Racing History of the VMax 4 - tell it again.

WildMax

WildMax

Member
Remember somewhere on Vmax4.com BC (before crash), there was a couple of threads on the history of the VX750/800 on the racing scene. Oval, drag, track and who's who. If you guys in the know don't mind, I'd be interested in seeing that info again.
 

As I remember, I asked a question about the VMax4 on the oval track and why we don't see it there now. Someone had some great info on how the engine was developed for bikes but ended up in a snowmobile for some reason. After a couple of years of racing success with Tim Bender the VMax 4 was outlawed on the oval - I think???
 
Good assignment for one of you super dooper moderators - get a hold of Tim Bender or some other early racer and see if they would be willing to post or dictate a little write up of some of their racing memoirs with a Vmax4.
 
Well I would imagine the v4 originated from the TZ750 race bike.......man what a bike......Man what a sled!

TZ750-2a.jpg
 
tz 750 ow31 and our sleds have a common history

team yamaha had King Kenny Roberts
he dominated most events with his bikes (unless he crashed or broke both rare)
then he tried a works bike for yamaha using this motor for dirt ovel flat track...
testing proved very good but racing tell all truths!
Roberts entered a couple of races qualified and again dominated the event!
tires for this class were not a problem, xr750 factory harleys easily finnished with a safe tire after a hard race.

roberts tire the hardest compound they could get to live the race came in on cords
he asked the AMA to bann the bike from future competition which they did as it was no contest citing it Never, hooked up on the track always spun and tire technology was not up to solving this problem and so yamaha withdrew from any other races claiming their interest in rider safety...when in fact roberts refused to ride anything with that style motor in a flat track bike!!!

yes it was banned
yes the bender got banned too
yes its yamaha on the EDGE again
 
That's interesting stuff. Thanks for posting it. When people notice the 4 cylinder 2 stroke engine and have never seen one, its kind of nice to be able to tell a little folk lore to go along with the view.

What was the reason the Bender sled was banned?
 
so how did this motor end up in a snowmobile????? why did yamaha just not get rid of it????? i am greatful that it turned out the way it did.....I love my sled!!!!!!!!

Rick
 
Yamaha seems to have a history of doing this. The Snoscoot and Snosport engines were originally from the scooters of the time. The Vmax4 engine design came from the TZ750 and now the RX1 and Apex and Attack engines came from the R1 street bike. They've even got the R1 design engine in their personal watercrafts and jet drive boats.

Ian
 
The Vmax4 engine is based on a TZ750 engine. Not just pulled out of a streetbike and jammed in. Just similar in design. Not to mention the TZ pulled something like 180hp. Like a lot of Yamaha's other creations, many engines are based on previous success but not a complete photocopy. Much the same as a 5.0L (302ci) Mustang, 5.0L (302ci) pickup, 5.0L (302ci) Crown Victoria....etc, etc, etc. Very similar, yet very different.
 
