defectivecylinder getting out in the market would ruinthis development project made everyone workvery hard and carefully.”

Kunio Adachi, Service Division“For many customers of the ASEAN region, amotorcycle is an expensive necessity of dailylife. That is why it is common for them to re-bore the cylinders when an engine gets wornand try to use the machine as long as possi-ble. And that’s why we had the important taskof educating the market about the fact that theDiASil Cylinder doesn’t need to be re-bored.So we got the idea of working with the Indone-sian staff to actively supply the market withinformation about the DiASil Cylinder. We alsoworked together with the development staff toconduct a 50,000 km endurance test in orderto prove that reliability and durability. This inturn enabled us to introduce a warranty guar-anteeing 50,000 km of use without boring onthe T135 engine’s piston and cylinder in theIndonesian market. This was a very effectiveway to show the dealers and the customersthe superior performance of the DiASil Cylin-der. And in fact, we are seeing a much smallernumber of user claims concerning the pistonor cylinder of the T135 compared to othermodels. This fact proves that the customersare getting good satisfaction from this model.”

The close cooperation between the Japanese and Indonesian staff was the key to the success of this technology transfer project

From Nov. 2005 to May 2006, an ASEAN region promotional touring event was held as part of the launch for thenew model T135. Participating riders from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnamshowed people along the 6-nation route the potential and reliability of the T135

(From front left) Takeshi Oishi, Masashi Yagi, Hiroki Yamaki and(from back left) Shoutarou Tanaka, Kunio Adachi, MineoYamamoto

The DiASil Cylinder is an all-aluminum cylin-der made by an exclusive Yamaha aluminumdie casting method. The casting methodderives from the Yamaha CF (Controlled Fill-ing) die casting technology and enables mass-production casting using an aluminum alloywith a 20% silicon content, which could not beused in conventional casting methods. Theresulting DiASil Cylinder features a cylindersurface with a high degree of hardness and

durability that eliminates the need for a con-ventional cylinder sleeve or special cylinderplating. Because this cylinder is made exclu-sively with aluminum, it is lighter in weight andhas aluminum’s superior heat dissipation qual-ity, as well as aluminum’s high recycle-ability.This cylinder is now used on the Japanesemarket model Grand Majesty, the ASEANmarket T135 and the European marketYP125.

What is the DiASil (Die-cast Aluminum-Silicon alloy) Cylinder?

At left is a conventional aluminum cylinder withcast iron liner. At right is the DiASil Cylinder. It isclear from the size how much more compact theDiASil Cylinder is

The T135 drew big attention when displayed at the2006 Jakarta Motor Show in Indonesia

time is an important first step towardthat kind of environment.” On March 17, 2005, the first ASEANmarket production model mounting theDiASil Cylinder came off the assemblyline in Indonesia. As Yamaha Newsspoke with the people involved in thisimportant project, they all spoke withpassion about the development processand the episodes involved, as if it wereyesterday. An important part of the spirit of Yama-ha product creation is to constantlystrive to develop new technologies. Thatis a big part of the reason why peoplearound the world love Yamaha prod-ucts. And it is a spirit that Yamaha peo-ple around the world should all share.The development of the Yamaha DiASilCylinder and its transfer to overseasmanufacturing is a typical example ofthat spirit.

UP FRONT

4 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007 5

Another challenge and a newevolution It is clear that the transfer of the DiASilCylinder manufacturing capability to anoverseas Yamaha base was successfulbecause of the high levels of technologi-cal expertise of the design, developmentand manufacturing teams involved. But,in the case of a giant project like thisinvolving more than 100 people from14 different divisions, the role of anoverall coordinator is also very impor-tant. That job fell largely to MineoYamamoto, presently of YMC’s Pro-duction Control Division. He says, “Theleaders of the various branches of thisproject had made a big decision andstarted a big project in progress withtheir efforts, and to bring it to successalso required the dedicated work andpassion of many other people. When welook at the project as a whole, I wouldhave to say that the key to the project’ssuccess was the Indonesian staffinvolved. They brought to this task agreater passion than we had expected.This project was possible becauseeveryone, including the technical staffon the Japanese side and staff theIndonesian side that took the technologyand made it work, had a strong desire todo something that hadn’t been donebefore and to make it succeed. All I didwas to act as a bridge between the two.” Mr. Terashita told us about another aimof this project besides regaining marketshare in the ASEAN region. “Until now,there has been a process of taking tech-nologies that have been developed andproven in practice in Japan and transfer-ring them in tact to overseas productionbases. But the ASEAN region is now avery large market that has its own tech-nical center in Yamaha Motor Asian

Center Co., Ltd. (YMAC) in Thailand.So, I felt that it was time for us to goone big step beyond the former processof simply transferring technologies as acomplete package. By working as wedid this time together with the local staffin Indonesia to establish a new manu-facturing technology, I was hoping tosee the spirit of taking on new chal-lenges spread to more people while alsobuilding a sense of unity in members ofthe Yamaha Motor group that transcend-ed national borders. We feel that it wasthe passion of the staff in Indonesia thatmade this project a success. Yamahaproducts are built in bases all around theworld today, and if we are able to havetechnical development of the kind thattook place in this project lead to high-level product creation and manufactur-ing around the world, this will be atremendous strength for Yamaha. Ibelieve that the success in Indonesia this

Yamaha people connecting Japan and the ASEAN regionTakeshi Oishi, Research & Develop-ment Operations“In order to make this cylinder effective, wehad to give the piston a ferro-plating, whichis something that has never been donebefore for a motorcycle. On top of that thespec requirements from the design depart-ments were also very strict, to the point thatit was even hard to make the first proto-types. Time and again I went into the testswith confidence only to have the platingpeal off. In Indonesia we had to begin byexplaining what a ferro-plating was, andthen we worked with our Indonesian coun-terparts through repeated tests until theygot the plating technique working effective-ly. What impressed me most was the senseof unity that was born out of working hardtoward the same goal, and the exhilarationof making this thing together. I will neverforget the radiance of the moment when Ifinally saw the finished T135 on display inthe Jakarta Motor Show.”

Shoutarou Tanaka, Product Develop-ment Operations“The customers in the ASEAN region arevery sensitive to an engine’s sound. Whenthe engine begins to sound strange it iscommon for them to bore the cylinderagain. With the DiASil Cylinder, however,you can’t re-bore it. So, it was very impor-tant that we make it very durable andproved that durability. We gathered sleevedcylinders from various markets that hadbeen run for long distances and examinedthem. Those tests showed us that theDiASil Cylinder technology would enable usto design a cylinder a much smaller clear-ance gap between the piston and the cylin-der than with a conventional sleeved piston.With this, I knew we had a product thatcould beat the competit ion. In theendurance tests we conducted with the helpof the Indonesian staff, I was really movedas a fellow Yamaha person to see themrunning up to 400 km a day to get a reallysignificant test distance. Seeing that, Iremember feeling that we were definitelygoing to make a success of this model.”

Masashi Yagi, 1st SyS Divi-sion, SyS Operations“I was in charge of the cylinderhoning process, and I went all theway to Germany to do the test cut-tings. I remember as if it was yes-terday the day when we finallyfound the present processingmethod after a long period of trialand error. I was so happy I wantedto dance for joy with some of mycolleagues. It was truly a difficulttask to get that technique down,and then to transfer the processoverseas to Indonesia was another importantand painstaking job. The reason is that withthis cylinder we must control a large numberof factors like the size, the percentage andthe exposure height of the silicon particles.And to evaluate these factors we have totake microscope photographs and comparethem to standard photos with a trained eye.Seeing the rapid progress the Indonesianstaff made in learning this analysis techniquewas inspiring and made me forget all of thetough work I had been through to that point.”

Hiroki Yamaki of YIMM (at the time), cur-rently of the 1st SyS Division, SyS Oper-ations“This was a casting process that had to becontrolled to ensure that the right metallurgicmatrix was achieved. YIMM was very positiveabout introducing this technology, and theyhad increased their staff and changed the lay-out of the factory space and acquired newequipment from two years prior to the start ofproduction in order to be prepared. Also, we

were able to do more trial castings than areusual for a manufacturing set-up process. Thisallowed us to verify a number of important fac-tors, such as mold erosion and wear. Andthese tests helped the Indonesian staffbecome quite skilled in a short period of time.Since we all believed that even one defectivecylinder getting out in the market would ruinthis development project made everyone workvery hard and carefully.”

Kunio Adachi, Service Division“For many customers of the ASEAN region, amotorcycle is an expensive necessity of dailylife. That is why it is common for them to re-bore the cylinders when an engine gets wornand try to use the machine as long as possi-ble. And that’s why we had the important taskof educating the market about the fact that theDiASil Cylinder doesn’t need to be re-bored.So we got the idea of working with the Indone-sian staff to actively supply the market withinformation about the DiASil Cylinder. We alsoworked together with the development staff toconduct a 50,000 km endurance test in orderto prove that reliability and durability. This inturn enabled us to introduce a warranty guar-anteeing 50,000 km of use without boring onthe T135 engine’s piston and cylinder in theIndonesian market. This was a very effectiveway to show the dealers and the customersthe superior performance of the DiASil Cylin-der. And in fact, we are seeing a much smallernumber of user claims concerning the pistonor cylinder of the T135 compared to othermodels. This fact proves that the customersare getting good satisfaction from this model.”

The close cooperation between the Japanese and Indonesian staff was the key to the success of this technology transfer project

From Nov. 2005 to May 2006, an ASEAN region promotional touring event was held as part of the launch for thenew model T135. Participating riders from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnamshowed people along the 6-nation route the potential and reliability of the T135

(From front left) Takeshi Oishi, Masashi Yagi, Hiroki Yamaki and(from back left) Shoutarou Tanaka, Kunio Adachi, MineoYamamoto

The DiASil Cylinder is an all-aluminum cylin-der made by an exclusive Yamaha aluminumdie casting method. The casting methodderives from the Yamaha CF (Controlled Fill-ing) die casting technology and enables mass-production casting using an aluminum alloywith a 20% silicon content, which could not beused in conventional casting methods. Theresulting DiASil Cylinder features a cylindersurface with a high degree of hardness and

durability that eliminates the need for a con-ventional cylinder sleeve or special cylinderplating. Because this cylinder is made exclu-sively with aluminum, it is lighter in weight andhas aluminum’s superior heat dissipation qual-ity, as well as aluminum’s high recycle-ability.This cylinder is now used on the Japanesemarket model Grand Majesty, the ASEANmarket T135 and the European marketYP125.

