Review by Mark “Hollywood” Jarecki 45Q - 
Yamaha G.P. is another fine DVD of yesteryear; presented by Yamaha LTD Co. Part documentary, part history, lots of racing. The years featured are 1979-’81-’82 and ’83. Naturally, extended travel and suspension are apparent and the factories are doing all the R&D possible at the time. Yamaha G.P. is narrated and features Yamaha’s factory riders on the G.P. circuit. Heiki Mikkola and Gaston Rahier get most of the camera time but other riders of the day are not far away. Brad Lackey and DeCoster are mentioned briefly with Brad and Heiki having a brief conversation after a race. The footage is good and races in Germany, Belgium, and Holland are worth seeing. The audio is good as well. There is nothing fancy about the DVD. It’s pretty straightforward and Yamaha toots its own horn some. The somewhat dry narration is average but does the job. Huge crowds, (30 thousand), turn out for the G.P. events with parades and celebrations. There is even some ‘racing pointers’ from Heiki himself. There are not a lot of big familiar names featured in this video but if you love Motocross, Yamaha G.P. is right up there. It’s always cool to see the old races. I give this one 3 spark plugs.
Hollywood 45Q
Review by Randy Smith #24 -
If you are a Fan of the European GP Races of the late 1970’s and 1980’s or a Yamaha Post Vintage Fan, you need to see this DVD.
Being that this DVD is Titled “Yamaha GP 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983” it should be no surprise that this film concentrates on Yamaha’s victories during those years. Note that they skipped 1980. The film footage is pretty good Super 8 type with a voice over commentator and funky porn movie type music that I could do without. The film is very informative with some behind the scenes action and glimpses at the Works Bike type mods that made it to the production bikes a few years latter. I watched the film with two of my racer buddies and they thought it was pretty good also as we got to see the giant outdoor tracks from over sea’s. Man they were brutal. It was awesome to watch 50 riders all take off from starting gates that fell forward or dropped straight down into the ground. If you couldn’t ride standing up for 40 minutes at a time twice a day you didn’t belong racing there, not a smooth place anywhere. I didn’t recognize very many names as only a handful of American’s were mentioned and I didn’t follow the European races back then so take that in to consideration while watching.
I liked seeing the white Yamaha’s with black or red trim and the riders using dark blue and red in their outfits. There were lots of open faced helmets still being used back then. The European crowds were very large and there is a small sprinkling of gals in short shorts and what is this? A guy rolling a joint? Well it looked like it but I am sure it was a home rolled cigarette as he certainly wasn’t hiding from anyone, funny picture all the same considering the era that this was filmed. One thing I noticed is Yamaha changed riders almost every year even with winning some titles. Were they hard to work for or did the riders get better deals elsewhere? Anyway, I liked the DVD and you might want to consider it if for nothing else, the historical content and a view of racing over sea’s back when the Japanese Yamaha’s were spanking European butt.
I rate this film 4 Spark Plugs
Randy Smith #24
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