20. Which well known motorcycle manufacturer supplied engines to Brabham, Jordan, Tyrell and Arrows in the 1990s?
From Quiz Start Your Engines
Answer:
Yamaha
Yamaha's record in motorcycle racing is impressive to say the least, with over 200 victories at the Isle of Man TT races and over 30 World Championship titles, courtesy of riders such as Giacomo Agostini, Johnny Cecotto, Kenny Roberts, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo. One would have thought that with a pedigree such as that, the switch to F1 engines wouldn't have been too difficult, but during their eight years in the sport, the engines from Yamaha gained a deserved reputation for lacking pwer and being unreliable. In their first season, 1989, the company supplied West Zakspeed, but the engines were so underpowered that the team qualified for just two of the 16 races and when Zakspeed went out of business at the end of the season, it allowed Yamaha a season to work on their engine before they returned in 1991 as supplier to Brabham. The engine performed well, with no real reliability issues and although still lacking power, both Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell scored points for the team, but unfortunately the following year, as engine supplier to Jordan didn't go as well, with the team scoring no points until Stefano Modena's sixth place finish in the Australian Grand Prix, the final race of the season.
The 1993 season, Yamaha's first supplying engines to Tyrell, was even worse as the team scored no points but 1994 was their best ever season, with a total of 13 World Championship points and the first time a Yamaha powered driver stood on the podium when Mark Blundell finished third in Spain. This was to remain their best result until their final season in the sport, 1997 when Damon Hill in his Yamaha powered Arrows, finished second in the Hungarian Grand Prix, after having led for the majority of the race, only to suffer a suspension failure on the final lap. At the end of the 1997 season, Arrows decided to build their own engines for the following season, Damon Hill left the team to move to Jordan and Yamaha left the sport.