'Not one bolt' - Yamaha stresses prototype nature of future Moto3 bike

Although powered by a heavily modified R7 engine, Yamaha has stressed the prototype nature of its future Moto3 machine.

Yamaha will become the exclusive supplier for the Moto3 class from 2028, ending the current competition between 250cc machines from KTM and Honda.

“The performance is targeted to be better than the current Moto3… around 120 kg with over 95 horsepower,” MotoGP Chief Sporting Officer Carlos Ezpeleta said.

“The idea is that we will also have a lower [machine] spec for all the junior championships around the world.

“We are solving a number of things with the current Moto3 structure.

“One, all riders will be able to compete with exactly the same machinery. Two, it's more suited for today's riders in terms of the age and [bigger] size.

“And finally, the target is to be at 50% of the current cost for Moto3.”

“A prototype racing machine”

Despite the target of halving costs, Yamaha Racing managing director Paolo Pavesio insisted: “This is not a production bike spin-off.

“The engine is a production engine which will be highly modified. We are massively reducing the weight by using a lot of magnesium. We will have more power. We will have a complete racing gearbox.

“The engine is the only production part of the bike. The frame, the swingarm, the rolling chassis… it's a prototype racing machine.

“We didn’t take one bolt from existing Yamaha parts, from the Superbike platform, to build the new Moto3.”

Pavesio added that Yamaha had formed a “cross-company group of young engineers” to design the machine, which is scheduled to begin testing in September or October.

“We’ve got this team of young, talented engineers,” he said. “A few from Japan, who are now living in Italy, because the bike has been developed mainly in Europe. We put some people from Superbike, some from our MotoGP group.

“So it's a cross-company group of young engineers. We also have some university students as well, and it’s 100% in-house development.”

Yamaha’s reasons for entering Moto3

Pavesio said Yamaha’s interest centres on research, development and promotion rather than generating income by supplying the grid.

“This is not really to generate business, but it's to generate knowledge, to connect with younger audiences in regions where motorsport and the motorcycle market is growing.

“Places like South America, Asia, where we believe, thanks to this product, thanks to the promotion which will come from MotoGP, but also thanks to the Yamaha global presence, we can do something for motorsport.

“Finally, motorsport is a promotion activity. At the end, the more we promote what we do, the better it is for the industry and for ourselves as a player.”

Despite supplying the machinery, Pavesio wants other manufacturers to participate in the class, following a similar model to the Triumph-powered Moto2 category.

“We don't care about having any Yamaha branding on the bikes which will be bought by the Moto3 teams.

“We don't want to use the fact that we supply the machines as a direct branding promotion for us.

“We will have our own team. This is very clear. But in the same way that today we compete in Moto2 with the Yamaha Pramac project, running a Boscoscuro chassis with a Triumph engine.”