Just too cool not to share here. Manx Norton @ Oulton Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktkZn2p1ypE

Skyguyz wrote:Just too cool not to share here. Manx Norton @ Oulton Park.

Sound makes me want another single.

Looks as if the power band was from 6000 to 7500, later in the video, the bike made good speed behind the fairing. Can you imagine the camera set up? the brackets or mounts? Loved that foam chin rest to tuck in.

They appeared to be going pretty slow, in the earlier sections of the video, in the lower speed sections; watching it I thought, "a modern supermoto would go around the outside, feet up and drifting." Suspension and tires are the difference.

A nice project would be to get the lap times from classic races in the early 1960's and compare them to the lap times on the same tracks with modern single cylinder racers, or some modern class of bikes with the same power, which would in the mid-fifties at the crank.

The bike in the video is a Joe Potts Norton, which would be one of the best Manx Norton bikes out there. It would have a bit more power and be able to rev a bit higher than a stocker. Factory redline for a late Manx was 7200rpm and it was not recommended to rev it that high as it made no more power up there than a bit below 7k. But the top tuners got around that. Today the top Manx Nortons running the the standard bore and stroke have "speed kits" which consist of a bathtub combustion chamber, light piston, needle roller big-end and coil valve springs which let them make power that no one got out of them back in the day.

beng wrote:A nice project would be to get the lap times from classic races in the early 1960's and compare them to the lap times on the same tracks with modern single cylinder racers, or some modern class of bikes with the same power, which would in the mid-fifties at the crank.
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Indeed.
It would be interesting too to know how much modern tires alone have contributed to faster lap times, compared to the hard old things they used to race on....

beng wrote:A nice project would be to get the lap times from classic races in the early 1960's and compare them to the lap times on the same tracks with modern single cylinder racers, or some modern class of bikes with the same power, which would in the mid-fifties at the crank.

The bike in the video is a Joe Potts Norton, which would be one of the best Manx Norton bikes out there. It would have a bit more power and be able to rev a bit higher than a stocker. Factory redline for a late Manx was 7200rpm and it was not recommended to rev it that high as it made no more power up there than a bit below 7k. But the top tuners got around that. Today the top Manx Nortons running the the standard bore and stroke have "speed kits" which consist of a bathtub combustion chamber, light piston, needle roller big-end and coil valve springs which let them make power that no one got out of them back in the day.

It would be interesting, but after about 30 odd years no longer possible as most of the tracks have changed to some extent, even the Isle of Man track is slightly different, where they can put up 100+ mph laps with {remarkable ) ease today with a good rider& bike.
So, you would no be comparing like with like as the world has moved on.

Bernhard wrote: where they can put up 100+ mph laps with {remarkable ) ease today with a good rider & bike. So, you would no be comparing like with like as the world has moved on.

Perhaps this is because, like you say, the world has moved on - and bikes have vastly improved since then. Amazing what lotsa hp can do and sophisticated suspension can do.

However, Manxs are still 500cc, and the course hasn't changed any in length, so a pretty fair comparison can be had between old and new. Especially since some of the older type have run there recently too.

Rohan wrote:

Bernhard wrote: where they can put up 100+ mph laps with {remarkable ) ease today with a good rider & bike. So, you would no be comparing like with like as the world has moved on.

Perhaps this is because, like you say, the world has moved on - and bikes have vastly improved since then. Amazing what lotsa hp can do and sophisticated suspension can do.

However, Manxs are still 500cc, and the course hasn't changed any in length, so a pretty fair comparison can be had between old and new. Especially since some of the older type have run there recently too.

Not sure if you have been to the IOM lately, but although it is basically the same track (!) that is where the comparison ends. The surface has been much improved in the more dangerous sections, the top of Bray Hill for one, (Agos leap), there is no longer the nasty bumps that there once was. Before resurfacing, there was only one line there, almost in the right hand gutter, anywhere else you were liable to end up with a tankslapper at flat out speed, much the same at other various corners e.t.c.
But then, after one bad winter, the road surface will be c*ap again.
Considering the lap record on modern Superbikes is now over 130 MPH, it’s no wonder the classic racing took off.

Wide cast/forged wheels are a huge distinction too; modern tires assume same.

You can't put big side loads into the narrow soft spoked wheels of yesteryear and that means you can't hang off of of the bike either.

It was different paradigm, with far less power to put to the ground, what worked was light and narrow motorcycles on light and narrow wheels. The evolution/growth of horsepower has required equivalent changes in the chassis/wheels/tires.