Anyone race with Yamaha Past Masters?

[ste0070]

Went to the motorcycle live show on Saturday and saw the guy's from Yamaha past masters race club and wondered if anyone on here has or does race with them?

[higgsy]

Yes mate, actually I'm retired from racing YPM myself but my TZr 250 was taken to third place in the Championship this season by Doug Edmondson.
It's a superb way to start racing, or even to swop classes to, the costs are about as low as racing goes, TZR's, LC's, YPVS and even the TDR are all eligible. Right friendly bunch and all two stroke crazy!

Couple of pics to wet your appitite:


Doug on my TZR


Terry Poulter going round Mike Wake on my YPVS/LC

I'm sure the guys on the stand explained about the club bike scheme. But basically you get your licence, the bike and support for a whole weekends racing, the bike is a TZR250 and is actually very competitive, we are hoping to expand this to a 350 as well, to give a choice of machine. Two of the YPM club bike debutants from last season, spent this season fighting it out for the Rookie championship, Matt Barber taking both the F400 and YPM Rookie from Pete Moore. Neither had raced a bike before getting on the TZR and neither had done many trackdays either.

The bike on the stand belongs to Graham Higlett, 2012 YPM Champion. (He's a bit quick!) lol

The racing is close no matter where in the running order you are, no track day can compare with the racing buzz, it becomes addictive and there is a danger it can take over your life! There is a good social scene with none of the standoffish sometimes present in other classes, lots of help and advice with machine preperation and racing. The club 'buddies' you with experienced racers to make sure you get the best out of your racing.

Check out www.ypmrc.co.uk for more info

[ste0070]

Cheers Higgsy, got the impression it's a friendly bunch of like minded people that help each other, I have done the no budget cup a few years ago and then with no limits so not a complete novice but on an lc I think it might be a steep learning curve! I'd rather just jump in the deep end and get my lc prep'd, all depends on costs and as you say it can take over your life. Still I've got a few months to think about it!

Thanks for the info, Scott

[jon]

That loctite LC hybrid just looks so right as an underdog (more dated) in that action shot.

Love the pipes too, where did they come from?

Is Bob still interested in YPVS tuning? Can't decide where to get mine done.

I had planned to get Martin (Taymar) to do it, and get it dynoed at Bob's.

[higgsy]

No prob Scott, any questions PM me and I'll do my best to answer them


jon, very much so, Bob is alive and well in front of his porting bench! I've taken over most of the day to day running and the name will change to Wave Racing at some point, probably along side BFT, but Bob has no intention of retiring, he just doesn't want to be working six days a week any more.

We can do a range of tunes, from mild road based to the full on race tune. The Loctite LC has what is affectionately called the 'Sean Emmet' tune, it's not as banzai as a full on peaky tune and has shed loads of torque, works very well indeed. We also rebuild our cranks to race spec irrespective of use, that involves TZ flat cage big ends and Koyo mains

The pipes are the dogs nuts. Martin77 hydroformed with Dennis Trollope TZ350 cans, work very well and sound awesome on song

That LC isn't so much of an underdog really, Pat Herron rode it to second place in the 2010 Paul Hogan trophy and was leading at one point. The TZR is a better race bike, but hell the LC is fun to ride! I did pretty well on it, far better than I did on my TZR

[bngt]

Cheers!
No.14 is that a 2MA with 3XV seat? Do you have more pictures? I am planning something similar.

[jon]

I know the ethos of YPM, but when you look at the photo you can really see two different eras.

Glad Bob is still up for tuning two strokes. Might have to call soon (after Christmas) to discuss.

Wanted a torquey tune as opposed to top end anyway.

[higgsy]

Absolutely jon it's a different era, when the YPM's first started the TZR couldn't catch the LC's, but as time went on the TZR developed into a race winner, I still prefer riding the LC and the YPVS though

Pop down when you're ready and we can talk over what you want from the bike if you like, Bob's on holiday atm but will be back in a couple of weeks

Cheers!
No.14 is that a 2MA with 3XV seat? Do you have more pictures? I am planning something similar.

It's a TZ seat from ARD : www.ardracing.com/tzr.html#UIcD8oZ95Arz As shown in these two pics


Doug chasing John Parbury for second place at Snett



Holding off eventual 2014 Champion Dean Stimpson at brands