What is the DiASil (Die-cast Aluminum-Silicon alloy) Cylinder?

At left is a conventional aluminum cylinder withcast iron liner. At right is the DiASil Cylinder. It isclear from the size how much more compact theDiASil Cylinder is

The T135 drew big attention when displayed at the2006 Jakarta Motor Show in Indonesia

YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007 76 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007

Looking to the frontiers –“Crossing the Eurasian continent on a Majesty 250”

are amazing. I can ride for long hours inthe wind and not feel tired; even in therain I’m protected far more than I wouldhave imagined.” Kazama was quick to say that one of thehighlights of his trip was the magnificentscenery in Siberia. “Up to now, I’vealways been focused on getting to onepoint in my expeditions. This time I wasable to experience the scenery aroundme, and it was a pleasure to be envelopedby it.”

Visiting hospitalsKazama wanted to encourage patientswho had suffered injuries similar to his,so he paid visits to three hospitals thatspecialize in those injuries during histour. The first was to the world-famoustreatment center for orthopedic injuries inRussia that pioneered the Ilizarovmethod, the Kurgan Ilizarov Center(Kurgan Center of the RestorationalSurgery and Orthopedy). He then wenton to the state of Bavaria (Bayern) inGermany to visit the Trauma Centre inMurnau. Lastly, he stopped at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in France where hewas hospitalized after the crash in theDakar Rally. Kazama said that when making his visitsto the hospitals, “I was glad that it was a

ical treatment in the bone and joint fieldwith my own eyes.” He then decided tocross the Eurasian continent, visitinghospitals along the way as part of theWorld Health Organization’s “Bone andJoint Decade” program, of which hisphysician, Dr. Matsushita, is one of thedirectors. The means he chose to do itwas by motorcycle. And as with pastadventures, Kazama teamed up withYamaha again.

Touring the Eurasian continentDeparture was from Vladivostok, Rus-sia, on June 19, 2007. The grueling runwould take him through ten countries in52 days, a distance of 18,000 kilometers.“I would ride over 300 kilometers a day,spending an average of ten hours on theroad. I went through Russia, theUkraine, Poland, Germany, Austria,Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France,Spain, and Portugal. First of all, I rodewest from Vladivostok through Siberiafor 3,000 kilometers.”“As soon as it started to rain, the roadsurface turned to mud, and to be honest,it was difficult going for the Majesty 250.But once I got through Siberia, theendurance of the Majesty put my mind toease. No matter where I went, its uniqueand advanced design was the center ofattention. I could talk to many people,and that was encouraging to me.”One of the reasons Kazama cited forchoosing the Majesty 250 was its ease ofoperation. Although he has difficultymoving his left knee and ankle, he is stillable to ride a motorcycle, but rather thanusing his toe to make gear changes, itwas easier for him to use his heel, so hedecided that a scooter would be the bestchoice for the journey. On top of that,Kazama praised the superior features ofthe Majesty saying, “The aerodynamics

comparatively quiet scooter with low-key refined styling. It never impinged onthe quiet atmosphere of the hospitals oroverwhelmed the patients with its visualappearance.” Looking back on the experience, Kazamasaid, “I had gone there to encourage thepatients, but instead was encouragedmyself.” In addition to that, he saw somecutting-edge medical facilities not to befound in Japan. “For example, the rehabilitation facilitiesthere do a top-notch job. For patientswho work as carpenters, for instance,there are programs to help them get backto work; they even have a kitchen set upfor homemakers. It’s just taken for grant-ed that the facilities are there mainly toget the patients back to their normal,everyday lives as quickly as possible.”

Future activitiesIn spite of the problems he still has withhis leg, Kazama’s spirit of challenge hasnot been dampened and he says it willnot stop him from continuing on with hisadventures. As the WHO’s “Bone andJoint Decade” campaign continues until2010, he would like to provide encour-agement to people who are sufferingfrom injuries by continuing to tour.

that had come to himnaturally when he firstbegan to ride a motorcy-cle. He first set his sightson climbing Mt. Kili-manjaro in Africa.“There were almost noplaces on the mountainwhere I could ride themachine, so I had topush it and that definite-ly was not easy. But Ithought it would bepointless if I didn’t do itwith a bike. I knew that Iwouldn’t have the samemental satisfaction if Ididn’t,” said Kazama. He continued on with adventures to theends of the Earth, climbing Mount Ever-est and succeeding in rides to the Northand South Pole.

A new adventure on a scooterSomething happened in 2004 that causedKazama to change his outlook on life.While riding a Yamaha WR250F in theDakar Rally competition, he wasinvolved in a collision with a truck thatwas not in the race and had wanderedonto the course by mistake. He was hos-pitalized in France where his doctor toldhim, “You’ll recover from the injuries toyour leg soon; you’ll be as good as new.”After transferring to a hospital in Japan,the recovery did not go as well as expect-ed. In fact, his condition worsened. Amidst these difficulties, Kazama trans-

ferred to the Teikyo University Hospital,where he met Dr. Takashi Matsushita,who utilizes the Ilizarov method (aregeneration method for bone lengthen-ing). Kazama was not only able to walkagain thanks to this treatment method, heeven recovered sufficiently to allow himto do the thing that brought such mean-ing to his life: riding a motorcycle. Kazama says of going through this expe-rience, “It really made me keenly awareof how important the bones and liga-ments are to movement, and how impor-tant it is to be physically able.” It broughtabout a change in his state of mind. “Iwanted to try to encourage people whohad suffered the same sort of injury I hadand were working hard toward their ownrecovery; I wanted to make people awareof the importance of this aspect of health,I wanted to witness the frontiers of med-

Shinji KazamaBorn: September 26, 19501980: Challenges to climb Mt. Kili-manjaro (Africa) by motorcycle 1982: Competes in the 4th DakarRally, first Japanese participant1984: Climbs Mt. Everest from

Nepal by motorcycle. Sets worldrecord for highest elevation motorcycle

operation at 5,880 meters 1985: Climbs Mt. Everest from China by

motorcycle. Sets world record for highest elevationmotorcycle operation at 6,000 meters 1987: Begins relationship with Yamaha in preparation for North Poleexpedition. World’s first motorcycle to reach the North Pole 1992: World’s first motorcycle to reach the South Pole 2004: Suffers severe injuries to left leg in Dakar Rally accident2007: Crosses Eurasian continent by motorcycle

Vladivostok

Kurgan

ParisMoscow

Murnau

Cape Roca

Vol.8

The Yamaha

Tales

Route traversing the Eurasian continent

“Bone and Joint Decade”A professor of orthopedics at Lund University inSweden in 1998 proposed the promotion ofresearch into treatment methods to deal withthe diseases and injuries affecting the liga-ments, skeleton, and motor reflexes that areindispensable to body movement. Secretary-General (at the time) Annan expressed his sup-port and in January of 2000 the WHO (WorldHealth Organization) officially announced theinauguration of the “Bone and Joint Decade.”Over 750 academic groups and organizationsin 96 countries around the world are taking partin a variety of different ways in this campaignthat continues until 2010.

Adventurer Shinji Kazama succeededin crossing the Eurasian continentfrom Vladivostok in Russia to CapeRoca (Cabo da Roca) in Portugal on aMajesty 250. Three years before thisadventure, he was involved in an acci-dent while competing in the DakarRally in 2004. Though he still suffersfrom some of the aftereffects of theaccident and underwent several oper-ations, Kazama was able to recoverenough to ride a motorcycle again. Hesaid that his purpose was to “encour-age people who were suffering fromthe same injuries as himself and toserve as part of his own recoveryefforts,” but then the adventurer had achange of heart.

The adventurer Shinji KazamaKazama had been the editor of a motor-cycle magazine when he took off on hisfirst motorcycle adventure in 1980. “Iwanted to ride everywhere I could on abike. I wanted to go as high as it waspossible to go.” That year he was able to fulfill the dream

Riding through Siberia, here and there he’d have sometrouble with the soft mud, but the Majesty got him through it

Members of the Association of Japanese Residents of Portugal and over 100Portuguese riders gathered at the goal in Cape Roca

Visiting the Ilizarov Center in Kurgan. So much attention waspaid to the event that a press conference was even held

Together with the doctor who took care of him at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in France directly after his injury. Tearswelled up in Kazama’s eyes when they met again

YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007 76 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007

Looking to the frontiers –“Crossing the Eurasian continent on a Majesty 250”

are amazing. I can ride for long hours inthe wind and not feel tired; even in therain I’m protected far more than I wouldhave imagined.” Kazama was quick to say that one of thehighlights of his trip was the magnificentscenery in Siberia. “Up to now, I’vealways been focused on getting to onepoint in my expeditions. This time I wasable to experience the scenery aroundme, and it was a pleasure to be envelopedby it.”

Visiting hospitalsKazama wanted to encourage patientswho had suffered injuries similar to his,so he paid visits to three hospitals thatspecialize in those injuries during histour. The first was to the world-famoustreatment center for orthopedic injuries inRussia that pioneered the Ilizarovmethod, the Kurgan Ilizarov Center(Kurgan Center of the RestorationalSurgery and Orthopedy). He then wenton to the state of Bavaria (Bayern) inGermany to visit the Trauma Centre inMurnau. Lastly, he stopped at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in France where hewas hospitalized after the crash in theDakar Rally. Kazama said that when making his visitsto the hospitals, “I was glad that it was a

ical treatment in the bone and joint fieldwith my own eyes.” He then decided tocross the Eurasian continent, visitinghospitals along the way as part of theWorld Health Organization’s “Bone andJoint Decade” program, of which hisphysician, Dr. Matsushita, is one of thedirectors. The means he chose to do itwas by motorcycle. And as with pastadventures, Kazama teamed up withYamaha again.

