Yamaha DT-07 Dirt-Tracker Concept Revealed + Video

Kevin Duke
by Kevin Duke

A custom FZ-07 ready for flat-track duty

Yamaha has leveraged its history of dirt-track racing to create the DT-07 concept. Based on the successful and fun FZ-07 introduced in 2014, this concept bike radically strips down the FZ-07 to just the bare necessities for flat-track racing – notice there isn’t even a front brake.

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The DT-07 emerged from the brain of Yamaha USA’s longtime custom fabricator, Jeff Palhegyi, a man who reveres dirt-tracking and has previously built one out of a TZ750. Palhegyi worked in conjunction with Yamaha’s U.S. race shop to create the concept DT.

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“When the FZ-07 was first introduced, we knew that the bike’s ‘Crossplane Concept’ parallel-Twin engine had outstanding low- to mid-range torque, which is ideal for flat-track racing,” commented Keith McCarty, Motorsports Racing Division Manager for Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. “We wanted to see what we could do with the bike as a flat tracker, and we’re very pleased with the results.”

The DT-07 concept has some roots in reality, as a modified FZ-07 is currently racing the AMA Pro Flat Track series. Rider Dominic Colindres won his heat race and finished fourth at the most recent AMA Pro event, held in Delaware.

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The DT-07 features a purpose-built frame, a swingarm with an adjustable pivot and link system, a fork from a pre-2005 YZF-R6 (a right-side-up design), an Ohlins shock, and wheels by Propulsion Labs. The FZ-07’s 689cc motor (with V-Twin-like 270-degree crankshaft) has been modded with intake tweaks, a programmable ECU and an exhaust system from Graves Motorsports.

Style-wise, the DT-07 uses a flat profile like a true dirt-tracker. Bodywork is a one-piece design painted in Yamaha’s 60th-Anniversary race colors.

“It is Yamaha’s interpretation of what a dirt tracker designed from the ground up in 2015 should look like,” Derek Brooks, Motorcycle Product Planning Manager for Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A., said. “I worked with Jeff (Palhegyi) on the design of the bike, and we literally used the FZ-07’s fuel tank cover as the basis for the body mold on the DT-07 Concept.”

The DT-07 might be an indication Yamaha will provide greater support in the dirt-track paddock next year, but don’t expect to see the DT in showrooms.

Meanwhile, Yamaha USA still has not announced it will bring in the first FZ-07 offshoot, the retro-roadster XSR700 revealed in July that will be sold in Europe. It, too, is imbued with a bit of flat-track style, or a least a Scrambler-esque motif, so it was surprising that Yamaha’s U.S. arm is still keeping us waiting for confirmation of that model.

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Kevin Duke
Kevin Duke

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