• Iconic air-cooled Yamaha racer
• Yamaha's first 350cc race bike
• Already restored when purchased

The mainstay of 250cc and 350cc class racing at national and international level for many years, the twin-cylinder two-stroke Yamaha well deserved the title of 'privateer's friend'; indeed, without it, grids in these classes would have been depleted in extremis during the 1970s. The 250cc TD2 arrived in 1969, replacing the TD1C, and immediately proved capable of winning Grands Prix. The giant leap forward from the TD1C had been achieved thanks to a comprehensive redesign that saw the engine porting and exhaust system updated, superior Mikuni carburettors adopted, and the chassis, suspension and brakes greatly improved. Looking like a scaled down Manx Norton Featherbed, the TD2's chassis was a development of that used for the RD56 works racer of 1963. Broadly similar as far as its frame and cycle parts were concerned, the 350cc TR2 differed mainly by virtue of its different porting and horizontally-split crankcases, a feature not introduced on the 250 until the arrival of the TD3 in 1972.

The first major international success for Yamaha's new production racers came in May 1969 when privateer Kent Andersson won the 250cc race at the German Grand at Hockenheim, an event of enormous importance as it demonstrated that these over-the-counter bikes were capable of winning at the highest level. It is one of Yamaha's most significant classic victories.

The result was an upsurge in demand that Yamaha struggle to satisfy, leading to long delays in the delivery of machines to Europe. Kel Carruthers on the works Benelli 'four' denied Kent Anderson the 250cc World Championship in 1969, but the following year the TD2 came good when Rod Gould, riding a works machine entered by Yamaha Motor NV of Holland, took the title. The continued presence of Giacomo Agostini's MV Agusta meant that the TR2 and its successors had more of a fight on their hands in 350cc Grands Prix, but in 1972 Don Emde, riding a TR2B, won the prestigious Daytona 200 outright, defeating a field of larger-capacity machines.

This Yamaha racer had already been restored when it was acquired for the Morbidelli Museum. It should be noted that the frame number prefix should be 'R3', not 'TR2', and that the engine number should match the frame number (the TR2 sequence commenced at 'R3-900101'). Sold strictly as viewed.