“We’ve had [a 2019 Yamaha FX SVHO] in the hands of our development team – Bruce Clarkson, Mark Nystrom and Jesus Garcia – for a while now,” RIVA Racing’s Dave Bamdas prefaced. “Getting performance out of the SVHO (Super Vortex High Output Yamaha Marine 1,812cc Marine Engine) was easy with our Maptuner X software, but getting the speed and more importantly, the handling right took some doing.”
Bamdas was careful not to echo some sentiments swirling around the performance tuning threads online. Doubters and naysayers blithely crow that the new Yamaha FX platform is slow, some going so far as to call it a step backwards. “Not so,” Bamdas defended vigorously. “But to get the ski to stay consistent at higher speeds took quite a bit of testing and development to get right.”
In the past two years, aftermarket performance enthusiasts have become spoiled by the immediacy of 80-plus-mph speeds provided by the Yamaha GP1800 – and now GP1800R – with solely a couple of modifications. “We were hitting 78 miles-per-hour with pretty much just an ECU reflash,” Bamdas recounted. “It didn’t take much at all. And we hadn’t even touched handling components. [The GP] didn’t need it.”
The new full-sized, 3-seater FX though, proved not as responsive as its smaller sibling. From the showroom floor, both craft clocked reasonably identical (sustained) top speeds: a fraction over 68mph. Although the new FX borrows heavily from the GP’s successful hull design – particularly below the splash-deflecting chine – the added 50-pounds (769 vs. 818-pounds) and length (131.9 vs. 140.9-inches) does increase the FX’s running surface, and thereby surface tension (ie. drag), considerably.
The Blowsion IJSBA World Finals acts as the industry's largest gathering of watercraft racing's aftermarket companies, race sponsors, and pro racers. In that way, the World Finals is our sport's largest trade show. It is here that consumers and racers alike can check out new 2019 parts, apparel, custom builds, and all things watercraft for next year. This is also a good time where competitors can catch up with all of their sponsors or potential new ones.
The past 18 months have been phenomenal for the Yamaha GP1800 WaveRunner. Racers piloted the machine to national and world championships in every spectrum of the sport: closed course, offshore, endurance and more. The craft’s featherweight 769-pounds (in large part due to its NanoXcel2 hull and deck material), and industry-leading 1,812cc (1.8L) Super Vortex High Output (SVHO) engine made for a formidable combination, and the mountain of trophies cannot be disputed. Not surprisingly, many (if not all) of those GP’s were equipped with some number of RIVA Racing performance parts. And if not, what was employed was very likely a riff on something designed and manufactured by RIVA. The connection between RIVA and the GP1800 is almost umbilical.At this year's event, RIVA Racing has set up our best trade booth ever, boasting a full line up of our aftermarket racing parts, our new 2019 Yamaha & Sea-Doo Custom Builds, plenty of fresh apparel, and a hands on display of the watercraft industry's #1 tuning device, the MaptunerX. RIVA Parts Technicians will be standing by in our tent for any watercraft or parts questions so feel free to swing by!
At this year's event, RIVA Racing has set up our best trade booth ever, boasting a full line up of our aftermarket racing parts, our new 2019 Yamaha & Sea-Doo Custom Builds, plenty of fresh apparel, and a hands on display of the watercraft industry's #1 tuning device, the MaptunerX. RIVA Parts Technicians will be standing by in our tent for any watercraft or parts questions so feel free to swing by!
At this year's event, RIVA Racing has set up our best trade booth ever, boasting a full line up of our aftermarket racing parts, our new 2019 Yamaha & Sea-Doo Custom Builds, plenty of fresh apparel, and a hands on display of the watercraft industry's #1 tuning device, the MaptunerX. RIVA Parts Technicians will be standing by in our tent for any watercraft or parts questions so feel free to swing by!
At this year's event, RIVA Racing has set up our best trade booth ever, boasting a full line up of our aftermarket racing parts, our new 2019 Yamaha & Sea-Doo Custom Builds, plenty of fresh apparel, and a hands on display of the watercraft industry's #1 tuning device, the MaptunerX. RIVA Parts Technicians will be standing by in our tent for any watercraft or parts questions so feel free to swing by!
Out of the gate, the GP1800R rips at a halting rate. Fighting to find traction, the ski cavitates some, permitting the engine to bounce half-a-second off of the rev limiter. (Admittedly, my weight and posture had more to do with it than the ski.) From a standstill, in just over 3-and-a-half seconds, I was at 60mph. Less than two seconds later, and I was at 80. At these speeds, the chatter of the ski ridding over chop was so rapid it felt like gripping a fully-automatic weapon at full burst. Spotting a small white buoy, I dropped my inside knee into the tray and snapped the bars hard right, praying that my grip would hold. The GP1800R responded in kind – its Pro Series sponsons biting down – and sprung out of the apex of the turn faster than I entered it.At this year's event, RIVA Racing has set up our best trade booth ever, boasting a full line up of our aftermarket racing parts, our new 2019 Yamaha & Sea-Doo Custom Builds, plenty of fresh apparel, and a hands on display of the watercraft industry's #1 tuning device, the MaptunerX. RIVA Parts Technicians will be standing by in our tent for any watercraft or parts questions so feel free to swing by!
I rode the GP1800R as hard as I dared, absolutely floored that the ski never once skipped, slid or broke free while pressing through hairpin after hairpin. No closed course would be arranged as frantically as I careened from side to side over the lake, I mused, smiling beneath my helmet. Yet weirdly, despite all its power and lazer-focused handling prowess, it never once felt unruly or that I was wrestling with it for control. This was a weapon entirely under my command. What is thy bidding, my master?, I heard the amplified baritone of Darth Vader supplicating in my mind. I snapped off another 90-degree turn at wide-open-throttle. Good. Gooood. I hissed, doing my best Emperor impression, geekily amusing myself.
It’s worth reiterating that much of the GP1800R is left stock. The ECU is merely reflashed using RIVA’s MaptunerX software. The supercharger, aside from the addition of the impeller shaft upgrade kit, is stock. Internally, the SVHO engine is box stock (save, again, for the valve spring retainer upgrade). The pump and nozzle are stock too. To achieve speeds like these only a few years earlier required extensive work: high compression pistons, camshafts, wholly rebuilt or completely replaced superchargers, billet pumps and the like. That RIVA Racing is able to eke out this degree of performance (both speed and handling) with almost entirely cosmetic, non-invasive methods is truly impressive.Most impressive.
Now for one more note: as crass as I can put this, the GP1800R is far too much machine for most people – even some of the folks who were hand-picked to test ride the GP1800R were significantly ill-prepared to handle this beast. But I guess that goes without saying. Priced at $25,995, the RIVA Racing Limited-Edition Yamaha GP1800R is surprisingly a bargain once you consider the cost of purchasing the parts at full retail, having them anodized red, having it all installed, and applying the custom graphics kit, seat cover and traction mat. Although only 25 are set to be built this year (and it’s only mid-March), a scant 12 units remain – so act quickly if you find yourself licking your lips while reading this.
