How Yamaha Stormed The TT and Won - Featuring Phil Read and Bill Ivy - 1968

[@124SpecialT]

Thanks for posting, this is brilliant. In 1968 I was an impressionable 12 year old and the rise of two strokes left its mark on me. Still afflicted today. Thanks for the reminder of these happy days.😀

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

great memories . cheers for watching mate, enjoy the ride

[@Free_Ranger_CT110]

A golden age of motorcycling, RIP Bill & Phil. Yamaha owe much to these two men. Enjoyed this, great success for 'yamah-ha'

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

i cant believe you are the only one who commented re Yam aaha lol made me piss myself when i heard it, cheers for watching mate, enjoy the ride

[@Free_Ranger_CT110]

@@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness yeah it cracked me up too. Thanks for uploading.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

@@Free_Ranger_CT110 my pleasure mate

[@donr2176]

I'm a huge Yamaha fan, and was at the TT races back in 1966-68.. Supported little Bill Ivy during this time- also supported Mike Hailwood on the amazing Honda six cylinder bikes. What Yamaha [who made this film] fail to mention is that in '68 Honda withdrew from all racing, and paid Mike the Bike a fortune NOT to race any other make of machine! He was Yamaha's biggest threat to winning. .What was amazing was Bill Ivy's 100 m.p.h. Lap of the Isle of Man TT on his 125cc Yamaha V-4!! That will never be equaled- as 4 cylinder engines in that class are banned now....

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

cheers for adding your bit mate, many many facets to a complex area of racing history. often mired in controversy and deception

[@tomtaylor6163]

You got it for sure. Honda has come and gone on a whim. But I love Yamahas because they have stuck to the Mill on racing. Honda quits roadracing , Honda does American dirt track on the 750 V twins and then stops. Yamaha has always had bikes for racing and the average Joe could go racing.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

@@tomtaylor6163 they made racing more accessible for the masses for sure

[@peterhodes6708]

Thanks for posting, great soundtrack! I was riding a 250 yamaha in the 1960,s (YDS3). 59 yrs later i,m still riding a 250 Yamaha (TZR250) !! 😀😀

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

i do miss my 350LC, i got rid of my last 1KT a while ago now. i just wouldnt fold up enough anymore lol. but great bike, lots of Belgarda bits

[@Paul-67]

I read the book “no time to lose” a fascinating read, all about Bill Ivy.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

I am sure, I will have to dig it out, an unsung hero. cheers for watching mate, enjoy the ride

[@smithgroove945]

Thanks for sharing. Amazing speed for a 125cc.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

that was the heyday of the small capacity bikes for sure

[@geralderdek282]

Ive owned my 1967 yr1 grandprix for 41 years now and find your video and yamahas racing heritage fascinating. Ive read that those 350 yamahas gave the larger 650 bikes like triumphs a real challenge!

[@ihateemael]

the timeline is a bit later . .but I raced a tz350c in about '79 or '80 and a local on a methanol running 500 manx was just as fast. I could outbrake him with my big front disc but he was same speed down the straight.

[@xvdd1]

The limiting factor for Yamaha in previous years was Honda and Honda pulled out of GP's in 1968 leaving the door open in all solo classes, incidentally Yamaha had been competing in the TT since 1961 and their first win was in the 1965 125cc race with Phil Read.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

what? you mean you can't trust the information in a companies own publications? shocking lol

[@xvdd1]

@@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness I can only guess why that film has inaccuracies maybe Yamaha farmed that production out to an independent company it has the flavour of a sales promotion maybe for the US market.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

@@xvdd1 maybe, it was a Yamaha production initially

[@JeffPower-dv3zl]

Love the soundtrack 😊

[@allanbuchan6947]

Imagine watching Hickman's 136 lap with this music.😆

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

PMSL, i guess 1968 soundtracks were of a specific kind lol

[@thewatcher5271]

This Was Great! Who Doesn't Love Vintage Motorcycle Racing!?! I Never Knew They Were Calling It Ya-MAH-ha In '68. Thank You. (Like #285)

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

that bit made me piss myself lol, i still giggle every time i hear it :-)

[@diggy-d8w]

Without knowing much about these bikes the only ones I've ever seen being pushed were I think 2-strokes which were geared up high for higher speeds & it seems like they were part of how we got to higher revving engines as well? Born in 62 I was a little guy when this happened but seeing them pushing the bikes tells me there was no low end to these bikes - they were all geared for that track/place & I suppose for the atmosphere/humidity and other variables beyond my understanding. I know I'm looking at a few Carb'd Bikes & the elevation comes into the equation. Thanks for the video & I did stop by the hood guys at VHS to thank them. And thanks to you for this one.........peace

