Bird’s eye view perfect for analysing riding on track
Yamaha invited AMCN to Sydney Motorsport Park recently for the Australian launch of the brand-new R9 – and what a day it was. Blue skies, the smell of hot tyres in the air, and the unmistakable hum (fine, roar) of high-performance bikes flying past at speed. If you’ve ever been to SMSP on a trackday, you’ll know the vibe: part race meet, part reunion, mostly adrenaline therapy.
The R9 launch drew a crowd of some seriously big names from the Aussie racing and journo scene, including AMCN stalwart David Watt, rising star Tara Morrison, Yamaha powerhouse Mike Jones and many more. Tarzy wasn’t just there to throw the new R9 around though (which she did, with style and speed), but also to put the new Insta360 X5 camera through round two of testing.
Now, I know what you might be thinking – another action cam, another batch of shaky handlebar footage destined for social media. But this thing? It’s a proper tool, especially in the hands of someone like Tara.
She mounted the X5 on the R9 and instantly started collecting gold – not for Instagram, you understand, but for serious rider analysis. As a pro racer, Tara uses this footage to break down her body positioning, line choice, throttle control and lean angles with a level of detail that’s impossible to get from the sidelines. “I can’t exactly watch myself ride from behind,” she explained, “so this is the next best thing – actually, it’s better.”
Watching her review a session with the app later was eye-opening. The 360-degree view lets her scroll around mid-corner, freeze-frame her transitions and zoom in on precisely how her knee was tracking just millimetres above the apex. She could basically coach herself, in real-time, from any angle. For a racer of Tara’s calibre, that’s priceless.
Technically, the X5 was faultless. The FlowState stabilisation made it look like it was filmed on a dolly rather than strapped to a vibrating motorbike, and the clarity was crystal even in full sun – which, let’s be honest, can make other action cams look like you’re riding through a flashbang. Editing the footage was a breeze, too. The app’s auto-tracking tools were smart enough to follow Tarzy through corners and down the straight, even as she tucked in and vanished behind the screen.
By the end of the day, the verdict was clear: Yamaha has built an absolute weapon, and Insta360 has built the kind of tech that turns fast laps into faster ones.
