There are some handsome, and rather sporty, bikes in Yamaha’s Sport Heritage range, but the line-up appears to get even more sporty in the future, if the XSR900 DB40 prototype is anything to go by.

Following the recent unveiling of the XSR900 RACER, the XSR900 DB40 Prototype broke cover for the first time at the iconic Goodwood Festival of Speed.

According to Yamaha, ‘the prototype represents a blend of Yamaha’s rich racing history and cutting-edge modern technology in line with the Sport Heritage mantra.’ Beyond that, the Japanese company is very quiet about the details of the prototype.

What we can see is that the DB40 is based on the Yamaha XSR900, but features a fairing, clip-on handlebars and a new exhaust.

The bike’s moniker, DB40, celebrates 40 years of Yamaha’s famous race-derived Deltabox chassis, first seen in the 1982 YZR500 OW61 Grand Prix machine. The very latest version of this frame is used in the prototype, which is powered by the 890cc ‘CP3’ triple-cylinder engine. The same engine also propels the MT-09 and the Tracer 9. And now that we have seen the DB40 prototype, it’s tempting to speculate that it might be turned into a retro-styled R9 before too long.

There’s no official word about if or when a production motorcycle might follow the prototype, but we can’t wait to see what Yamaha is about to do with this retro-racer beauty.