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

cheers as always mate, i noticed your thanks to the guy who rescued it cheers. these were geared for speed, full stop, it was all about maintaining corner speed. and they had very narrow power bands with many speed gearboxes until the regulations were changed. if i am right i remember 1 with a 14 speed gearbox? maybe an old Kreidler if i am right? i am sure someone will correct me if im wrong lol

[@grahamovenden9007]

Amusingly none of the race bikes ran an autolube system , but all ran premix . the works 250 bikes were rotary valve while the bikes available to the privateers were piston port . Autolube had recently been launched on their road bike range and would come out in 1968 on the DT1 trail bike .

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

Cheers for adding this. as i have often said, if we could amass the combined knowledge of all the subscribers we would have the most comprehensive motorcycle encyclopedia ever 🙂

[@ianday38]

Was the person playing the xylophone on the Yam-ah-ha team too? 😂 Compared to today they look like they're heading to the café for a sticky bun but I guess it's all relative to the tech of the day.

[@buckwheatINtheCity]

It must be acknowledged that Bill Ivy was faster on the two stroke Yamaha 250cc than Hailwood on the six cylinder four stroke Honda that set the previous year's lap record. Do you think that Honda saw the hand writing on the wall and realized that two strokes were catching up, when they pulled out of grand prix racing at the end of the 1967 season? 😮 A few years earlier in 1961, Ernst Degner's two stroke MZ took the 125cc world title before 😮 Degner defected to Suzuki, who rapidly played catch up.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

Don@t forget what he did on the 350 Jawa V4 either. and yes, Honda knew they had screwed every last ounce out of the high revving 4 strokes, in both 125 and 250 classes, wild times with many untold stories

[@矢口あきら]

Kreidlerも凄かったね。ヤマハの50CCマシンが勝利するのもみたかったし、SUZUKIの50CC、3気筒と競争するのも見たかったです。全て幻になりました。

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

@@矢口あきら 小型バイクは素晴らしかったので、メインチャンネルでいくつか紹介します。kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6XSYoV9drmbqJI

[@iantaylor7840]

When I was a boy Bill Ivy was one of my heroes, I was devastated when he got killed. I never liked Read ever, he was arrogant and got up to some dubious practices. He was seen thumping the tank of a GB Honda in one of the TTs, they suspected that the tank was larger than the permitted capacity. Nothing was proven but it left a bad taste at the time.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

too many forgRIP Mac Hobson, Phil Haslam, Jaarno Saarinen, and too many others to mention, I have been working on a rememberence piece on the main channel but it isnt easy

[@dangardave6442]

Over 13,000 feet to the top of Snaefell? Did they strap oxygen tanks to the bikes?

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

lol, you have to laugh, but that was how the film was published by Yamaha

[@keithwinters3031]

Great sound great smell.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

Castrol R runs through my veins 🙂

[@michaelking3812]

Anyone recognise the make of the Team Yamaha vans ??

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

are they old Merc's?

[@tomtaylor6163]

All I know is that back in the Day. For the most part if you weren’t riding Yamaha , you weren’t winning

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

Unless you were Renzo Passolini :-) cheers for watching mate, enjoy the ride

[@tomtaylor6163]

@@ihateemael True , Suzuki came on hard in the 1970s with Barry Sheene, Pat Hennen and others . But the field at the track was full of TZ250,TZ350 winning races everywhere. It was easier for a privateer to be riding Yamahas and have success ..most guys who rode Suzukis ,Kawasakis had more factory support. You could get a TZ250 and go racing easier

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

@@ihateemael and then came the TZ/YZR 🙂 they have all had their day 🙂

[@truthboomertruthbomber5125]

Yamaha was dedicated to winning. If that meant running Italian Ceriani forks then so be it.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

:-)

[@chrisweeks6973]

Thank you for this... The commentator could have learned a lot of lessons from the 1950 TT video you put up! I know that it was supposed to be a promo, but even so! Very strange pronunciation, odd choice of 'music' and a complete failure to mention any of the other particpants in the Lightweight 250cc race, apart from Renzo Pasolini and Heinz Rosner; even then, first names weren't given. For the record, the 3rd place-getter in the Lightweight 125cc race was Kel Carruthers on a Suzuki. Barry Smith won the Ultra-Lightweight 50cc race on a Derbi; he also took 3rd place in the Production 250cc race, on a Suzuki. The great Giacomo Agostini won both the Junior and the Senior on the MV Agusta.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

cheers for adding these bits mate, it helps to create a BIGGER picture. I am guessing it was created by the importers as a marketing piece. some omissions more understandable than others :-) and it does make me laugh every time they say Yam AAHA :-)

