It’s been nearly thirty years since Wayne Rainey last rode a championship bike, but the American’s dream has finally come true. At the 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed, the three-time 500cc world champion was able to travel back in time and get back on the Yamaha YZR500 with which he won his last title in 1992.
The successful career of the Californian, who dominated three seasons in 500cc with an iron fist, came to a halt after an accident at Misano in 1993. His strong character was one of the things that allowed him to recover and return to active life, exercising of team manager in MotoGP and later taking the reins of MotoAmerica .
However, the idea of getting back on a racing bike only crossed his mind for a few days, before disappearing from his mind.
“When I got injured in 1993, in the hospital I had the idea for a week or two that I really wanted to get back on a bike,” said the former rider. “I had no idea what it would look like or if it would ever happen, but it was a daily motivation and the only thing that kept me going.”
“But as time went by, reality set in and my new life was obviously something very different to what it had been in the past, so [the idea of] riding a motorcycle faded away.”
Parked aside but not forgotten, this idea resurfaced many years later. Before the proposal to do it at Goodwood came, Rainey had the opportunity to get into an R1 at Willow Springs and at Suzuka in late 2019.
“The R1 was an easy bike to convert because it already had a lot of electronics in it. So it was quite easy to shift up and down, there were buttons to do it. You could see on the dashboard what gear it was in,” Rainey recalled of that first experience on a motorcycle, a quarter of a century after losing the mobility of his legs.
“One of the times I got most excited was driving at Suzuka and going through some of the corners where I got one of my best wins. It really got me excited.”
But the three-time 500cc champion knew that doing the same thing with the bike that took him to the top would be more difficult: “But when the idea of getting on this bike [the Yamaha YZR500] came up, the challenge was obviously much greater. The bike was thirty years old, it had no electronics, it was a 500cc two-stroke, so there were a lot of parts that we weren’t sure we could remove.”
With the active support of Lin Jarvis and Masahiko Nakajima, Yamaha’s MotoGP program manager, the project became a reality. The 1992 YZR500 left the brand’s museum and passed into the hands of an expert who was able to transform the way it was controlled, so that all the controls were placed on the handlebars and Rainey could get back on it.
On June 24, 2022, a somewhat incredulous Wayne Rainey came across a suit, a helmet and a Yamaha that had been patiently waiting for him for thirty years. “When I got that chance at Suzuka, and then when I got the chance to ride my grand prix bike here, it was… wow! I never thought it would happen, especially at an event like this,” he admitted.
Wayne Rainey takes the start at his exhibition at Goodwood
“I was probably a bit more nervous at that point than at any other point in my career, more so than at Suzuka. The biggest challenge for me was getting the bike going at the start, because I don’t have a good sense of balance, so the motorcycle has to move forward,” he confessed.
“I remember the first time I did a start, I almost crashed because I wasn’t going fast enough. After that, you more or less understand how to handle the throttle.”
“Once I got going, the bike felt really smooth. The only thing I could really feel was the handlebars, so I had to adjust everything there, but the engine felt really smooth. This bike wants to be on a track, so to have her here at the Festival of Speed, at this circuit, was perfect for her and for me.”
The North American did not take long to verify the unique taste in the mouth that the machine with which he shared so much three decades ago leaves you. “Every time I get on it, I wish I could do it for longer,” he smiled.
Setting aside the initial excitement of getting back on his old race bike, Wayne Rainey said that one of the things he particularly enjoyed was the context in which it took place. The exhibition received the support of the public, but also of several drivers of the time: Kenny Roberts , who was his team manager, Kevin Schwantz , his great rival, and Mick Doohan , runner-up in 1991 and 1992. Closing the group was Dani Pedrosa, who had not shared the track with them, but grew up watching them win.
“Racing all together, with Kenny, Kevin Schwantz and Mick Doohan… I was sure it wouldn’t happen again, so I never thought about it. I thought there might be a chance to race again, but I never thought I’d be in the track with them.
“They let me go first and go ahead. And there were all these people, you’re so close to them you can hear them. Then there were all the big screens, so as I was piloting, I could see Kenny, Mick and Kevin there. When I saw it, I said to myself, ‘Wow, this is happening here and now,’ and I really appreciated that they wanted to come do this with me. It’s been thirty years and the fact that it could happen, it was a real fantasy.”
Wayne Rainey leads ahead of Kenny Roberts, Kevin Schwantz, Mick Doohan and Dani Pedrosa
