Sprint Filter P08 F1-85 Air Filter for Racing – Yamaha YZF-R7 (2021–2026) CM148S F1-85

Yamaha used the R7 name once before, on a homologation special built so a racing motorcycle could be entered — a machine on which practically every part was chosen for a circuit and the road version was the compromise. The current YZF-R7 is the opposite arrangement: a genuinely usable road twin in a sports fairing, built to be affordable to run. That contrast is the useful way into the Sprint Filter CM148S F1-85, because this is one of the few parts you can bolt to the current R7 that truly is specified for racing — a dry polyester medium filtering at 85 microns with a rated 15,000 l/m²/sec.

Key Features

• Racing-specified dry polyester with a filtration figure of 85 microns
• Rated airflow of 15,000 l/m²/sec, close to three times the P08 rating
• Sprint Filter measure 95.22 per cent retention against 100-micron particles
• Fits the series airbox in place of the original element, with no modification
• Cleaned with an air line between sessions; never oiled, never dosed
• Two-year warranty, with a service life intended to match the motorcycle's

Whether the engine can use it

By Sprint Filter's own account this is the medium most used across MotoGP, Moto3, World Superbike, Supersport and Superstock, and that record is real — but a record is not a fitting instruction. The question for an R7 is how often its engine is held where peak intake demand actually occurs. On a track day, repeatedly, for twenty-minute stretches: that is where the extra flow has an occupant. On a road ride, in short bursts between junctions, it mostly does not, and the element becomes the more expensive way to filter less. It costs about two and a half times the P08 in this size, which makes the question worth answering before ordering.

The trade, stated plainly

Coarser mesh, more flow; finer mesh, more retention. There is no version of this in which one medium is simply better. The racing element in fact holds back more of the large material than the P08 — 95.22 per cent against 93.13 at 100 microns — while its filtration figure sits at 85 rather than 80, and that difference lives in the fine fraction which stays airborne longest. Circuit air is comparatively clean and public roads are not, and neither element makes a standard R7 faster. Anyone who wants the opposite end of the same trade will find the 14-micron P14 in this housing.

Care and cleaning

Between sessions the entire job is compressed air fed in on the clean side, pushing the load out the way it came. A deeper clean means lukewarm water with a mild detergent, a rinse until the water runs clear, then drying in open air until no moisture is left anywhere in the medium — never with heat, never over a flame, never refitted damp. Nothing is oiled at any point. The Sprint Filter maintenance sheet for the CM148S F1-85 is in the Downloads tab.

Fitment & Compatibility

Listed for the Yamaha YZF-R7 of 2021 to 2026 and fitted in the standard airbox. The racing medium is catalogued for the R7 alone, though the same housing serves several other Yamaha models in P08 form; the Fitment tab has the full list.