Another win for Norton at Snetterton

More good news from the Dave Watson/Gary Thwaites racing team

"hi Jim

We had a busy couple of weeks - Gary won ... both post classic races on 1000cc Norton at ring Djursland Denmark 8/9 september making him ... post classic champion , also last w/end snetterton crmc Gary won all three 1300cc race + wining uk classic 1300cc national race - makes it six wins from six rounds on seeley norton , last round 13/14 oct silverstone

regards Dave "



1000cc lightweight pistons

Pretty impressive. Nice to see Norton twins doing so well.

Ken

Very uplifting to read and makes me wonder if Nortons have some advantage in power curve delivery over other similar displacement engines.

The power in this bike is the guy sat on it!

hobot said:

Very uplifting to read and makes me wonder if Nortons have some advantage in power curve delivery over other similar displacement engines.

Click to expand...

Great stuff!

Thanks for the report Jim. What is the competition? What kind of bikes?

Be intresting what one would do with a street cam and lights , and how many & how much . Form a orderly queue .

Wonder if He can put the tally on the side . :wink:



Heres some fancy pictures of a similar Mk 2 seely ,for if you cant afford a H2 . http://www.motographite.com/2012/05/nor ... a-750.html

xbacksideslider said:

Thanks for the report Jim. What is the competition? What kind of bikes?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the year cutoff is but he's up against british triples and kawi/suzuki 1000cc four cylinder bikes.
As in photo below (Gary is far left).

Its got to be one of the fastest and best ridden roadracing Nortons on the planet.

The power in this bike is the guy sat on it!


One thing I've learned about road racing is that if the bike is set up so that it helps you, it makes a world of difference. I've only ever ridden a few racing motorcycles, but my Seeley Commando 850, is the best yet. The torquey motor, superlight rigid frame with self-steering geometry, combined with the close box, makes for a brilliant ride any time. Compared with what I've ridden in the past, the Seeley Norton is brilliant, as long as I don't rely on racing by blitzing others down long straights. Point and squirt racing is not what it is about with a Norton engine.

Looking at that photo of the start grid - great result !

Matt, Thanks for the link to the photos of the Mk2 Seeley, I've added the photos to my collection. Is the bike the one that Kenny Cummins built ? I know my own Seeley seems to give the young guys a bit of a thrill when I take it out to play. I think a lot of them have never actually seen a real motorcycle.

Not sure where from , I ' trawl ' is I think the right term . :lol: if the whistle is whetted . as Here .

NOW ,

Its got to be one of the fastest and best ridden Nortons on the planet.


Sounds like we had better see to the latter , Form a orderly Queue chaps , for Training . $ 1.000 per lesson .

Once weve established youre bonnafides , we will take depoits. For a run of Machines . Now, Lights and Indicators WILL BE EXTRA .

Appears So ,



Unlees someone else goes by that name .

I think this shows Kenny Cummins riding around the outside of the bike with the camera - pretty good Seeley ! :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=funNlm0XIFE

Yes, the camera was on Doug McRae's Commando racer built by Herb Becker; 89mm stroke and lots of goodies inside.

Matt Spencer said:

Be intresting what one would do with a street cam and lights , and how many & how much . Form a orderly queue .

Click to expand...

I'm giving it some thought. I have two of the Maney 1007 kits. I'm building one for Bonneville landspeed events, but I'm thinking about doing the other one for my MK3 street bike, with lower compression and milder cam. One of the problems with doing so is sorting out an alternator arrangement and an electric starter. By the time you machine the drive side case down to accomocate a MK3 primary setup, you've made it thin enough that you've lost some of the advantage of the thicker crankcase. I'm considering something like the Old Britts starter conversion instead, and one of the small alternators (Kubota, etc.) driven from a small belt on the crankshaft. Time will tell if I ever manage to get it done. I alrady have too many projects going for an old guy.

I really think it would have to be in an isolastic chassis. Even with Jim's lightweight rod/piston kit, I suspect the vibration would be too much for a ridgidly mounted engine. Fine for a race bike, but not so hot for a street bike that you want to ride all day.

Ken

Ken,

We are faced with the same thing on our 1,007cc build. We have not settled on a solution but Kenny C. has come up with a really good idea for the alternator. We are staying with a Steve Maney belt drive. With the right choice you can get the power for lighting and ignition timing off the crank.

As for the E-Start can you shift the trans to the LH side in the cradle so you don't have to cut into crankcase. Of course you could skip the E-Start and commit to a kick start only. Let's take this off list to discuss.

Hi, had you seen someone with those kit , crank driven ignition and lighting ..........

http://www.electrexworld.co.uk

'I really think it would have to be in an isolastic chassis. Even with Jim's lightweight rod/piston kit, I suspect the vibration would be too much for a ridgidly mounted engine. Fine for a race bike, but not so hot for a street bike that you want to ride all day.'

'Vibration' is not really the word for it - 'shake' is closer when it is idling. Same old commando problem, you are tr ying to do two incompatible things. I suggest you have to choose. Personally I believe the isolastics and that stupid balance factor are horrific. If I had to ride an old commando on the street, I'd buy a twin cylinder BMW.

lcrken said:

Matt Spencer said:

Be intresting what one would do with a street cam and lights , and how many & how much . Form a orderly queue .

Click to expand...

I'm giving it some thought. I have two of the Maney 1007 kits. I'm building one for Bonneville landspeed events, but I'm thinking about doing the other one for my MK3 street bike, with lower compression and milder cam. One of the problems with doing so is sorting out an alternator arrangement and an electric starter. By the time you machine the drive side case down to accomocate a MK3 primary setup, you've made it thin enough that you've lost some of the advantage of the thicker crankcase. I'm considering something like the Old Britts starter conversion instead, and one of the small alternators (Kubota, etc.) driven from a small belt on the crankshaft. Time will tell if I ever manage to get it done. I alrady have too many projects going for an old guy.

I really think it would have to be in an isolastic chassis. Even with Jim's lightweight rod/piston kit, I suspect the vibration would be too much for a ridgidly mounted engine. Fine for a race bike, but not so hot for a street bike that you want to ride all day.

Ken

Click to expand...

Why can't you use one of the new Altons?

swooshdave said:

Why can't you use one of the new Altons?

Click to expand...

They still use the original (but modified) inner primary, which would require machining the the left crankcase face to match, making it as thin as a stock crankcase. That's the same issue I have with fitting it to a stock MK3 primary. One of the main benefits of the Maney cases is the extra thickness in the main bearing area, and machining for either of the stock primary cases reduces that back to the thickness of a stock case. It may be possible to modify the stock primary and Maney cases in a way to make them fit without losing the extra strength of the case, maybe by boring out the inner primary to a much larger diameter around the mainshaft. But even if I did so, I would still not be able to run the stock alternator with the 40 mm wide belt I think the 1007 requires. Also, the Maney cases for the 1007 are different dimensions in that area to allow for the wider crankshaft dictated by the wider bore centers. I don't know yet what limitations that would add for trying to accomodate the stock primary designs. I wouldn't say it couldn't be done, but I'm not sure I want to try it.

I guess I should mention that I want to run the belt drive for a variety of reasons, but one of the major ones is to be able to have a lower primary drive ratio (1.75 versus the stock 2.19) to reduce stress on the gearbox.

Ken