Yamaha began competing in Formula One in 1989. Using the experience they had gained during that time, they wanted to build a price-no-object, pure supercar based on actual Formula One technology. Even though the Formula One team was doing poorly in competition, by 1991, the team had just come out with a new engine, the OX99, and approached a German company to come up with an initial version of the car.
Yamaha was not pleased with the result as it was too similar to sports cars of that time, so they contacted IAD to continue working on the project. By the beginning of 1992, just under 12 months after starting to work on the project, IAD came with an initial version of the car. The car featured a radical and somewhat outrageous design, like its cockpit-looking roof. Other notable specs were the same carbon fiber chassis and OX99 engine as the F1 car, providing the closest experience of a pure racing car to the consumer market.
Commissioned by the Yamaha Sports division rather than the bike one, this supercar was based around Yamaha’s V12 F1 engine that was sat in the current Brabham at the time, granted detuned to only 400bhp. An engine that had yet to produce a win! The original development had started around 1990, but unhappy with the conventional supercar design that the first design company came up with, Yamaha turned to IAD on the south coast of England.
Within a year, they had built this, a tandem 2-seater with a definite F1 car look about it. Unfortunately, all this carbon fiber and F1 technology came with a price tag of $800,000 just at the end of a recession. Two more cars were built and used as test beds and press cars, but the car never made it into production. Issues were found with its handling, which needed additional design development, which was to be expected in a supercar designed and built in 12 months. However, this was taken over by Yamaha’s company Ypsilon Technology in Milton Keynes, which was set up to both services the F1 engines and build the cars. Unfortunately, six months later, due to a perceived lack of demand, the plug was pulled in 1992.
Source: SuperCars
Images: Yamaha