GUYS, THE VMAX 4 HAD A SLOW START TO OVAL RACING WHEN TIM BENDER BROUGHT IT OUT DUE TO WEIGHT AND RELIABILITY OF THE ENGINE THRU THE EXTENSIVE ENGINE MODS. BUT AFTER MUCH TESTING IN ALASKA BENDER GOT IT FIGURED OUT AND STARTED TO KICK EVEYONES ARSE ON THE OVALS.I FOLLOWED OVAL RACING CLOSE THRU THE MID NINETYS TILL SKI-DOO AND POLARIS GOT A RULE IMPLEMENTED FOR THE FORMULA 3 CLASS TO LIMIT THEM TO 600 CC MAX STARTING WITH ANY PRODUCTION ENGINE CONFIGURATION. SKI DOO RELEASED ITS FORMULA 3 SLED AND POLARIS RESLEEVED THER 650 ENGINES DOWN TO 600 SINCE THEY HAD THE OLD 600 TRIPPLE TECH. THIS LEFT YAMAHA AT A HUGE DISADVANTAGE BECAUSE IT WAS SO HARD TO COMPETE WITH THE V4 CUT DOWN TO A 600 QUAD, SO THEY BAILED. IT WAS ABOUT POLITICS WHICH BASICALLY STARTED THE DEMISE OF OVAL RACING AS WE KNOW IT TODAY. THE JAPS GOT ON TOP WITH BENDERS HELP AND OTHERS DIDNT LIKE IT SO THEY CHANGED THE RULES. JUST A BUNCH OF CRAP!!!!! I TALKED TO TIM BENDER ONCE AT EAGLE RIVER,WI AND ANTIGO ,WI WHEN HE RACED THE QUAD AND HE TOLD ME THE MOD QUAD HE RACED STARTED OUT AT ABOUT 210 HP BUT WOULDNT LIVE SO THEY DETUNED TO ABOUT 190-195. 30-40 BETTER THAN THE COMPETITION. THAT THEY DIDNT LIKE. I HAD VIDEO OF BENDER PASSING 3 SLEDS DOWN THE BACKSTRETCH AT ANTIGO,WI TRACK [1/2 MILE LENGTH] ON THE FIRST LAP OF RACE THEN WATCH HIM PULL TO 1/2 LAP LEAD OVER 3RD PLACE - 2ND PLACE WAS HIS TEAMMATE RICK HAEG ON THE OTHER QUAD. JON BERNATLIO OF ILL. NOW OWNS TIMS QUAD. ITS AN AWSOME MACHINE. I WISH I HAD KEPT THAT VIDEO TO SHOW YOU GUYS-IT WOULD GIVE YOU A BIG STIFFY AS I ALWAYS GAVE ME ONE. TRUE PREFORMANCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KING OF THE LAKE
 
SIMILIAR STORIE IS WHAT HAPPENED TO MIKE KNAPP ON TAR !! WHEN YOU LOOK BACK AT THE SHIT THAT SKIDOO, POLARIS, AND CAT HAVE PULLED IN SNOWMOBILE RACING. YAMAHA HAS ALWAYS BEEN SCREWD. ISR WAS PAID OFF MANY TIMES ALL THE WAY BACK TO OUTLAWING THE 77 SRX. CAT AND SKIDOO HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO RUN CHEATER SLEDS FOR YEARS IN STOCK CLASSES AND GET AWAY WITH IT BECAUSE THEIR PAID OFF. 3:16 (tony)
 
Is this paying off thing similar to the thing you guys were talking about about Ski-doo trying to pull something recently, but getting caught?
This stuff is really interesting, learn something new every day :)
Lewis
 
BASISLY DUDE IS SKIDOO, CAT , AND POLARIS , HAVE SO MUCH SAY AND INFLUENCE ON RULES, ENGINE SIZE, SAFTEY, HORSEPOWER etc. ITS A NO BRAINER. ALSO THESE BRANDS PARTICPANT IN ALL FORMS OF RACING THATS GOVERNED BY ISR SUCH AS SNO-CROSS, GRASS DRAGS, OVALS, ICE DRAGS, WATER CROSS, TAR AJUST A EXAMPLE. THE RULES COMITEE IS MADE UP OF GUYS THAT WORK FOR CAT, POLARIS, SKIDOO.YOU MAY THINK I AM CRYING HERE, BUT I HAVE SEEN THIS SINCE THE LATE SEVENTIES. 3:16 (tony)
 
That's really too bad, although in the big picture it doesn't matter, because we don't need to win their staged races, to know we can beat them eh? :D:D:D
Lewis
 
I see that doesn't keep YAMMIEGOD, Agdorny, and Hauck from going out and kicking everybody's asses on their 10 year old "tanks". I think politics has a lot to do with why Yamaha hasn't really pursued snocross. Yamaha comes out with a sled that will kill everybody else, so they change the rules. How much more proof do we need that the other guys are scared of Yamaha technology?
KING OF THE LAKE - You reminded me of watching the I-500 snowmobile race many many years ago when Polaris came out with a new sled. It's been many years and I don't really know what model it was, maybe something like the 650 TX???? They threw the green flag and this guy just left everybody behind. He had lapped the entire field about 5 laps into the race and cruised from there. It was totally awesome to watch. I wish you still had your video to post, also.
Shark
 
just remember this !!!

i put this on all my bikes tz250-750

YAMAHAHA...we ALWAYS get the last phucking laugh!!!


and its true
 
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