Inside The New Yamaha Factory Racing Trailer 3

Okay, we have a confession. With the distance that we had to stay from the team rigs in Salt Lake City, we didn't spot that they'd switched to a new trailer during the break in action. Fortunately, Monster Energy/Yamaha Factory Racing's Team Manager, Jimmy Perry, offered up a chance to check out the new rig, and you can come along with us for a tour.

How about some details not covered in the tour? Let's do it. 

In the past four or five years, they've had trailers wrapped, but this one was picked up from Featherlite in bare aluminum form and spent something over six weeks at Kelly & Sons for painting. Some of the graphic elements are stickered for ease of changes, but otherwise, the basic design is permanent.

Changes are apparent from right from the entry door. With a "storefront" door that swings open, as opposed to the more commonly used sliding pocket doors, it's quieter, they get a better seal from heat and cold (and dust), and they also save room on the interior.

Moving the data guys inside (rather than outsides in the pit area) was a big goal of the new design. They’d looked at how several car racing teams had configured their rigs before settling on a final design. Jimmy explained, “I think with the data and the information that we can get from the bikes now, you can use those for tuning of the bike, suspension parameters, engine parameters, and it's just another part of the notebook that you're able to use from the progression from practice session to heat race, to Main Event to be more competitive. Gathering the information and getting the data, it takes to time to understand a dirt bike on a Supercross track. I think you're seeing more and more teams working with it, and using it to their advantage.

Another noticeable change is that the conference room is windowless. That makes things smoother on the exterior (which means fewer graphics hurdles to deal with) and gives them extra room for an additional TV monitor on the interior.

How have these trailers evolved over the years? “In the two-stroke days, there were probably a lot fewer parts on board. With EFI, electronics, you get something much different, and you need a spot in the trailer to accommodate all that.”

Another cool feature are the fixtures they use to lock in elements of their equipment. Before, it might have taken upwards of 30 tie-downs to cinch everything in place. Now everything has its place in the truck, and they lock into place on the floor.

The large slide-out on the trailer also adds a lot of room. Jimmy explained, “There was always a size that we were looking for, and this is probably one of the bigger slide outs there. Featherlite has done a great job with the trailer and we're pretty happy with what we’re able to do and the extra room that it gives us. Now the mechanics will be able to build bikes inside on hot or cold days, and I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.” We hung out with the team during one particularly hot build day at Southwick, and we know how brutal it can be to build bikes in the heat. That’s a big upgrade for the guys, for sure.

Of course, a team has to eat, and the placement of the kitchen was also a consideration in the design. As Jimmy told us, “We’ve always kind of always had our kitchen area towards the back of the truck, so it’s accessible from the back door. That way people didn't necessarily have to come through the front of the truck every time they want to get something. We have two sliding doors in the back so they can come in and out and then they don't have to bother the guys looking at the data, or working on suspension.

Well, that concludes the tour. Now we can’t wait to get back to racing, so we can see it in the wild.