Torsten
Hallman interview
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1971 Yamaha YZ250 reed valve Torsten
Hallman
This is the very
first works 250 Yamaha. It is the bike that Torsten
Hallman received in the spring of 1971. Torsten had just
signed a three year contract to develop Yamaha's GP motocross
bikes. At the time Suzuki was the only Japanese
manufacturer competing in the World Championships and they were
dominating. Torsten, riding this very bike scored Yamaha's
first ever points in a GP with a sixth place finish at the 1971
Dutch Grand-prix. Nearly every part on the bike is hand
built and weight was of most importance as it weighs only
185lbs. This is one of the most Historical Yamahas in that
it was the first bike built for all out GP motocross. It
was also ridden by the four time World Champion Torsten Hallman. It is in the original
condition after its last race, the 1971 Swedish grand-prix.
Torsten Hallman's
comments: I received this bike shortly after signing a 3
year contract with Yamaha. At first there were reliability
problems. I thought that we had a long way to go before
the bike would be good. Yamaha's enthusiasm and resources
were very impressive. The rear hubs were braking right
away. The factory designed, built and shipped a new one in
about two weeks. We had problems with the suspension and I
would tell the Yamaha engineers in Sweden what was wrong and
they would tell the Kayaba engineers in Japan. The changes
were not working so good and the process was taking too long.
Kayaba then sent two engineers to work with me for about two
months. We got the suspension working good then. I
still preferred the Koni rear shocks though. The motor was
too far to the rear and this upset the weight distribution.
I modified a frame myself by moving the motor forward and this
cured that problem. The motor was very good and after much
testing and changing things we had a GP worthy bike. I
scored Yamaha's first GP points with this bike with a sixth
place in Holland. Yamaha was very good about making the
changes that I asked. Most of the modifications were then
used on the 1972 works bike.

click upper image to enlarge





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