certified quarter-mile time.

http://www.vintagenet.us/phantom/contents.html
certified quarter-mile time.
 
Top of the List .

Cover: unknown Wild man on P-11 c. 1967, upstate New York

Just visiting , were you ! 8) :lol: :p

B.S.A. Rifles wasnt it , they obviously didnt make enough . They could have finished them off the first time .
Part of the U.S. plot for Domination to rebuild them and the saurkrauts , NOW look where its all ended up .

Its not the size of the Dog in the Fight . its the size of the Fight in the Dog .

Wobbly subsidised bling jobs are easiest if youre to pissed to kick start em . That was a good safty measure .
And if youre to pissed to know the differance , it doesnt appear to be the tanks the alcohols in .
 
Rohan said:
Care to name your source ?
Click to expand...

Carbonfibre said:
Suffice to say its first hand information from someone who in the 1970s was trying very hard to sell Nortons against almost impossible competition from the Japanese, and not something I read in a ridiculous magazine "test" feature.................
Click to expand...

Now how did we know that no names would come forward.
BS is still BS, no matter how you cover it up....
 
Carbonfibre said:
Hey Kawasaki is still in business, and Norton isnt................does that not tell you something?
Click to expand...

Yes, Kawasaki Heavy Industries has plenty of dosh to bail out an ailing subsiduary.
If Nortons had had that sort of funding, they'd have had 4 cylinder GP bikes in the 1950s.
And we'd be motoring around on V8's....
 
They didnt have the British Givernment running the show . And the IDIOTS think its a Model for the Commonwealth
who they bled dry , threw to the wolves , and expect to come and get themselves shot at , protecting the imbacilles.
 
Matt Spencer said:
Was a Commando at the strip that day...
Click to expand...

Matt, don’t forget that many frequent posters on this forum only know about “history” from what they have read which means they don’t really “know” much of anything.

As I recall the Commandos came with engines of two displacements and three compression ratios. One even had an Electric start, sort of. The engine fitted made a huge difference in performance which you already know but THEY might not.

My Commando is a ’74 850 with manual start. It came from the with 8.5:1 compression and as far as I know this type never ran faster than low thirteens in the quarter.

The 750 with 9.0:1 compression could run in the mid to high twelves and pretty much dominated stock class motorcycle drag racing from its introduction until the Combat came out.

The 750 Combat was the hottest stock Commando with 10.0:1 compression and often ran in the low twelves. [It is always possible for an amateur to add a second or three to the fastest times.] Back then it was amusing to go to the strip and watch people with their fancy new Mach IVs and Z1s be handed their arse on a platter by a full tenth of a second by the Combat version of the old Hopwood hemi twin. Not only were the Jap bikes losing but they were also blowing engines on their newish bikes because the magazines said their bikes were faster. They neglected notice that the magazines usually made no mention of the Combat at all. That was a fatal error on their part.

As I recall the Combat held most quarter mile records until the Kawasaki 1000 came out, which was in ’77 or something. The Mach IV never achieved the 12.00 second ET that was claimed for it and I don’t believe its fastest time was even within a tenth of the Combat’s fastest. Confirming the Mach IV’s quickest certifiable time is why I started this thread in the first place.
 
Murray B said:
My Commando is a ’74 850 with manual start. It came from the with 8.5:1 compression and as far as I know this type never ran faster than low thirteens in the quarter.
Click to expand...

I keep quoting that FACTORY 73 850 with Dave Rawlins and the hot rod motor that did low 12s, AND 142 mph (with a change of gearing). Since no-one here even knew of it, except what was written, and in photos, obviously not everyone was everywhere and knew everything....

Joe Sieferts' Andover Norton recently had a pic of this bike, with Dave Rawlins and Mark Baker (development engineer) on the index page of the Company Website. An Official pic, in fact...
Performances quoted in the Factory 1973 Commando Brochure.
Officials speeds measured at blah blah blah raceways, not some magazine with a stopwatch that goes slower for Kawasakis...
 
Murray B said:
Matt Spencer said:
Was a Commando at the strip that day...
Click to expand...

Matt, don’t forget that many frequent posters on this forum only know about “history” from what they have read which means they don’t really “know” much of anything.

As I recall the Commandos came with engines of two displacements and three compression ratios. One even had an Electric start, sort of. The engine fitted made a huge difference in performance which you already know but THEY might not.

My Commando is a ’74 850 with manual start. It came from the with 8.5:1 compression and as far as I know this type never ran faster than low thirteens in the quarter.

The 750 with 9.0:1 compression could run in the mid to high twelves and pretty much dominated stock class motorcycle drag racing from its introduction until the Combat came out.