Touring the Eurasian continentDeparture was from Vladivostok, Rus-sia, on June 19, 2007. The grueling runwould take him through ten countries in52 days, a distance of 18,000 kilometers.“I would ride over 300 kilometers a day,spending an average of ten hours on theroad. I went through Russia, theUkraine, Poland, Germany, Austria,Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France,Spain, and Portugal. First of all, I rodewest from Vladivostok through Siberiafor 3,000 kilometers.”“As soon as it started to rain, the roadsurface turned to mud, and to be honest,it was difficult going for the Majesty 250.But once I got through Siberia, theendurance of the Majesty put my mind toease. No matter where I went, its uniqueand advanced design was the center ofattention. I could talk to many people,and that was encouraging to me.”One of the reasons Kazama cited forchoosing the Majesty 250 was its ease ofoperation. Although he has difficultymoving his left knee and ankle, he is stillable to ride a motorcycle, but rather thanusing his toe to make gear changes, itwas easier for him to use his heel, so hedecided that a scooter would be the bestchoice for the journey. On top of that,Kazama praised the superior features ofthe Majesty saying, “The aerodynamics

comparatively quiet scooter with low-key refined styling. It never impinged onthe quiet atmosphere of the hospitals oroverwhelmed the patients with its visualappearance.” Looking back on the experience, Kazamasaid, “I had gone there to encourage thepatients, but instead was encouragedmyself.” In addition to that, he saw somecutting-edge medical facilities not to befound in Japan. “For example, the rehabilitation facilitiesthere do a top-notch job. For patientswho work as carpenters, for instance,there are programs to help them get backto work; they even have a kitchen set upfor homemakers. It’s just taken for grant-ed that the facilities are there mainly toget the patients back to their normal,everyday lives as quickly as possible.”

Future activitiesIn spite of the problems he still has withhis leg, Kazama’s spirit of challenge hasnot been dampened and he says it willnot stop him from continuing on with hisadventures. As the WHO’s “Bone andJoint Decade” campaign continues until2010, he would like to provide encour-agement to people who are sufferingfrom injuries by continuing to tour.

that had come to himnaturally when he firstbegan to ride a motorcy-cle. He first set his sightson climbing Mt. Kili-manjaro in Africa.“There were almost noplaces on the mountainwhere I could ride themachine, so I had topush it and that definite-ly was not easy. But Ithought it would bepointless if I didn’t do itwith a bike. I knew that Iwouldn’t have the samemental satisfaction if Ididn’t,” said Kazama. He continued on with adventures to theends of the Earth, climbing Mount Ever-est and succeeding in rides to the Northand South Pole.

A new adventure on a scooterSomething happened in 2004 that causedKazama to change his outlook on life.While riding a Yamaha WR250F in theDakar Rally competition, he wasinvolved in a collision with a truck thatwas not in the race and had wanderedonto the course by mistake. He was hos-pitalized in France where his doctor toldhim, “You’ll recover from the injuries toyour leg soon; you’ll be as good as new.”After transferring to a hospital in Japan,the recovery did not go as well as expect-ed. In fact, his condition worsened. Amidst these difficulties, Kazama trans-

ferred to the Teikyo University Hospital,where he met Dr. Takashi Matsushita,who utilizes the Ilizarov method (aregeneration method for bone lengthen-ing). Kazama was not only able to walkagain thanks to this treatment method, heeven recovered sufficiently to allow himto do the thing that brought such mean-ing to his life: riding a motorcycle. Kazama says of going through this expe-rience, “It really made me keenly awareof how important the bones and liga-ments are to movement, and how impor-tant it is to be physically able.” It broughtabout a change in his state of mind. “Iwanted to try to encourage people whohad suffered the same sort of injury I hadand were working hard toward their ownrecovery; I wanted to make people awareof the importance of this aspect of health,I wanted to witness the frontiers of med-

Shinji KazamaBorn: September 26, 19501980: Challenges to climb Mt. Kili-manjaro (Africa) by motorcycle 1982: Competes in the 4th DakarRally, first Japanese participant1984: Climbs Mt. Everest from

Nepal by motorcycle. Sets worldrecord for highest elevation motorcycle

operation at 5,880 meters 1985: Climbs Mt. Everest from China by

motorcycle. Sets world record for highest elevationmotorcycle operation at 6,000 meters 1987: Begins relationship with Yamaha in preparation for North Poleexpedition. World’s first motorcycle to reach the North Pole 1992: World’s first motorcycle to reach the South Pole 2004: Suffers severe injuries to left leg in Dakar Rally accident2007: Crosses Eurasian continent by motorcycle

Vladivostok

Kurgan

ParisMoscow

Murnau

Cape Roca

Vol.8

The Yamaha

Tales

Route traversing the Eurasian continent

“Bone and Joint Decade”A professor of orthopedics at Lund University inSweden in 1998 proposed the promotion ofresearch into treatment methods to deal withthe diseases and injuries affecting the liga-ments, skeleton, and motor reflexes that areindispensable to body movement. Secretary-General (at the time) Annan expressed his sup-port and in January of 2000 the WHO (WorldHealth Organization) officially announced theinauguration of the “Bone and Joint Decade.”Over 750 academic groups and organizationsin 96 countries around the world are taking partin a variety of different ways in this campaignthat continues until 2010.

Adventurer Shinji Kazama succeededin crossing the Eurasian continentfrom Vladivostok in Russia to CapeRoca (Cabo da Roca) in Portugal on aMajesty 250. Three years before thisadventure, he was involved in an acci-dent while competing in the DakarRally in 2004. Though he still suffersfrom some of the aftereffects of theaccident and underwent several oper-ations, Kazama was able to recoverenough to ride a motorcycle again. Hesaid that his purpose was to “encour-age people who were suffering fromthe same injuries as himself and toserve as part of his own recoveryefforts,” but then the adventurer had achange of heart.

The adventurer Shinji KazamaKazama had been the editor of a motor-cycle magazine when he took off on hisfirst motorcycle adventure in 1980. “Iwanted to ride everywhere I could on abike. I wanted to go as high as it waspossible to go.” That year he was able to fulfill the dream

Riding through Siberia, here and there he’d have sometrouble with the soft mud, but the Majesty got him through it

Members of the Association of Japanese Residents of Portugal and over 100Portuguese riders gathered at the goal in Cape Roca

Visiting the Ilizarov Center in Kurgan. So much attention waspaid to the event that a press conference was even held

Together with the doctor who took care of him at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in France directly after his injury. Tearswelled up in Kazama’s eyes when they met again

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At the 13th round of the WorldMotocross Championships, theNorthern Ireland GP, Antonio Cairoli ofthe De Carli Yamaha Team clinched hissecond world title in the MX2 class, fol-lowing his title in 2005.

It has been a season where Cairoli showed incred-ible dominance over the competition. After win-ning the season’s opening round, Tony went on towin every heat except one through round five ofthe season, the German GP. The only heat he did-n’t win was the first heat of round two. In rounds7, 8 and 9 as well, Cairoli continued his winningstreak with his aggressive “wide open” (throttle)riding style, never letting another competitor runin front of him. At an interview when Tony was in Japan for theJapan GP, he commented: “I trained hard beforethe season with the specific goal of not making thekind of mistakes that caused me to fall in a num-ber of races last year and lose the title.” The resultof that training could easily be seen in his moremuscular physique. Last season his “wide open”all-out riding style had turned out to be a double-edged sword that often led to disaster, but this yearit has developed into a truly effective weapon.Now he is not only “fast” but “strong” as well.

Although overall wins escaped him at rounds 10to 12, Tony came back to clinch the season title atround 13 with a perfect win (winning both heats).And his surprising performances didn’t stop there.At the next round, the British GP (round 14),Cairoli jumped into the hotly contested MX1 classfor the first time and won the overall victory thereas well, riding the 2008 model YZ450F. Cairoli finished 3rd in the season ranking in hisdebut year in the MX2 class in 2004. Then in

At the season opener at Valkenswaard (Belgium) Cairoli won bothheats by a margin of more than seven seconds over 2nd place

On July 29, the MX1 season took an unexpectedand fateful turn for Yamaha ace Josh Coppins atthe Czech GP, round 11 of the series. An accidentand a shoulder injury caused him to finish out ofthe points in both heats. At first the shoulderinjury was diagnosed as a light, but it was laterfound to be a bone fracture. That kept Coppins outof rounds 12 and 13 and caused his massive 107point lead over 2nd-place Steve Ramon (Suzuki)to shrink to just 12 points.

Four weeks after the fracture, Coppins made a valiant effort to return to competition on August26 at round 14, the British GP. Certainly he knew better than anyone else that he was still notready to race. But what drove him to the desperate attempt to salvage his championship hopeswas the dream of winning a world championship that he has nurtured ever since he left hisnative New Zealand at the age of 17 to race on the European circuit. In the first heat of that round, Coppins surprised everyone by racing out in front and getting thehole shot. But he was racing in such pain that he couldn’t even raise his bad arm from the han-dlebar to adjust his goggles. Needless to say, he was unable to stay with the leaders in that con-dition and ended the race in 14th place. After the sighting lap before the start of the second heat Coppins felt that his attempt was futile,but still he clung to the hope that something might be different in the race. It only took one lapof the race to make him decide to drop out, however. With that no-pointer he finally lost theranking lead that he had held from the first round of the season. At his doctor’s advice, he also decided to cancel his entry in the last round of the season. Thisgave the title to Ramon and left Coppins in 3rd place in the season ranking. Meanwhile, Yamaha Motocross Team’s Marc de Reuver, who had been in a slump after scor-ing 2nd and 3rd place heat finishes early in the season, came back into form in the last round inhis native Holland. After finishing 3rd in the first heat, he came from behind to grab the win inheat two and mount the podium with a 2nd on the day. This performance brought his seasonranking up to 14th. Although this season Yamaha lost the MX1 title that it had held since 2004, Coppins still man-aged to win more rounds (5) and more heats (9) than any other rider in the MX1 series. Thisproved the performance of the YZ450FM and the fact that Coppins is still the best rider in thechampionship. Expectations are already building for great performances from Coppins nextseason and also for recovering the MX1 title for Yamaha.

Marc de Reuver mounted the podium with a proud 2nd atthe last round in his native Holland, proving his potential inhis rookie year in MX1

2005 he became the youngest Italian rider to everwin the MX2 championship title and, at the sametime, proved that his talent was truly world class.With that title, Tony was no longer just anotherpromising young talent but a proven winner rec-ognized as one of the world’s top riders. From 2008 onward, Cairoli will continue to rideYamaha bikes with the same “wide open” aggres-sive style and surely he will continue to thrill fansand bring Kando* as the Yamaha ace.

Antonio Cairoli and the YZ250FWin Second World Title! Antonio Cairoli and the YZ250FWin Second World Title!

After 15 rounds and their 30 heats in the 2007 season, Cairoli has won 10rounds and 21 heats while racking up an amazing 660 season points

At the Swedish GP, round nine, a fall at the start left Tony at the backof the pack. But he showed what “wide open” means in his subsequentcharge to recover to 2nd place at the finish

In the Italian GP, round four of the season and Cairoli’s home race, hewon both heats. At this point in the series he already had more than50-point lead in the ranking

At round 13 in Northern Ireland, Cairoli clinched the season title in the firstheat. The team joined in the celebration!

