2012 Yamaha R1 - first impressions

We’re in Spain riding the 2012 Yamaha R1 at the Valencia MotoGP circuit.

Aside from a few very minor tweaks the main change to the Yamaha is its new six-stage traction control.

We’ve just done our first session and the TC is on max. It’s so intrusive you can hold the throttle to the stop out of every corner, not good for progress on the track, but will be a great safety feature on the road.

We’ll be trying the system on less intrusive settings later on, so check out next week’s MCN to find out if the TC will make you faster and how it compares with the Aprilia’s incredible APRC system.