[@sadwingsraging3044]

_Yah mahh ha_ ? 😵‍💫 Dear God that is going to take far too long to get out of my head.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

PMSL, i still havent :-)

[@DiagolonRider]

man, i couldn't imagine racing the TT on those bikes in open faced helmets and goggles and stuff lol. crashes must've been horrific back in the day

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

too often fatal, many sad losses. cheers for watching mate, enjoy the ride

[@donr2176]

Since racing started at the Island in 1907 over 250 riders have been killed..Plus spectators on occasions, and of course riders over there going mad on "Mad Sunday", - Where providing you travel in race direction you can go flat-out with no Police action.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

@@donr2176 yep, sad losses every one, not sure what point you are trying to make though mate? how many people have died in plane crashes, pedestrian accidents, car accidents on the road, even people crossing the road to catch a bus since 1907? the racers know the risks, they choose to take them, if they dont want to, they dont have to. the same goes with mad sunday really too, everyone knows there is a risk

[@DiagolonRider]

@@donr2176 even today there's still deaths, just last year we lost Raul Martinez...i wouldn't give it up for anything tho. what an amazing race and riders!

[@donr2176]

@@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness I wasn't being critical- just replying to another writer's question. about the Island. I have never forgotten my visits there and my ambition is to return one more time for the TT- Not easy when I'm 80 and live in my native New Zealand!!

[@jamesonpace726]

In '68 I wuz a 4 year old baby proto-racer....

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

PMSL, a good way of putting it, cheers for watching mate, enjoy the ride

[@a34rwl]

Yer-mah-har?

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

still makes me piss every time i hear it

[@lawsonsmith]

OMG, typical American ignorance of relevant geographic data: the TT circuit rises to about 1300 feet, not 13,000! How could anyone make such a schoolboy howler? Otherwise a quite reasonable documentary. Oh yes and it's pronounced 'Yam-aha', not 'YA-MAHA'. Anyone else care to spot other errors?

[@barebonesmc]

The way they pronounce yam aahaa made me piss myself 😊😊

[@Team-fabulous]

Never liked Read after his appalling treatment of Bill Ivy...

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

Read was from a different world, Champagne and caviar not black pudding . cheers for watching mate, enjoy the ride

[@NickHall-v6w]

Read didn't skilfully reel in ivy at all, TT folklore is full of ifs buts and maybe's, if Yamaha hadn't treated Bill so woefully maybe he would have stayed with the team and maybe we would still have his company, so sad, what a talent.

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

@@NickHall-v6w unfortunately, that is how it was seen and reported at the time. as you can see, it is all to often the full story comes out far too late. At least Bill sits higher in peoples memory than the likes of the equally great Phil Haslam, or Mac Hobson, 2 more heroes that get forgotten too often. Mac Hobson would possibly have gone on to become the best Sidecar Champion ever IMO. and Phil Haslam, in Ron's words, "was far quicker than i will ever be"

[@GWAYGWAY1]

The commentator knows nothing and the. ‘Facts’ are completely wrong 13000 ft up the IOM???? And 38.74 miles along the course.????

[@howardosborne8647]

At approximately the 3:20 second mark he says the TT course is 38.37 miles long....it must have shrunk in the wash to the current 37.73 miles lap distance.. .no wonder the lap times are faster these days🤣🤣🤣

[@howardosborne8647]

The highest point on the course is the section called 'Hailwood's Height' at an ordnance survey altitude of 1,385 feet above sea level. Even at the top of the highest peak,Snaefell, it is only 2037 feet above sea level.

[@TheSimonvalente]

I guess he's trying his best, bless 'im.

[@DennisMerwood-xk8wp]

@@TheSimonvalente That goofy music is ruining his concentration ~ and a great video!

[@vampirepilot623]

​@@DennisMerwood-xk8wp The music and narration are from 50 years ago... Why don't you jump in your time machine and go sort it out?

[@矢口あきら]

本来ならRD56を開発したfumio Itou がいるはずだった。しかし彼は生活があれ、拳銃不法所持で捕まり、レースから去った。Phil Readのライバルとしてもっと長く走って欲しかった。

[@BareBonesMCMyMotorcycleMadness]

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