Despite his painful fractured shoulder bone, Coppins bravely competed inround 14, the British GP. Riding as long and hard as he could, he finallydropped out after the first lap of the second heat

Injuries drop Coppinsto 3rd in the ranking Injuries drop Coppinsto 3rd in the ranking

* Kando is a Japanese word for the simultaneous feelings of deep sat-isfaction and intense excitement that people experience when theyencounter something of exceptional value.

MX1MX1MX2MX2

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At the 13th round of the WorldMotocross Championships, theNorthern Ireland GP, Antonio Cairoli ofthe De Carli Yamaha Team clinched hissecond world title in the MX2 class, fol-lowing his title in 2005.

It has been a season where Cairoli showed incred-ible dominance over the competition. After win-ning the season’s opening round, Tony went on towin every heat except one through round five ofthe season, the German GP. The only heat he did-n’t win was the first heat of round two. In rounds7, 8 and 9 as well, Cairoli continued his winningstreak with his aggressive “wide open” (throttle)riding style, never letting another competitor runin front of him. At an interview when Tony was in Japan for theJapan GP, he commented: “I trained hard beforethe season with the specific goal of not making thekind of mistakes that caused me to fall in a num-ber of races last year and lose the title.” The resultof that training could easily be seen in his moremuscular physique. Last season his “wide open”all-out riding style had turned out to be a double-edged sword that often led to disaster, but this yearit has developed into a truly effective weapon.Now he is not only “fast” but “strong” as well.

Although overall wins escaped him at rounds 10to 12, Tony came back to clinch the season title atround 13 with a perfect win (winning both heats).And his surprising performances didn’t stop there.At the next round, the British GP (round 14),Cairoli jumped into the hotly contested MX1 classfor the first time and won the overall victory thereas well, riding the 2008 model YZ450F. Cairoli finished 3rd in the season ranking in hisdebut year in the MX2 class in 2004. Then in

At the season opener at Valkenswaard (Belgium) Cairoli won bothheats by a margin of more than seven seconds over 2nd place

On July 29, the MX1 season took an unexpectedand fateful turn for Yamaha ace Josh Coppins atthe Czech GP, round 11 of the series. An accidentand a shoulder injury caused him to finish out ofthe points in both heats. At first the shoulderinjury was diagnosed as a light, but it was laterfound to be a bone fracture. That kept Coppins outof rounds 12 and 13 and caused his massive 107point lead over 2nd-place Steve Ramon (Suzuki)to shrink to just 12 points.

Four weeks after the fracture, Coppins made a valiant effort to return to competition on August26 at round 14, the British GP. Certainly he knew better than anyone else that he was still notready to race. But what drove him to the desperate attempt to salvage his championship hopeswas the dream of winning a world championship that he has nurtured ever since he left hisnative New Zealand at the age of 17 to race on the European circuit. In the first heat of that round, Coppins surprised everyone by racing out in front and getting thehole shot. But he was racing in such pain that he couldn’t even raise his bad arm from the han-dlebar to adjust his goggles. Needless to say, he was unable to stay with the leaders in that con-dition and ended the race in 14th place. After the sighting lap before the start of the second heat Coppins felt that his attempt was futile,but still he clung to the hope that something might be different in the race. It only took one lapof the race to make him decide to drop out, however. With that no-pointer he finally lost theranking lead that he had held from the first round of the season. At his doctor’s advice, he also decided to cancel his entry in the last round of the season. Thisgave the title to Ramon and left Coppins in 3rd place in the season ranking. Meanwhile, Yamaha Motocross Team’s Marc de Reuver, who had been in a slump after scor-ing 2nd and 3rd place heat finishes early in the season, came back into form in the last round inhis native Holland. After finishing 3rd in the first heat, he came from behind to grab the win inheat two and mount the podium with a 2nd on the day. This performance brought his seasonranking up to 14th. Although this season Yamaha lost the MX1 title that it had held since 2004, Coppins still man-aged to win more rounds (5) and more heats (9) than any other rider in the MX1 series. Thisproved the performance of the YZ450FM and the fact that Coppins is still the best rider in thechampionship. Expectations are already building for great performances from Coppins nextseason and also for recovering the MX1 title for Yamaha.

Marc de Reuver mounted the podium with a proud 2nd atthe last round in his native Holland, proving his potential inhis rookie year in MX1

2005 he became the youngest Italian rider to everwin the MX2 championship title and, at the sametime, proved that his talent was truly world class.With that title, Tony was no longer just anotherpromising young talent but a proven winner rec-ognized as one of the world’s top riders. From 2008 onward, Cairoli will continue to rideYamaha bikes with the same “wide open” aggres-sive style and surely he will continue to thrill fansand bring Kando* as the Yamaha ace.

Antonio Cairoli and the YZ250FWin Second World Title! Antonio Cairoli and the YZ250FWin Second World Title!

After 15 rounds and their 30 heats in the 2007 season, Cairoli has won 10rounds and 21 heats while racking up an amazing 660 season points

At the Swedish GP, round nine, a fall at the start left Tony at the backof the pack. But he showed what “wide open” means in his subsequentcharge to recover to 2nd place at the finish

In the Italian GP, round four of the season and Cairoli’s home race, hewon both heats. At this point in the series he already had more than50-point lead in the ranking

At round 13 in Northern Ireland, Cairoli clinched the season title in the firstheat. The team joined in the celebration!

Despite his painful fractured shoulder bone, Coppins bravely competed inround 14, the British GP. Riding as long and hard as he could, he finallydropped out after the first lap of the second heat

Injuries drop Coppinsto 3rd in the ranking Injuries drop Coppinsto 3rd in the ranking

* Kando is a Japanese word for the simultaneous feelings of deep sat-isfaction and intense excitement that people experience when theyencounter something of exceptional value.

MX1MX1MX2MX2

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Back on the top step of theMotoGP podiumBack on the top step of theMotoGP podium

In the last round of the firsthalf of the 2007 MotoGP sea-son, Valentino Rossi thrilledhis fans by sprinting from 11thposition on the starting grid towin an incredible come-from-behind victory in round nine,the Dutch GP. With this win,his third of the season, Rossimoved up to within 21 pointsof the ranking leader, C. Stoner(Ducati). Going into theGerman GP, round 10 of theseries, it looked as if Rossi wasback on track to make a run forthe title in the second half ofthe season. But, while histeammate, Colin Edwardsraced hard to a well-earned4th, Rossi took a fall that lefthim out of the race.Fortunately, his rival Stoneronly managed a 5th place fin-ish that kept him from widen-ing his point lead by much.Still, it was a painful no-point-er for Rossi. For round 11, the series crossed the Atlanticfor the US GP. Here, Rossi came through thefirst lap in 4th position and, after droppingback once to 5th, he fought back past D.Pedrosa (Honda) to take the checkered in4th. There were big expectations for ColinEdwards in his home GP, but he eventually

dropped from 6th position during the latterstages of the race to finish 11th. The next round, the Czech GP, broughtunexpected bad fortune for both Rossi andEdwards. While running in 8th position onlap two, Edwards took a fall that forced himto retire from the race. Meanwhile, Rossibegan to suffer from poor tire grip while run-

ning in 5th position in the early stages of therace, and as conditions worsened he droppedto 7th position and managed to hold on tothat to the checkered by adjusting his ridingstyle to cover for the lack of grip.In the meantime, Stoner’s lead in the rankinghad spread to 60 points and the pressure wason Rossi to regain ground at round 13, the

San Marino GP. In the qualifyinghe came a respectable 2nd, but inthe race he suffered another fallthat knocked him out of the racewhile running in 4th position onlap five. Edwards had been in 6thposition in the early running bygradually slipped back to 9th atthe finish. Like the true champion he is, how-ever, Rossi came back after thesedisappointing races to grab the winat round 14, the Portugal GP andstand on the top step of the podi-um again for the first time in fiveraces. With Stoner finishing 3rd,Rossi was able to narrow the pointgap slightly, but with four racesremaining in the season, he stillstands 76 points behind Stoner inthe ranking. No doubt these fourraces will be full of excitement,because for Rossi and his team,it’s never over till its over.

Rossi won his 4th GP of the season at round 14 in Portugal

As of the end of the Portugal GP, Edwards stands in 7th position in the ranking but hopes are high for the remaining four races

Round 11 win keeps Haga’s titlehopes alive!Round 11 win keeps Haga’s titlehopes alive!

Round 11 of the WSBseries, held at EuroSpeedway, Germany, turnedout to be a very good dayfor Yamaha as the top twoYamaha riders, NoriyukiHaga and Troy Corser, cov-ered all three steps of thepodium in the two races,with a 1st and 2nd for Hagaand a 3rd for Corser. Hagaworked his way up quicklyfrom 8th position at the startto 2nd position in the earlylaps of race one and thenstarted seriously chasing theleader, Troy Bayliss(Ducati). After catching him on lap 14, Hagagrabbed the lead on the next lap and ran onto his 4th victory of the season, while open-ing up a winning margin of 11 seconds.Meanwhile, Corser as involved in a heatedbattle for 2nd with Max Biaggi (Suzuki) buthis tires began to lose their grip in the clos-ing laps and he had to settle for 3rd. In race two, Haga once again passed theleader Bayliss on lap 14, and it looked at that

point like it might be a repeat of race one.But Bayliss fought back and managed topass Haga with four laps remaining andleave him to settle for 2nd. Their results putHaga in 2nd in the series ranking, 41 pointsbehind the leader James Toseland (Honda)with two rounds remaining and his chancesfor the title still alive. Corser’s 3rd in raceone and 5th in race two kept him 5th in theseason standing. At the previous round 10,

the British GP, the Yamaha Motor ItaliaWSB Team pair had also won three podiumfinishes, with Haga 7th and 2nd and Corserfinishing 2nd and 3rd. With this, the team-mates had managed to bring Yamaha’s totalpodium finishes in WSB racing to a momen-tous 150. Things are looking better now and Haga def-initely has good momentum going in his racefor the WSB championship title.

