No they did not, but a two-stroke handles very differently from a four-stroke. With an early two stroke, it was always point and squirt. The extra power and the lighter weight then came into play. The bike Terry Rymer is riding needs to be smooth coming into corners, the other bikes in the race were conspicuously better. Have you seen any of the Wiz Norton racing ? The rotaries look like guided missiles to me.
This year, I saw the Wizz Nortons racing at Spa in the Classic weekend in July. Their rider is used to smaller two strokes, and said it was quite similar, in it’s lightish weight. When there was a gap in the traffic, he said it wizzed past most of the opposition.
However, they had several problems: ignition, centre rotor bearing being two. Even when Hislop won at the TT, someone who worked for the team told me they were on the edge of rotor bearing performance/reliability, and nothing has changed much since, as I understand it. Location of bearing means temperature is a major factor.
