Yamaha boss reluctant to stop engine development

Yamaha’s MotoGP boss Masao Furusawa believes urgent cost-cutting measures must not sacrifice engineering and technology development.

Furusawa, who has masterminded Yamaha’s return to prominence since 2004, is concerned that various cost reduction proposals might have a negative impact on machine development.

And he says should the global economic crisis start to hamper the pursuit of increased performance, then the whole point of racing will be defeated.

Furusawa said: “I don’t want to change but at the same time I would like to reduce the costs. Racing is competition and we can’t stop engine development. If we stop the development of the engine it defeats the point of racing.

“As long as we are thinking about winning we are keeping engine development. If we stop development that means we have lost the game.”