Top Yamaha team finishes 9th Top Yamaha team finishes 9th Over the three days beginningon July 26, a total of 141,500

race fans gathered at the Suzuka Circuit inJapan to watch round three of the WorldEndurance Championship series, the Suzuka 8-hour Endurance Race.The Yamaha teams from Japan entered in thisrace included the top support team, YAMAHARACING 21 and the spot entry team YAMA-HA RACING 81. They were joined by full-entry World Endurance Championship seriesteams from abroad that included YAMAHAAUSTRIA RACING TEAM #07 (YART),TEAM ZONE ROUGE YAMAHA BEL-GIQUE, the PHASE ONE ENDURANCEteam from Britain, the ENDURANCE MOTO38 and TEAM LTG 57 from France, theAmadeus X-one team from Italy and theMACO MOTO RACING TEAM fromSlovakia. All seven of these teams used the2007 YZF-R1 as their race machine. At the end of the grueling eight hour race, thetop Yamaha finishers were YAMAHA RAC-ING 81 in 9th place with former GP riderNorifumi (“Norick”) Abe and the 2006

Australian Superbike and Supersport classnational champion, J. Stauffer, as its riders. TheYAMAHA RACING 21 team that became thefocus of much attention by qualifying 2nd,eventually fell far behind the leaders after a fallon lap 21. Among the full-entry teams, PHASEONE ENDURANCE from Britain showed trueendurance team skills by avoiding the traffic ofspot entry teams to finish 15th. As of the end of round four of the series held inGermany on Aug. 11 and 12, the YAMAHAAUSTRIA RACING TEAM (#07) stands 3rdin the season ranking.

After running for part of the race in 5th position, Stauffer said he wants to race theSuzuka 8-hour again

Among the full-entry teams the PHASE ONE ENDURANCE ofBritain finished 15th

Now in its 30th year, the Suzuka 8-hour is Japan’s “Summer Festival” ofmotor sports. This year more than 100,000 people came to watch thethree days of action

WSBWSBMotoGP

MotoGP

WorldEndurance

Championship

WorldEndurance

Championship

This is Haga’s 10th year of full participation in the WSB championship. His experi-ence should help as he chases his first title in the last rounds

Corser is 36 years old this year and racing strongly with three podium finishes inthe last two rounds

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Back on the top step of theMotoGP podiumBack on the top step of theMotoGP podium

In the last round of the firsthalf of the 2007 MotoGP sea-son, Valentino Rossi thrilledhis fans by sprinting from 11thposition on the starting grid towin an incredible come-from-behind victory in round nine,the Dutch GP. With this win,his third of the season, Rossimoved up to within 21 pointsof the ranking leader, C. Stoner(Ducati). Going into theGerman GP, round 10 of theseries, it looked as if Rossi wasback on track to make a run forthe title in the second half ofthe season. But, while histeammate, Colin Edwardsraced hard to a well-earned4th, Rossi took a fall that lefthim out of the race.Fortunately, his rival Stoneronly managed a 5th place fin-ish that kept him from widen-ing his point lead by much.Still, it was a painful no-point-er for Rossi. For round 11, the series crossed the Atlanticfor the US GP. Here, Rossi came through thefirst lap in 4th position and, after droppingback once to 5th, he fought back past D.Pedrosa (Honda) to take the checkered in4th. There were big expectations for ColinEdwards in his home GP, but he eventually

dropped from 6th position during the latterstages of the race to finish 11th. The next round, the Czech GP, broughtunexpected bad fortune for both Rossi andEdwards. While running in 8th position onlap two, Edwards took a fall that forced himto retire from the race. Meanwhile, Rossibegan to suffer from poor tire grip while run-

ning in 5th position in the early stages of therace, and as conditions worsened he droppedto 7th position and managed to hold on tothat to the checkered by adjusting his ridingstyle to cover for the lack of grip.In the meantime, Stoner’s lead in the rankinghad spread to 60 points and the pressure wason Rossi to regain ground at round 13, the

San Marino GP. In the qualifyinghe came a respectable 2nd, but inthe race he suffered another fallthat knocked him out of the racewhile running in 4th position onlap five. Edwards had been in 6thposition in the early running bygradually slipped back to 9th atthe finish. Like the true champion he is, how-ever, Rossi came back after thesedisappointing races to grab the winat round 14, the Portugal GP andstand on the top step of the podi-um again for the first time in fiveraces. With Stoner finishing 3rd,Rossi was able to narrow the pointgap slightly, but with four racesremaining in the season, he stillstands 76 points behind Stoner inthe ranking. No doubt these fourraces will be full of excitement,because for Rossi and his team,it’s never over till its over.

Rossi won his 4th GP of the season at round 14 in Portugal

As of the end of the Portugal GP, Edwards stands in 7th position in the ranking but hopes are high for the remaining four races

Round 11 win keeps Haga’s titlehopes alive!Round 11 win keeps Haga’s titlehopes alive!

Round 11 of the WSBseries, held at EuroSpeedway, Germany, turnedout to be a very good dayfor Yamaha as the top twoYamaha riders, NoriyukiHaga and Troy Corser, cov-ered all three steps of thepodium in the two races,with a 1st and 2nd for Hagaand a 3rd for Corser. Hagaworked his way up quicklyfrom 8th position at the startto 2nd position in the earlylaps of race one and thenstarted seriously chasing theleader, Troy Bayliss(Ducati). After catching him on lap 14, Hagagrabbed the lead on the next lap and ran onto his 4th victory of the season, while open-ing up a winning margin of 11 seconds.Meanwhile, Corser as involved in a heatedbattle for 2nd with Max Biaggi (Suzuki) buthis tires began to lose their grip in the clos-ing laps and he had to settle for 3rd. In race two, Haga once again passed theleader Bayliss on lap 14, and it looked at that

point like it might be a repeat of race one.But Bayliss fought back and managed topass Haga with four laps remaining andleave him to settle for 2nd. Their results putHaga in 2nd in the series ranking, 41 pointsbehind the leader James Toseland (Honda)with two rounds remaining and his chancesfor the title still alive. Corser’s 3rd in raceone and 5th in race two kept him 5th in theseason standing. At the previous round 10,

the British GP, the Yamaha Motor ItaliaWSB Team pair had also won three podiumfinishes, with Haga 7th and 2nd and Corserfinishing 2nd and 3rd. With this, the team-mates had managed to bring Yamaha’s totalpodium finishes in WSB racing to a momen-tous 150. Things are looking better now and Haga def-initely has good momentum going in his racefor the WSB championship title.

Top Yamaha team finishes 9th Top Yamaha team finishes 9th Over the three days beginningon July 26, a total of 141,500

race fans gathered at the Suzuka Circuit inJapan to watch round three of the WorldEndurance Championship series, the Suzuka 8-hour Endurance Race.The Yamaha teams from Japan entered in thisrace included the top support team, YAMAHARACING 21 and the spot entry team YAMA-HA RACING 81. They were joined by full-entry World Endurance Championship seriesteams from abroad that included YAMAHAAUSTRIA RACING TEAM #07 (YART),TEAM ZONE ROUGE YAMAHA BEL-GIQUE, the PHASE ONE ENDURANCEteam from Britain, the ENDURANCE MOTO38 and TEAM LTG 57 from France, theAmadeus X-one team from Italy and theMACO MOTO RACING TEAM fromSlovakia. All seven of these teams used the2007 YZF-R1 as their race machine. At the end of the grueling eight hour race, thetop Yamaha finishers were YAMAHA RAC-ING 81 in 9th place with former GP riderNorifumi (“Norick”) Abe and the 2006

Australian Superbike and Supersport classnational champion, J. Stauffer, as its riders. TheYAMAHA RACING 21 team that became thefocus of much attention by qualifying 2nd,eventually fell far behind the leaders after a fallon lap 21. Among the full-entry teams, PHASEONE ENDURANCE from Britain showed trueendurance team skills by avoiding the traffic ofspot entry teams to finish 15th. As of the end of round four of the series held inGermany on Aug. 11 and 12, the YAMAHAAUSTRIA RACING TEAM (#07) stands 3rdin the season ranking.

After running for part of the race in 5th position, Stauffer said he wants to race theSuzuka 8-hour again

Among the full-entry teams the PHASE ONE ENDURANCE ofBritain finished 15th

Now in its 30th year, the Suzuka 8-hour is Japan’s “Summer Festival” ofmotor sports. This year more than 100,000 people came to watch thethree days of action

WSBWSBMotoGP

MotoGP

WorldEndurance

Championship

WorldEndurance

Championship

This is Haga’s 10th year of full participation in the WSB championship. His experi-ence should help as he chases his first title in the last rounds

Corser is 36 years old this year and racing strongly with three podium finishes inthe last two rounds

Germany

On August 4 and 5,Yamaha Motor Deutsch-land GmbH (YMG) andlocal dealers held the2007 Yamaha Daysevent at the famousBeuern motocross trackoutside of Frankfurt. Asan off- and on-road ori-ented event for thewhole family, it attracteda weekend total of 3,500participants. There wereorganized test rides of street models, and all test rides of ATVs, Quads andWR off-road models, as well as ATV trials and Rhino-shuttles were offeredon closed circuits of the off-road track. In addition to that, there were alsokids areas for off-road test rides on the PW50, TT-R90 and YFM50. Satur-day night there was a party at the Beuern motor sport club with a lotterygame for all test-ride participants with an FZ6 ABS as the top prize. From Karlheinz Vetter, YMG, Germany

3,500 fans enjoy Yamaha Daysevent

We always welcome your contributions. Write to the editorial staff

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.

