2009 AMA World Bike Building Championship Hall at Sturgis

Valentino Rossi 2009 MotoGP World Championship winning
Yamaha YZR-M1 09
In 2009 Valentino Rossi has continued to grow his legend and cement his place in the history of Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing. The Italian's ninth career title is his seventh in the premier-class and his fourth since joining Yamaha in 2004. Here are some more statistics from the fourteenth season of his career:
• Rossi has now matched Mike Hailwood and Carlo Ubbiali with nine titles in all classes. Only Agostini with 15 has more.
• Rossi's win in Assen this season made him only the second rider in history to take 100 wins in all classes. Rossi now has 103, 19 less than Agostini's all-time record of 122.
• Valentino holds the all-time premier class victories record, having beaten Agostini's tally with his own win at Indianapolis in 2008. He now a premier-class win tally of 77.
• Rossi's win this season in Brno saw him take the all-time podium record with his 160th podium in all classes. He is also the only rider to have stood on the podium in the premier-class more than 100 times. His final race in 2009 was his 163rd in all classes.
• With 44 wins from 102 races since he joined the Japanese factory in 2004, Rossi is the most successful Yamaha rider of all time. He has 21 more wins than Kenny Roberts, Yamaha's next most successful rider.

Engine
Engine type: Liquid cooled Crossplane crankshaft inline four-cylinder, four stroke
Maximum power: Over 200 horsepower (147 kW)
Maximum speed: In excess of 320 km/h

Transmission
Type: Six-speed cassette-type gearbox, with alternative gear ratios available

Chassis and running gear
Frame type: Aluminium twin tube delta box, multi-adjustable steering geometry/wheelbase/ride height. Aluminium swingarm
Suspension: Ohlins upside down front forks and Ohlins rear shock, all adjustable for pre-load, high and low-speed compression and rebound damping. Alternative rear suspension links available
Front/rear wheels: Marchesini 16.5 front, 16.5 rear, available in a variety of rim widths
Front/rear tyres: Bridgestone, 16.5 front, 16.5 rear, available as slick, intermediate, wet and hand-cut tyres
Brakes: Brembo, two 320 mm carbon front discs, two four-piston callipers. Single 220 mm stainless steel rear disc, twin-piston calliper
Weight: 148kg, in accordance with FIM regulations
Fuel capacity: 21 litres, in accordance with FIM regulations

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EMS Engine Management System
An engine and its EMS (engine management system) can never be taken separately. At the time of the M1 development in 2002, EMS meant little more than control of the engine brake effect. All the teams had to deal with the problem of controlling the engine brake effect of a 4-stroke engine. This was also a problem with the YZR-M1 and numerous systems had to be tested. It can even be said that the problem of engine brake control was the driving force behind the development of EMS. The max. output of an engine is naturally important but good controllability is also a necessity.Through development, a fly-by-wire system came to replace the ICS system. Thanks to this change, the throttle work can control not only the engine output but also the chassis.

Chassis
The frame of the YZR-M1 is designed with a greater torsional “forgiveness” and less rigidity in the lateral direction, while maintaining rigidity in the vertical direction. When a motorcycle is banked, the frame itself has to function like a suspension, because the suspension of a motorcycle basically functions only in the vertical direction. For this reason, many methods were used and many tests made in this area of frame development. In 2005 a cross member was removed. This reduced torsional rigidity and rigidity in the vertical direction, which greatly improved machine agility and stability. At the same time, the air intake passage was designed to run through the head pipe, which contributed to increased engine performance.The concentration of mass toward the machine’s center of gravity is very important for improving a bike’s handling. Recent years, development efforts have focused on the fuel tank and electronic control parts and the engine as components that can improve the concentration of mass.

It is easy to imagine that the shape of a fuel tank contributes to mass concentration. At the same time, the mass concentration contributes to minimize the difference in the weigh balance when the tank is full and empty. The main electronic control parts used to be positioned underneath the front panel. The ECU, measurement parts and other related parts are not very heavy and therefore have little effect on mass concentration, but it was considered a potential problem that they were positioned so far from the center of gravity of the machine.To solve the problem, the electronic control parts were moved to the tank rail, which made for a dramatic improvement in mass concentration. As for the engine, efforts are constantly being made to make the design as compact as possible and to find the optimum mounting position for the engine.These improvements in mass concentration have effectively reduced the inertial moment of the machine and have thereby reduced the movement with regard to each axis year by year. And this results in positive improvements in cornering speed.

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History of the Yamaha M1 and the 800cc MotoGP Championship

The adoption of the new 800cc MotoGP regulation in 2006 marked the end of a 5-year era of the 990cc 4-stroke machines that began in 2002 with the shift from the GP500 to the MotoGP. Here is a history of the evolution of the 990cc M1 that competed in the MotoGP in its first five seasons.

Engines
The YZR-M1 born in 2002 was based on a 4-stroke engine and the chassis that had been used for the 500cc YZR500. An in-line-4 engine was adopted on that first M1 as an optimum layout to achieve the development goals dictated by the YZR-M1’s design concept, which called for a longer swing arm and a shorter wheelbase. The longer rear arm was made possible by the gradual shortening of the crankshaft and axle drive for this engine year by year.There were two main changes in the 2003 model. Fuel injection was adopted instead of a carburetor and an ICS system was also adopted to replace of engine-brake control system. Furthermore, in 2004, the performance of the YZR-M1 was dramatically improved with an introduction of an uneven firing interval and a 4-valve cylinder head.

In a test for the media conducted in the off-season in 2003, the engine was evaluated as being very aggressive and difficult to control. Everyone who saw the test results were saying that 2004 would be a very tough season for Valentino Rossi. But, at the time, development of a 4-valve, uneven firing interval engine had begun, and tests on this new engine started around the Christmas. When Rossi rode the M1 with the new engine, he decided that the development concept for the engine was going in a good direction. From then on, year by year, max. output and rpm would be improved. The engine was given a short stroke in order to increase rpm. And, to accommodate this, the valve train system was changed from a chain to a gear type.

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