Yamaha seamless gearbox progressing

Lin Jarvis has revealed that Yamaha may get their first taste of the long awaited seamless-shift gearbox at a private test in Brno in early August.

With Honda already having an perceived advantage with a seamless-shift, Yamaha are ensuring they do everything possible to catch up as quickly as possible.

“I’m not a rider and you would be better off asking the riders, but I understand that our gearbox is extremely good; so, as a regular gearbox, it is of an extremely high level,” said managing director Jarvis said.

“The date of introduction of the final seamless is still to be determined. We are already testing it in Japan on the race tracks.

“We will be testing it soon with our Grand Prix riders and then, based on when we are ready – when we can see that it really has an advantage and that the reliability is there – then we will introduce it…I think you will see it this year.”

Jarvis said that the new gearbox is absolute priority, but wants to ensure it is done properly.

“Our engineers’ main concern is rider safety. With a gearbox, you cannot afford to make one mistake. You make one mistake and it costs the rider points but, what is more important is that it could cost you the rider, so Yamaha will not introduce it until they are 100% sure that it is working really well and faultlessly.”