2500 Shingai, Iwata, Shizuoka 438-8501 Japan,

<yamahanews@yamaha-motor.co.jp>

Panama

The Yamaha Fishing Tournament, which took place August 17-18 inArchipiélago de Las Perlas, is the most important fishing event in Panama,awarding more than $75,000 in prizes. This year a record of 82 boats partic-ipated in more than ten categories such as Billfish, Mahi Mahi, Wahoo Fish,Red Snapper, Tuna and a special category for ladies and kids. The first day of the event was around Punta Coco Island and the second wasaround Contadora Island, a paradise of dazzling beaches, abundant wildlife,as well as endless opportunities to practice water sports that make this islanda favorite destination for sportfishing lovers around the world.Without a doubt, the YamahaFishing Tournament is the mostwidely accepted fishing event ofits kind in Panama.From Monique Guinard, Tochisade Panama, Panama

China

In mid-July, the heaviestconcentrated rainfall in 115years brought devastatingflooding to the industrial cityof Chongqing in centralChina. In response to thisdisaster, the managementand employees of the Yama-ha motorcycle manufacturerChongqing Jianshe YamahaMotor Co., Ltd. (CJYM) helda “Caring Donation Campaign” on July 28 to benefit the flood victims.After CJYM’s President Matsushita and Vice-president Zhou madetheir donations before a gathering of the company management andemployees, one employee after another came up to make a donation.In all, a total of 22,7359.4 yuan (approx. 30,000 US dollar) was donat-ed. We all join in prayers for a quick recovery for the city and its floodvictims. From Huang Feng Yi, CJYM, China

“Caring Donation Campaign”for flood victims

16th Yamaha Fishing Tournamentdraws record turnout

Thailand

Thai Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (TYM)set a new record in the motorcycleindustry of Thailand by winning the“Best Design Award” at BangkokInternational Motor Show 2007 for thesecond consecutive year. With thetheme of “YAMAHA Let’s Ride thePride,” the TYM booth reflected expe-riences of customers who take pride in

owning a Yamaha. Apart from the indoor booth where people could enjoythe wide range of high-tech Yamaha products, there were specially pricedaccessories and apparel and a karaoke room. At the outdoor exhibits therewere also exciting activities such as a customized bike contest, test rides,games and concerts for the young-generation visitors.From Premchit Maneesarachun, TYM, Thailand

Japan

On July 27, last year’s newly elected Presi-dent of the international motorcycle raceauthority FIM (Federation Internationale deMotocyclisme), Mr. Vito Ippolito, visited theheadquarters of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. andmet with the company’s President Kajikawa.Mr. Ippolito is also the vice president of

Yamaha’s Venezuelan distributor, Venemotos C.A. The mood was aharmonious one as the two exchanged opinions about the mid- andlong-term outlook for motorcycle sports and goals for the future. From Yukihiko Kurata, YMC

The new FIM President visits YMC

Germany

With a history of three decades, the YAMAHA Cup is regarded as one ofthe most successful motorcycle racing series worldwide, and manyfamous stars and world champions began their careers in the Cup. In Ger-many, the YAMAHA Cup races are integrated in the IDM racing series, asthe YAMAHA R6 DUNLOP CUP, and it is the most attractive motorcyclerace category in terms of prize money. During the Speedweek at Oscher-sleben on August 11 and 12, Yamaha Motor Deutschland GmbH (YMG)held a special 30th anniversary celebration attended by many guests andformer riders. At the party there was a nicepresentation on the last 30 years and a dis-play of the historic race bikes–even the firstXS400. From Hideo Ishibashi, YMG, Germany

Celebrating 30 Years of YAMAHA Cup Racing

Vietnam

On July 25, the Vietnamese government’sYouth Union presented Yamaha Motor Viet-nam Co., Ltd. (YMVN) with a medallion ofrecognition for the company’s outstandingcontributions to the health and education ofVietnamese youth through a number of pro-grams such as sole sponsorship of a nation-al soccer tournament for U-13 and U-11 agegroups. YMVN has also contributed to societythrough CSR programs like annual dona-tions of school supplies to elementary schoolchildren and is dedicated to continuing thesetypes of programs actively in the future. From Daiji Matsuoka YMVN, Vietnam

Yamaha winsnational award foryouth aid program

Ireland

From the 9th to the 11th of July2007, Yamaha Motor Europe N.V.(YMENV) organized its 29th annu-al European Distributors Meeting.This year’s event, with its theme of“Preparing for future growth” washosted in Ireland by Danfay Ltd.,Yamaha Motor’s Irish distributor.The meeting was attended by topmanagement from YMC, YMENVand distributors from over 20 Euro-pean countries. Delegates heard keynote speeches, saw presentations andparticipated in a group workshop. Three case studies from Italy, France andSweden helped share best practices. It was an excellent opportunity to pre-sent and discuss future marketing and sales strategy, while fostering cross-cultural understanding and strengthening business relationships.From Communication Div., YMENV, The Netherlands

29th Pan-European DistributorsMeeting

Donations were made at CJYM for the city’s flood vic-tims

FIM President Ippolito (left) andYMC’s President Kajikawa(right)

China

Last year, Shanghai Yamaha JiansheMotor Marketing Co., Ltd. (YMSM) stageda grand-scale promotional “YES! Rally”motorcycle tour that drew a giant “Y”across the map of China with its course.This year three caravans of riders onYamaha motorcycles departed fromShanghai, Jinan and Xiamen to tour a sumtotal of 15,000 km in 45 days over routes that formed a giant “E” beforemeeting in Chongqing, home of one of the Yamaha factories. Themotorcycles used included the new model YBR250 and the C8, as wellas imported MT-01, YZF-R1 and TMAX models. This event wasdesigned to give riders an experience of the reliable Yamaha motorcy-cles while also encouraginggood riding manners withthe “SMILE PJ” campaignand spreading the wordabout “assurance,” “reliabil-ity” and “Kando” throughoutChina.

The 2007 “YES! Rally” promotes“assurance,” “reliability” andKando*

The medallion award presenta-tion was made at the awardsceremony for Yamaha’s ele-mentary school (U-11) soccertournament

There were 30 years of memories and historicalbikes to be seen at the YAMAHA Cup 30thanniversary celebration

Hundreds of users signed up for test rides on the roads and themotocross course

TYM boothwins “BestDesign Award”at Bangkok Motor Show 2007

TYM management received the “Best DesignAward” at Bangkok Motor Show 2007

The Yamaha Booth

Colombia

On August 5, Yamaha’s marine distributor in the South American countryof Colombia, Eduardoño S.A., joined in the global Yamaha CSR movementby organizing a beach clean-up campaign that gathered some 220 partici-pants. Impressed by Yamaha’s CSR efforts in Colombia, the country’s Min-ister of Environment, Housing, and Territorial Development and the assis-tant minister joined in as participants too. This made it a very meaningfulevent for showing the people of Colombia a concern for the environment. From Takuya Nagatani, YMC

Beach clean-up event drawsnational attention

Garbage collected duringthe one-day beach clean-up event

YMC’s President Kajikawa (front center) joined topmanagement from YMENV and distributors fromover 20 European countries at the meeting

Some 220 people, including Yamahacustomers and their families, joined inthe collection of litter on the beaches

Spain

The official launch of the new Neo’s scooter was held on a grandscale on 29 June at Yamaha Motor España, S.A. (YMES). Thepresident of the state government of Catalonia, the Honorable JoseMontilla, was in attendance along with representatives of Catalunyaindustry, YMES suppliers, partners and employees.The event was highlighted by the speeches of Mr. Montilla andYMES’s president, Mr. Jorge Lasheras, and a creative performancerecreating the history of this scooter. Neo’s has been one of thefavorite 50cc scooters among Spain’s young people since its debutin 1997, with total sales of 441,000 units. The new updated version

is Yamaha’s answer to the latest needs of the European market in design andquality. From Meritxell Romero, YMES, Spain

YMES mounts grand presentationfor new Yamaha Neo’s

Before the ceremony Mr. Montillaand the other gests toured theYMES factory

12 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007

A record 82 boats turned out for the Yamaha FishingTournament

A giant letter “E” across China

To have your topic included in Yamaha News World Topics:

1) Send us your text or an outline of the

contents, making sure to specify who,

what, when, where, why and how details.

2) Also send 1 or 2 high-resolution photos

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considered for the next issue.

Notice of when your article will appearin YN will be made after the editingprocess. Send your articles to us by e-mail, the editorial staff, at the addressbelow. E-mail: yamahanews@yamaha-motor.co.jp

YMSM’s president Wo Chengchanggave words of encouragement to theleaders of the three tour groups

Users gathered atdealerships visitedalong the routes tojoin in the touring

* Kando is a Japanese word for the simulta-neous feelings of deep satisfaction and intenseexcitement that people experience when theyencounter something of exceptional value.

Germany

On August 4 and 5,Yamaha Motor Deutsch-land GmbH (YMG) andlocal dealers held the2007 Yamaha Daysevent at the famousBeuern motocross trackoutside of Frankfurt. Asan off- and on-road ori-ented event for thewhole family, it attracteda weekend total of 3,500participants. There wereorganized test rides of street models, and all test rides of ATVs, Quads andWR off-road models, as well as ATV trials and Rhino-shuttles were offeredon closed circuits of the off-road track. In addition to that, there were alsokids areas for off-road test rides on the PW50, TT-R90 and YFM50. Satur-day night there was a party at the Beuern motor sport club with a lotterygame for all test-ride participants with an FZ6 ABS as the top prize. From Karlheinz Vetter, YMG, Germany

3,500 fans enjoy Yamaha Daysevent

We always welcome your contributions. Write to the editorial staff

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.

2500 Shingai, Iwata, Shizuoka 438-8501 Japan,

<yamahanews@yamaha-motor.co.jp>

Panama

The Yamaha Fishing Tournament, which took place August 17-18 inArchipiélago de Las Perlas, is the most important fishing event in Panama,awarding more than $75,000 in prizes. This year a record of 82 boats partic-ipated in more than ten categories such as Billfish, Mahi Mahi, Wahoo Fish,Red Snapper, Tuna and a special category for ladies and kids. The first day of the event was around Punta Coco Island and the second wasaround Contadora Island, a paradise of dazzling beaches, abundant wildlife,as well as endless opportunities to practice water sports that make this islanda favorite destination for sportfishing lovers around the world.Without a doubt, the YamahaFishing Tournament is the mostwidely accepted fishing event ofits kind in Panama.From Monique Guinard, Tochisade Panama, Panama

China

In mid-July, the heaviestconcentrated rainfall in 115years brought devastatingflooding to the industrial cityof Chongqing in centralChina. In response to thisdisaster, the managementand employees of the Yama-ha motorcycle manufacturerChongqing Jianshe YamahaMotor Co., Ltd. (CJYM) helda “Caring Donation Campaign” on July 28 to benefit the flood victims.After CJYM’s President Matsushita and Vice-president Zhou madetheir donations before a gathering of the company management andemployees, one employee after another came up to make a donation.In all, a total of 22,7359.4 yuan (approx. 30,000 US dollar) was donat-ed. We all join in prayers for a quick recovery for the city and its floodvictims. From Huang Feng Yi, CJYM, China

“Caring Donation Campaign”for flood victims

16th Yamaha Fishing Tournamentdraws record turnout

Thailand

Thai Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. (TYM)set a new record in the motorcycleindustry of Thailand by winning the“Best Design Award” at BangkokInternational Motor Show 2007 for thesecond consecutive year. With thetheme of “YAMAHA Let’s Ride thePride,” the TYM booth reflected expe-riences of customers who take pride in

owning a Yamaha. Apart from the indoor booth where people could enjoythe wide range of high-tech Yamaha products, there were specially pricedaccessories and apparel and a karaoke room. At the outdoor exhibits therewere also exciting activities such as a customized bike contest, test rides,games and concerts for the young-generation visitors.From Premchit Maneesarachun, TYM, Thailand