The 750 Combat was the hottest stock Commando with 10.0:1 compression and often ran in the low twelves. [It is always possible for an amateur to add a second or three to the fastest times.] Back then it was amusing to go to the strip and watch people with their fancy new Mach IVs and Z1s be handed their arse on a platter by a full tenth of a second by the Combat version of the old Hopwood hemi twin. Not only were the Jap bikes losing but they were also blowing engines on their newish bikes because the magazines said their bikes were faster. They neglected notice that the magazines usually made no mention of the Combat at all. That was a fatal error on their part.

As I recall the Combat held most quarter mile records until the Kawasaki 1000 came out, which was in ’77 or something. The Mach IV never achieved the 12.00 second ET that was claimed for it and I don’t believe its fastest time was even within a tenth of the Combat’s fastest. Confirming the Mach IV’s quickest certifiable time is why I started this thread in the first place.
Click to expand...

The Combat motor and the fact it fell apart pretty readily probably hastened Nortons demise...............like it or not Jap motors didnt fall to bits, and most buyers probably thought that was a plus point!
 
Rohan said:
Carbonfibre said:
Hey Kawasaki is still in business, and Norton isnt................does that not tell you something?
Click to expand...

Yes, Kawasaki Heavy Industries has plenty of dosh to bail out an ailing subsiduary.
If Nortons had had that sort of funding, they'd have had 4 cylinder GP bikes in the 1950s.
And we'd be motoring around on V8's....
Click to expand...


Kawasaki didnt need "funding" or any have any need to bail out its subsidiary motorcycle division, which in the 70s increased sales by 450% largely at the expense of the Brit motorcycle industry, which was by then on its last legs..................
 
Honda 4s were famous for seizing their cams if the slightest trace of anything blocked the oil jet up there. Had a stack of scrap parts to show the results. Z1 cranks twisted if wasn't welded with big bore kits fitted.

Reliability is reliability - only as good as the last builder.....
 
TREASON . edit . In Regard to the Last Post on the previous page . Blathering Dunderheads . :roll: :wink:
 
Rohan said:
Rohan said:
Care to name your source ?
Click to expand...

Carbonfibre said:
Suffice to say its first hand information from someone who in the 1970s was trying very hard to sell Nortons against almost impossible competition from the Japanese, and not something I read in a ridiculous magazine "test" feature.................
Click to expand...

Now how did we know that no names would come forward.
BS is still BS, no matter how you cover it up....
Click to expand...


No road going Norton ever matched the 1/4 mile times set by factory prepared bikes running full race motors, and I am certainly not going to disclose the name of the person that told me of the doctored "test" bikes, but maybe the fact that no stocker ever got close might tell you something?
 
Carbonfibre said:
Kawasaki didnt need "funding" or any have any need to bail out its subsidiary motorcycle division, which in the 70s increased sales by 450% largely at the expense of the Brit motorcycle industry, which was by then on its last legs..................
Click to expand...


And Kawasaki bailed out of MotoGP racing recently - for what reason then ?
Loss of face to show a loss in oriental eyes.....
Like in the 1980s too.
 
Carbonfibre said:
No road going Norton ever matched the 1/4 mile times set by factory prepared bikes running full race motors, and I am certainly not going to disclose the name of the person that told me of the doctored "test" bikes, but maybe the fact that no stocker ever got close might tell you something?
Click to expand...

Be interesting to see a time for a professional rider riding a stock bike then, wouldn't it.
Stock Commandos weren't slow, but I didn't ever have my 850s timed anywhere.
Might have to pull build something to try, since it could be totally stock.

Stock mufflers could be a problem ? - the 850 Mk 1 had the internally fluted mufflers with mutes - removing the mutes gave them more go in the top end. None of the repro mufflers have these ?
 
Carbonfibre said:
Sorry I thought you meant they were still building motors today!
Click to expand...

Norton rotaries are still flying.
Although no longer any Norton connection really.

Mr Garner is having a determined try of it.
 
Sad point is Norton did not end with the Commando or rotary bikes but made drone engines at least to 2007 and BSA has continued on by making optics and other stuff just no motorcycles of course.
http://www.bsaoptics.com/
certified quarter-mile time.
 
hobot said:
Sad point is Norton did not end with the Commando or rotary bikes but made drone engines at least to 2007
Click to expand...

Are you quoting the death of the drone rotary engines ?
Seems that business has really picked up lately....
 
Carbonfibre said:
No road going Norton ever matched the 1/4 mile times set by factory prepared bikes running full race motors, and I am certainly not going to disclose the name of the person that told me of the doctored "test" bikes, but maybe the fact that no stocker ever got close might tell you something?
Click to expand...

Knew we weren't going to get a name.

At least even magazines name their sources.
So reliability and credibility can be checked....
 
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