More than 17 sponsors pulled together in a tough economic climate – particularly for our sport – and helped build the TPR project YFZ450R.
In the end, a pile of the best performance parts in the industry and all our hard work added up to one national caliber race quad.
Every one of our sponsors deserves our gratitude and patronage, but some just went above and beyond the rest. They are prime examples of how the sport of ATV racing is just one big family.
First and foremost is ATP Racing Engines. Mike Walker, the owner and primary engine builder for the Perry, Fla. based performance shop, set the bar high for all our other sponsors.
Before we added a single part, ATP agreed to pick up our bone stock 2009 Yamaha YFZ450R at the Steel City National in Delmont, Pa., in July. Mike took the quad so he could tear into the engine and boost the power 20 percent by getting 52 horsepower at the rear wheels.
First, ATP cleared precious room in the hauler at the Steel City National and lugged the quad back to Florida from Pennsylvania. Then, after making the TPR engine a priority, ATP completely rebuilt our top end, installed the exhaust and intake mods and tuned everything on their dyno in about two weeks time. After all that, ATP delivered the quad into our awaiting hands at the Unadilla National in upstate New York.
With the powerful ATP engine work, our next task was to step up the quad's suspension. That's a tall order, considering the YFZ450R has arguably the best stock suspension available on a sport 450.
The obvious choice was right around the corner from the TPR shop at ATV Four Play in Wadsworth, Ohio.
The crew at ATV Four Play was happy to take our brand new YFZR from us just days after we rolled it off the showroom floor in early April. It was the first YFZR to rolll into their shop, and they spent several weeks scrutinizing the front end and determining just how to improve the machine's already impressive handling stock front end.
Four Play has helped win national championships, and they didn't disappoint in creating their new a-arms for Yamaha's latest motocrosser.
But it didn't stop there. As if that wasn't enough, Four Play also threw in a set of their new Generation II Soft Bars.
When we thought the TPR project YFZ450R couldn't get any better, it did. The shock builders over at Fox Shox wanted to help us take full advantage of the ATP engine and our new Four Play suspension and handlebars.
The guys at Fox have helped win more championships than almost any other race shop in the industry – except maybe for Hinson Racing clutch components, another of our sponsors – and they can lay stake in Dustin Wimmer's 2009 AMA National red #1 plate.
Fox basically asked us, 'How can we improve your ride today?' They spent two weeks designing a set of their Fox Float X Evol front shocks to mate up with the ATV Four Play front arms. They topped if off with a finely tuned Podium X shock for the rear.
Last, but certainly not least, is Tarantula Performance Racing. Without TPR, the project YFZ450R would not have come together.
They set out to build this quad to improve its performance and increase the rider's safety. TPR did that by designing their innovative, new Race Safer Pro nerf bar and heel guard combination, which was designed solely to improve rider comfort and safety.
TPR's general manager, Brian Fredmonsky, has been riding since he was about 5. He's been bolting aftermarket parts up to quads and threewheelers for nearly 30 years, and he also set out to build a strong, durable part that bolts right up without any unecessary cutting, drilling or bending.
We spent countless hours at the TPR shop in Hinckley, Ohio, building and tweaking welding jigs and running back and forth from the shop floor to the design room – calipers in hand – checking and re-checking measurements and tolerances.
The end result is a set of nerf bars that should radically change the way racers and manufacturers think about nerf bars.
To top it all off, TPR threw in their signature MX-Series front bumper. On the bumper alone, we must've spent two hours swapping out different colored center inserts to see which best matched the paint scheme from Capital Powder Coating in Suffield, Ohio.
Capital Powder Coating alone deserves much of the credit for this build. Capital took the most visible parts on the TPR project YFZR and gave them an eye-popping color coat. The Four Play a-arms and their custom, "chameleonized" fade are stunning.
When you see ATVOnDemand.com test rider Aaron Meyer ripping the TPR project YFZ450R around Crow Canyon's motocross track in Uhrichsville, Ohio, you'll get a better sense of just how incredible this quad looks, and it performs just as well.
ATVOnDemand.com is working to finish their video documenting the ride review ofthe TPR project YFZ450R. Stay tuned. We'll let you know when it's posted.