Japan

On July 27, last year’s newly elected Presi-dent of the international motorcycle raceauthority FIM (Federation Internationale deMotocyclisme), Mr. Vito Ippolito, visited theheadquarters of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. andmet with the company’s President Kajikawa.Mr. Ippolito is also the vice president of

Yamaha’s Venezuelan distributor, Venemotos C.A. The mood was aharmonious one as the two exchanged opinions about the mid- andlong-term outlook for motorcycle sports and goals for the future. From Yukihiko Kurata, YMC

The new FIM President visits YMC

Germany

With a history of three decades, the YAMAHA Cup is regarded as one ofthe most successful motorcycle racing series worldwide, and manyfamous stars and world champions began their careers in the Cup. In Ger-many, the YAMAHA Cup races are integrated in the IDM racing series, asthe YAMAHA R6 DUNLOP CUP, and it is the most attractive motorcyclerace category in terms of prize money. During the Speedweek at Oscher-sleben on August 11 and 12, Yamaha Motor Deutschland GmbH (YMG)held a special 30th anniversary celebration attended by many guests andformer riders. At the party there was a nicepresentation on the last 30 years and a dis-play of the historic race bikes–even the firstXS400. From Hideo Ishibashi, YMG, Germany

Celebrating 30 Years of YAMAHA Cup Racing

Vietnam

On July 25, the Vietnamese government’sYouth Union presented Yamaha Motor Viet-nam Co., Ltd. (YMVN) with a medallion ofrecognition for the company’s outstandingcontributions to the health and education ofVietnamese youth through a number of pro-grams such as sole sponsorship of a nation-al soccer tournament for U-13 and U-11 agegroups. YMVN has also contributed to societythrough CSR programs like annual dona-tions of school supplies to elementary schoolchildren and is dedicated to continuing thesetypes of programs actively in the future. From Daiji Matsuoka YMVN, Vietnam

Yamaha winsnational award foryouth aid program

Ireland

From the 9th to the 11th of July2007, Yamaha Motor Europe N.V.(YMENV) organized its 29th annu-al European Distributors Meeting.This year’s event, with its theme of“Preparing for future growth” washosted in Ireland by Danfay Ltd.,Yamaha Motor’s Irish distributor.The meeting was attended by topmanagement from YMC, YMENVand distributors from over 20 Euro-pean countries. Delegates heard keynote speeches, saw presentations andparticipated in a group workshop. Three case studies from Italy, France andSweden helped share best practices. It was an excellent opportunity to pre-sent and discuss future marketing and sales strategy, while fostering cross-cultural understanding and strengthening business relationships.From Communication Div., YMENV, The Netherlands

29th Pan-European DistributorsMeeting

Donations were made at CJYM for the city’s flood vic-tims

FIM President Ippolito (left) andYMC’s President Kajikawa(right)

China

Last year, Shanghai Yamaha JiansheMotor Marketing Co., Ltd. (YMSM) stageda grand-scale promotional “YES! Rally”motorcycle tour that drew a giant “Y”across the map of China with its course.This year three caravans of riders onYamaha motorcycles departed fromShanghai, Jinan and Xiamen to tour a sumtotal of 15,000 km in 45 days over routes that formed a giant “E” beforemeeting in Chongqing, home of one of the Yamaha factories. Themotorcycles used included the new model YBR250 and the C8, as wellas imported MT-01, YZF-R1 and TMAX models. This event wasdesigned to give riders an experience of the reliable Yamaha motorcy-cles while also encouraginggood riding manners withthe “SMILE PJ” campaignand spreading the wordabout “assurance,” “reliabil-ity” and “Kando” throughoutChina.

The 2007 “YES! Rally” promotes“assurance,” “reliability” andKando*

The medallion award presenta-tion was made at the awardsceremony for Yamaha’s ele-mentary school (U-11) soccertournament

There were 30 years of memories and historicalbikes to be seen at the YAMAHA Cup 30thanniversary celebration

Hundreds of users signed up for test rides on the roads and themotocross course

TYM boothwins “BestDesign Award”at Bangkok Motor Show 2007

TYM management received the “Best DesignAward” at Bangkok Motor Show 2007

The Yamaha Booth

Colombia

On August 5, Yamaha’s marine distributor in the South American countryof Colombia, Eduardoño S.A., joined in the global Yamaha CSR movementby organizing a beach clean-up campaign that gathered some 220 partici-pants. Impressed by Yamaha’s CSR efforts in Colombia, the country’s Min-ister of Environment, Housing, and Territorial Development and the assis-tant minister joined in as participants too. This made it a very meaningfulevent for showing the people of Colombia a concern for the environment. From Takuya Nagatani, YMC

Beach clean-up event drawsnational attention

Garbage collected duringthe one-day beach clean-up event

YMC’s President Kajikawa (front center) joined topmanagement from YMENV and distributors fromover 20 European countries at the meeting

Some 220 people, including Yamahacustomers and their families, joined inthe collection of litter on the beaches

Spain

The official launch of the new Neo’s scooter was held on a grandscale on 29 June at Yamaha Motor España, S.A. (YMES). Thepresident of the state government of Catalonia, the Honorable JoseMontilla, was in attendance along with representatives of Catalunyaindustry, YMES suppliers, partners and employees.The event was highlighted by the speeches of Mr. Montilla andYMES’s president, Mr. Jorge Lasheras, and a creative performancerecreating the history of this scooter. Neo’s has been one of thefavorite 50cc scooters among Spain’s young people since its debutin 1997, with total sales of 441,000 units. The new updated version

is Yamaha’s answer to the latest needs of the European market in design andquality. From Meritxell Romero, YMES, Spain

YMES mounts grand presentationfor new Yamaha Neo’s

Before the ceremony Mr. Montillaand the other gests toured theYMES factory

12 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007

A record 82 boats turned out for the Yamaha FishingTournament

A giant letter “E” across China

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YMSM’s president Wo Chengchanggave words of encouragement to theleaders of the three tour groups

Users gathered atdealerships visitedalong the routes tojoin in the touring

* Kando is a Japanese word for the simulta-neous feelings of deep satisfaction and intenseexcitement that people experience when theyencounter something of exceptional value.

YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007 1514 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007

When Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. celebrated its 50th anniversary as a company in 2005, one ofthe commemorative programs initiated was the forming of a foundation dedicated to “support-ing the sports challenges of young people,” “supporting the promotion of sports” and “develop-ment of sports culture.” The resulting foundation, named the Yamaha Motor Foundation forSports (President: Toru Hasegawa; acronym: YMFS), began operations in November 2006.Here is an introduction to the activities being pursued by the foundation as it approaches theend of its first year of operations.

Throughout its half-century corporatehistory, Yamaha Motor has always madeconcerted efforts to promote motor sportsand marine sports as well as educationalprograms in safety awareness. At thesame time, the company has consistentlyworked to promote sports unrelated toYamaha products, like football (soccer)and rugby. These programs are based onthe belief that sport is one of the greatestforms of communication uniting peoplearound the world. And, they also drawon the belief that the process of workinghard together with teammates toward a

common goal in sports represents thesame type of “spirit of challenge” that isan important part of YMC’s corporateculture. And this is why the proposal tocreate a foundation that benefits societyas one of the commemorative programsto celebrate YMC’s 50th anniversary as acompany in 2005 naturally led to the ideaof forming a foundation dedicated to thepromotion and development of sports. Among the various types of foundationsactive today in the field of sports, YMFSis characterized by its basic stance ofsupporting the challenges of people to

realize their dreams in sport. Its aim is tosupport the spirit of challenge itself inpeople trying to realize high goals,regardless of the type of sport or the pre-sent level of the people involved. Today,many athletes of the future and athleticinstructors who have the desire butlacked the opportunity to devote them-selves to their sport are receiving YMFSgrants. Here we introduce just a few typicalexamples of “sports challenge experiencesupport programs” from among YMFS’wide-ranging grants.

YMFS Sports Challenge Grant ProgramThere are two types of YMFS Sports Challenge Grant Program grants.The first is the “challenge experience grants” that provide grants for vari-ous types of experiential (training) efforts by athletes attempting to furthertheir sports careers or improve their skills. The other is “challengeresearch grants” to support academic/scientific research in the field ofsports. For 2007, YMFS has awarded grants to support 15 individualsand organizations in the “challenge experience grants” category and 16individuals and organizations in the “challenge research grants” category.

Supporting people who challenge toachieve in sports – Yamaha MotorFoundation for Sports

Supporting people who challenge toachieve in sports – Yamaha MotorFoundation for Sports

Competing against male student teams in achallenge to get “a first win!”Chukyo Women’s University Hardball ClubBaseball is the most popular sport in Japan, but there is a lack ofopportunities for women to play organized baseball. For example,even young women who practice with the males students on theirschool’s baseball team cannot participate in actual games againstother schools’ teams because of a rule forbidding participation inleague games by females. Of course there are some all-womenteams, but not enough to form leagues. As a step toward building anenvironment where women can play baseball in a challenging andrewarding way, a hardball team was formed for students at theChukyo Women’s University in Aichi Prefecture. Presently they arecompeting against male college student teams in the AichiPrefecture’s 5th college league. In the three years since they joined the league, however, they haveyet to win a game. The male teams have proved tough opponents,and some of their early loses were by scores as high as 30 to 0.However, thanks to the Yamaha grant, they were able to buy a pitch-ing machine for batting practice, and it has brought results. The teamis working togethernow toward their ini-tial goal of a first win.

A transfemoral prosthesis sprinter aiming forthe Beijing ParalympicsAtsushi Yamamoto, Osaka University of Health and SportSciences Track and Field ClubThe Osaka Univ. of Health and Sport Sciences senior Atsushi Yamamotowas a high school volleyball star with a bright future in the sport when helost one of his legs in a traffic accident. After graduation he got a job at amaker of artificial limbs, and it was there that he discovered the world oftrack and field sports for the disabled. Presently he is training hard withthe runners of the university’s track and field team. Yamamoto has made rapid progress in improving his sprint times sincebeginning track and field, and he now holds the Japanese records fortransfemoral prosthesis athletes in the 100-meter sprint and the longjump. His records have also placed him in the world ranking. At themoment he is actively participating in domestic and international competi-

tions with the dream of winning amedal at the Beijing Paralympicsnext year. “When I first began track and field, Inever thought that I would somedaybe competing in internationalmeets,” says Yamamoto. “But now Ihave big expectations for my ownpotential in this sport and for thepossibilities of transfemoral prosthet-ics. I want to devote myself thor-oughly to the challenge of track andfield competition for transfemoralamputees.”

