Ultimate R1 arrives | Crescent Yamaha build exclusive track-only superbikes at £65,000 each

Crescent Yamaha, the dealership behind the official Pata Prometeon Yamaha World Superbike team, have launched an exclusive run of Jonathan Rea tribute GYTR R1 superbikes – said to be the ultimate in trackday machinery for the well heeled few.

Priced at £65,000 (excluding VAT) and available exclusively through Crescent’s ProShop site in Verwood, Dorset, just 10 will be built – dressed in a special ‘JR Winter Test’ livery designed by Aldo Drudi (the man responsible for Valentino Rossi’s iconic crash helmets).

It’s also packed full of performance and chassis upgrades taken from the GYTR (Genuine Yamaha Technology Racing) catalogue, with power said to be up by around 30bhp over the standard road machine.

“We wanted to throw the kitchen sink from the GYTR catalogue and our other performance parts suppliers that we use, to create the ultimate R1 and I’m pretty confident we have to be honest,” Crescent Yamaha Managing Director and Yamaha WSBK Team Principal, Paul Denning said.

• Related: Yamaha R1 goes track only in Europe

“If a collector buys one then we are obviously more than happy, but it seems a shame to build a bike like that and not put fuel and oil in it. You really want to cater for the guy that uses up tyres and comes back with a huge grin on his face.”

The track-only superbike is said to combine both performance and reliability – making use of a number of internal and external GYTR options, alongside tuning from Crescent themselves.

Power is now expected to be in the region of 215bhp, with all bikes coming with a Crescent Yamaha certificate of authenticity and the opportunity to meet Jonathan Rea at any WSBK round.

Buyers will also have the chance to attend a UK trackday with a Crescent ProShop technician, who will be on hand to dial the bike in to the correct settings for the user.  

To achieve the new found performance, the bikes receive cylinder head porting and an increased compression ratio to match a set of GYTR race kit cams. There’s also a factory Endurance World Championship-spec Akrapovič exhaust, Suter clutch, GYTR head gasket, GYTR crankcase covers, a BMC racing air filter, and more.

In total, there is £50,953.47 worth of parts in each build, and every bike would cost almost £72,000 to produce outside of this special edition.

“Because they are factory kit parts, they tend to be designed by Yamaha with an eye on durability as well,” Denning continued. “The increase of over 30bhp and a huge amount of torque is a big enough number that it takes it into the realms of hyperbikes, but with that very forgiving very flat power delivery that the R1 is famous for. 

“That combined with the GYTR kit ECU, which has got a much wider range of torque control and traction control settings, will make the bike very useable for any ability. It’s just nice to have that performance when you’re clicking through fourth, fifth, and sixth gear.”

Chassis upgrades further include an underslung Suter swingarm, full Öhlins suspension, Marchesini M7RS forged-aluminium wheels, and full carbon bodywork. Stopping power is provided by Brembo GP4RX calipers with T-Drive discs, with plenty more also on the spec sheet.

This latest creation follows on from a range of special road legal £29,995 R1s revealed exclusively in MCN back in April. Limited to 65, they are also littered with a number of aesthetic and performance enhancing parts, and again pay tribute to Yamaha’s partnership with Jonathan Rea.

According to Denning around 15 have now sold, with a demonstrator in each colour also recently finished, too. For more on both the road and track builds, visit their website today.