Dave Watsons 1000cc Norton wins more races

See the email below that I just got from David Watson about his winning 1000cc Norton.

hi Jim

At Donington classic festival last w/end Gary Thwaites won the 1300cc UK national race breaking his lap record. Thats 5 wins from 5 meetings and by our calculations he can not be caught with 2 rounds to go at Snetterton and Sliverstone. He is also leading the 1300cc twins and f750cc championship , Gary Thwaites also entered the Wheatcroft trophy race for post classic in which he held 3rd place behind the two TZ Yamahas of Mike Cooper and # 17 winner Mike Spike Edwards in front of all the big multi Suzukis and Kawasakis for most of the race. Unfortunately he pulled in with two laps to go because he thought there was oil on the rear tire after a few big slides. It turned out that the rear Dunlop tire got so hot it turned to chewing gum with it being a longer race. He was 3sec under his lap record from last time there. Another great weekend for the Nortons.

Next meeting is in Denmark Djursland 8/9 September

regards Dave Watson

HERE'S WHAT DAVES BIKE IS ABOUT

Gary is riding a 1000cc Seeley framed Norton owned by Dave Watson. It’s the 1007cc motor and big valve head but with the lightweight 83mm pistons & efficient longer rods to lower the vibration so it stays together to finish all its races. It also has a full race and then some stage 3 cam which is necessary in order to breathe life into such a monster of a motor. The lightweight radiused lifters also take some stress off the valve train.

Attached photos are of Gary winning the1300cc national (seems to be casually posing for the camera).



(photo below) You can see Gary (#77) near the front on the left side in the 1st lap Wheatcroft trophy post classic race. Looks like he's keeping up with a row of 4 cylinder jap bikes.

Way to go for the Norton motif. The tire issue mentioned gets my pensiveness notice. Very serious if it pitted him to check. Might have to alter cornering style to relieve tire melt. I have pulled over to check tire that did turn out to be oil.

Keeping Up ?

He's lined them up , to go around the outside , into the left hander .

Good effort that man, any dimensional stats on the bike? What does he rev it out to?
Does he run a 750 mill in the F 750 class? & what capacity were the TZs ?

goes to show that there is some very good parts out there currently being manufactured for race (and road) Nortons, good enough to lead the charge on race day, probably more development has gone into performance parts in the last 10 years than ever, if I was only younger and had a big fat wallet.

Seen him in action at Donnington, he is just out of orbit! the 1000cc norton as fantasic drive out of the corners and leaves 1000cc jap fours !

Hi all

J.A.W. I will have a chat with Dave & ask him to do a little blog about the bike.
Matt first turn at Donnington is Redgate a right hander but yes he is going up the inside.
When he lapped me coming on to the back straight he sat up & looked behind him. I knew there was no one there because he shrugged his sholders :lol: as in "o well" the next rider didnt get me until the old hairpin & the 6th in the race passed me on the back straight.
He was way out in front.

The F750 bike is a 90 degree special.

Brilliant weekend glad I got out , my record at Donnington is not good but it is one of the circuits to ride!

Chris

Coming off pole on an RG500 is former GP rider Sean Emmett......alongside him the quickest bikes in that race will generally be 350cc Yamaha TZs, some things never change.......

'Does he run a 750 mill in the F 750 class? & what capacity were the TZs ?'

There is one thing that really irritates me. In Australia, every road race these days involves a mix of different technology bikes. We always have the three main types represented - two strokes, superbikes and thunderbikes. A while back we had really delicious two stroke races, as well as superbike races. These days any one with a n old Norton or Ducati is supposed to compete with the two other technology types. Realistically, if you want to race, two stroke is the way to go, and even a superbike (historic or otherwise) is a better and cheaper option than an old thunderbike. I recently sold a really good TZ350G to buy a 6 speed TTI gearbox for my Seeley 850 Commando. I made a choice, but I now have a bike for which there is no class in which it will be really competitive. Even if I'd kept the TZ, the problem would be the same. I would be expected to run off that stupid mixed grid, and that is not what TZs were made for. The mixed grid is absolute crap - the races don't look right, or even sound right, and the racing lines used by the different types of machine are dangerously different ! ! ! Our historic guys get into bullshit about year of manufacture top cope with technology advances over the years . They don't even recognise that a two stroke will always be far superior to other bikes built in the same year. And if it doesn't go quick enough, a dose of methanol will fix that !

J.A.W. said:

Good effort that man, any dimensional stats on the bike? What does he rev it out to?
Does he run a 750 mill in the F 750 class? & what capacity were the TZs ?

Click to expand...

I'm only involved with the lightweight pistons, longer rods & stage 3 cam kit (also thinner head gasket to get the compression up about 11.5 or 12 to 1) THe Seely frame copy was made in the UK and the rear brake drum is off a Honda K4. I don't have specs on Daves 750 short stroke with 90 degree crank. Maybe next year if I get involved with that one.

Dave told me that with the lightweight pistons & stage 3 cam (killer Sifton 460 grind with BSA lifters) - he gets another 1300 RPM (up to 7300 with the 93mm stroke). With the previous heavy pistons and cam it would only rev to 6000. Dave says it also runs much smoother. In Daves words "the bike is now flying".

Thanks jseng1,very impressive- can we get the Moderators to put up a parts/services vendors sticky please?

Matt first turn at Donnington is Redgate a right hander but yes he is going up the inside.


Allreaduy got them beaten then .

http://www.stevemaney.com/



Have to be about twenty thousand quids worth give or take . Then theres the little matter of ' labour ' .