A mission to spread the word about this greatsport of handball!Jun Mekaru, University of Tsukuba Handball Club“I want to help make handball as popular in Japan as it is in the coun-tries of Europe,” says Jun Mekaru, a senior on the Tsukuba Univ.handball team. “I have heard that in Europe the children love handballand shout the name of the Croatian superstar Balic when they play. Ilove the sport of handball and I want to spread the word about thisgreat sport in Japan.” After he graduates from university, Mekaru wants to become ateacher. Before that, however, he wants to gain experience for teach-ing handball by touring Europe and learning about the handball clubsystem there, and hopefully gaining some experience by playing inEurope as well. “To promote the sport of handball in Japan, we needour own Japanese superstar. My dream is to become that kind ofstar, so that some day children in Japan will shout “Mekaru” as theyplay handball,” hesays.

A challenge to return to pro soccer through college!Tatsuya Okamoto, Juntendo University Soccer ClubTatsuya Okamoto is now a freshman on the soccer team of JuntendoUniversity, but last year he was a professional soccer player with oneof Japan’s professional J. League team, Jubilo Iwata. However, hewas cut from the team at the end of last season without ever havingrealized his dream of playing in a league game. After that he took theentrance exam for Juntendo University’s physical education collegeand was accepted. While other teammates who were also cut fromthe team sought to remain in the pro league by changing teams orgoing down to the minor league, Okamoto decided to take four yearsto re-train himself in college. “At this point I don’t know if I made the right decision. But I want to tryto become the kind of player that the pro teams will welcome by thetime I graduate in four years. My ultimate goal is to become a world-

class player. To dothat, I intend to makeevery day count dur-ing these fouryears,” he says.

YMFS sports challenge experience grants

YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007 1514 YAMAHA NEWS OCTOBER 1, 2007

When Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. celebrated its 50th anniversary as a company in 2005, one ofthe commemorative programs initiated was the forming of a foundation dedicated to “support-ing the sports challenges of young people,” “supporting the promotion of sports” and “develop-ment of sports culture.” The resulting foundation, named the Yamaha Motor Foundation forSports (President: Toru Hasegawa; acronym: YMFS), began operations in November 2006.Here is an introduction to the activities being pursued by the foundation as it approaches theend of its first year of operations.

Throughout its half-century corporatehistory, Yamaha Motor has always madeconcerted efforts to promote motor sportsand marine sports as well as educationalprograms in safety awareness. At thesame time, the company has consistentlyworked to promote sports unrelated toYamaha products, like football (soccer)and rugby. These programs are based onthe belief that sport is one of the greatestforms of communication uniting peoplearound the world. And, they also drawon the belief that the process of workinghard together with teammates toward a

common goal in sports represents thesame type of “spirit of challenge” that isan important part of YMC’s corporateculture. And this is why the proposal tocreate a foundation that benefits societyas one of the commemorative programsto celebrate YMC’s 50th anniversary as acompany in 2005 naturally led to the ideaof forming a foundation dedicated to thepromotion and development of sports. Among the various types of foundationsactive today in the field of sports, YMFSis characterized by its basic stance ofsupporting the challenges of people to

realize their dreams in sport. Its aim is tosupport the spirit of challenge itself inpeople trying to realize high goals,regardless of the type of sport or the pre-sent level of the people involved. Today,many athletes of the future and athleticinstructors who have the desire butlacked the opportunity to devote them-selves to their sport are receiving YMFSgrants. Here we introduce just a few typicalexamples of “sports challenge experiencesupport programs” from among YMFS’wide-ranging grants.

YMFS Sports Challenge Grant ProgramThere are two types of YMFS Sports Challenge Grant Program grants.The first is the “challenge experience grants” that provide grants for vari-ous types of experiential (training) efforts by athletes attempting to furthertheir sports careers or improve their skills. The other is “challengeresearch grants” to support academic/scientific research in the field ofsports. For 2007, YMFS has awarded grants to support 15 individualsand organizations in the “challenge experience grants” category and 16individuals and organizations in the “challenge research grants” category.

Supporting people who challenge toachieve in sports – Yamaha MotorFoundation for Sports

Supporting people who challenge toachieve in sports – Yamaha MotorFoundation for Sports

Competing against male student teams in achallenge to get “a first win!”Chukyo Women’s University Hardball ClubBaseball is the most popular sport in Japan, but there is a lack ofopportunities for women to play organized baseball. For example,even young women who practice with the males students on theirschool’s baseball team cannot participate in actual games againstother schools’ teams because of a rule forbidding participation inleague games by females. Of course there are some all-womenteams, but not enough to form leagues. As a step toward building anenvironment where women can play baseball in a challenging andrewarding way, a hardball team was formed for students at theChukyo Women’s University in Aichi Prefecture. Presently they arecompeting against male college student teams in the AichiPrefecture’s 5th college league. In the three years since they joined the league, however, they haveyet to win a game. The male teams have proved tough opponents,and some of their early loses were by scores as high as 30 to 0.However, thanks to the Yamaha grant, they were able to buy a pitch-ing machine for batting practice, and it has brought results. The teamis working togethernow toward their ini-tial goal of a first win.

A transfemoral prosthesis sprinter aiming forthe Beijing ParalympicsAtsushi Yamamoto, Osaka University of Health and SportSciences Track and Field ClubThe Osaka Univ. of Health and Sport Sciences senior Atsushi Yamamotowas a high school volleyball star with a bright future in the sport when helost one of his legs in a traffic accident. After graduation he got a job at amaker of artificial limbs, and it was there that he discovered the world oftrack and field sports for the disabled. Presently he is training hard withthe runners of the university’s track and field team. Yamamoto has made rapid progress in improving his sprint times sincebeginning track and field, and he now holds the Japanese records fortransfemoral prosthesis athletes in the 100-meter sprint and the longjump. His records have also placed him in the world ranking. At themoment he is actively participating in domestic and international competi-

tions with the dream of winning amedal at the Beijing Paralympicsnext year. “When I first began track and field, Inever thought that I would somedaybe competing in internationalmeets,” says Yamamoto. “But now Ihave big expectations for my ownpotential in this sport and for thepossibilities of transfemoral prosthet-ics. I want to devote myself thor-oughly to the challenge of track andfield competition for transfemoralamputees.”

A mission to spread the word about this greatsport of handball!Jun Mekaru, University of Tsukuba Handball Club“I want to help make handball as popular in Japan as it is in the coun-tries of Europe,” says Jun Mekaru, a senior on the Tsukuba Univ.handball team. “I have heard that in Europe the children love handballand shout the name of the Croatian superstar Balic when they play. Ilove the sport of handball and I want to spread the word about thisgreat sport in Japan.” After he graduates from university, Mekaru wants to become ateacher. Before that, however, he wants to gain experience for teach-ing handball by touring Europe and learning about the handball clubsystem there, and hopefully gaining some experience by playing inEurope as well. “To promote the sport of handball in Japan, we needour own Japanese superstar. My dream is to become that kind ofstar, so that some day children in Japan will shout “Mekaru” as theyplay handball,” hesays.

A challenge to return to pro soccer through college!Tatsuya Okamoto, Juntendo University Soccer ClubTatsuya Okamoto is now a freshman on the soccer team of JuntendoUniversity, but last year he was a professional soccer player with oneof Japan’s professional J. League team, Jubilo Iwata. However, hewas cut from the team at the end of last season without ever havingrealized his dream of playing in a league game. After that he took theentrance exam for Juntendo University’s physical education collegeand was accepted. While other teammates who were also cut fromthe team sought to remain in the pro league by changing teams orgoing down to the minor league, Okamoto decided to take four yearsto re-train himself in college. “At this point I don’t know if I made the right decision. But I want to tryto become the kind of player that the pro teams will welcome by thetime I graduate in four years. My ultimate goal is to become a world-

class player. To dothat, I intend to makeevery day count dur-ing these fouryears,” he says.

YMFS sports challenge experience grants

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this class but also a completely new boat-ing experience. The aim was to create apropulsion system that offered the joy ofpiloting and a quality ride like nothing everachieved by an outboard or inboard rigbefore in this class.It was this spirit and untiring developmentefforts that gave birth to the F350, a revolu-tionary V8 model boasting the world’slargest horsepower rating for a 4-strokeoutboard at 350 hp, a higher level ofpropulsion efficiency and advanced fea-tures like a DBW (drive-by-wire) electron-ic throttle/shift system. The outboard motor market has continuedto be driven by a mutual stimulus betweenexciting new boat designs and exciting newoutboard performance. With the introduc-tion of the world’s largest horsepower 4-stroke outboard in the Yamaha F350, theworld’s leading outboard maker has onceagain raised the bar by creating value that issure to propel the industry to new heights.

Z O O M I NZ O O M I N

in the over 200 hp class now feature enginetechnologies rivaling automobile engines,with operating and steering systems tomatch. Also, thanks to the advantages of outboardmotors in the areas of running perfor-mance, on-board space saving and ease ofmounting, boat builders today are design-ing increasing numbers of attractive out-board-use models in the 35 ft. (10.5 m) andover class that used to be dominated byinboards. Within this trend, a growingnumber of boaters are calling for outboardmodels that can power a 10-ton class boatat 45 mph and models with the power anddurability to provide enjoyable and assur-ing offshore cruising with a large-classboat. In order to build a model that wouldexceed customer expectations in this newmarket sector, Yamaha set out to design amodel that offered not only the power anddurability for the job of powering boats of

When Yamaha built the “F350A,”its mission was to create a state-of-the-art, revolutionary off-

shore outboard motor. That meant startingfrom scratch and building a high-perfor-mance 5.3 liter V8 engine with a Yamahaexclusive design boasting the latest elec-tronic control systems and an unprecedent-ed 350 horsepower rating. Add to this awe-some power the unbeatable durability thatYamaha is famous for and you have a cut-ting-edge outboard more than up to the taskof powering big boats through roughwaves and strong currents in the oceanenvironment. As demand in the outboard motor marketcontinues to shift toward 4-stroke modelswith larger horsepower and the sophistica-tion and performance of peripheral equip-ment progresses, the competition is intensi-fying among Japanese and North Americanmakers to meet customer needs withadvanced new models. These latest models

“F350A” powering market growthwith new value, and the world’slargest hp for a 4-stroke!

“F350A” powering market growthwith new value, and the world’slargest hp for a 4-stroke!