Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .

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Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .
" the ill fated battle between ' the Mint ' and Dave Downer "

When the Norton Race Shop , which had been developing the ' DOMIRACER ' Twin
was disposed of in the Factory Move (1968 ? ) the frames , perhaps seven , were
disposed of , with other assets ,to Paul Dunstall.An aftermarket fittings and
fiberglass ( the 'new fangled' ) supplier . Some people strike it lucky .

The development work , unpublisised , on the TWINS & the Compact Twin loop
Norton designed ' feather bed replacement ' Twin Cylinder Raceing Frame were
amoungst his acquisitions .

The Frames were not put into production by dunstall . The ' drainpipe ' Commando
was his 'modern' attempt at progress . frame building not being an inexpensive
exercise.

However , the 'Dustall Twin Norton' that set the 24 Hr Record at Montherly ,
(see French N.O.C. site for 'Montherly' , a bid being attempted to prevent its
destruction, as per Brooklands at the hands of the R.A.F. (or British Government)
in W.W.II , its banking demolished for runway lengthening and not made good
post war . was a ' WORKS DOMIRACER ' Frame ,as THEY were the only factory
to produce or have produced them. Thus they were lost to Historians in the
change of propriitor and assumed to be " 500 c.c. Norton Twin " Racing Frames.

The probability that they were other than a Parrallel Development to the
Commado project , doesnt stack up.My presumption was that Dunstalls
' Gift Horse ' was misslayed by history .

Presumably still have pictures from this still , along with 'Paul and His
750 Fame' , the domiracer already overlooked. To find one of these
Original , or track all of there Fates would bear thought .

Dunstalls production for the ' cafe racer ' inspired market were his
" Dunstall Equiped " 650 and Atlas based , tuned and fitted machines,
and Later the Commando , "810 " kits , and ' disc Brakes ' ( Twin Front )

Seely and Rickman Marketed Commando Suitable Frames ,
The Seely some types , the Rickman Co-incidently , as it
was a ' pre-unit ' frame , in conception . For the Matchless
O.H.C. single , serving for the Twin as did the Factory
A.M.C. frame for this Engine in the P II and P II A .

However ive yet to see more than one picture of a period Circuit racing
Rickman Commando (engined) Machine. With its large Chrome moly
frame Tubes , aircraft standard production , Large dia. and heavy
duty Front End and Disc Brake , a fairly formidable piece of machinery
one wouldve thought. A ' fair sized ' rider being accomadated for
with its ungathered distribution of Cycle Parts . One aspect
seldom praised journolistically .

The DOMIRACER , on the other hand , IS gathered Together as it were.
Designed to the Racing Maxim of ' If its not there , it Doesnt weigh anything '
all supurflous material was done away with at the Drawing Board stage .

A rider much over 5' 8 " is unfortunately going to start appearing overly
lankey on this machine. ( next thing his knees will be Hanging out ) . !
However a sub 12 Stone rider would be able to " crawl under the paint "
therefore reduceing frontal area and Drag sufficently for a mildly worked
? commando based engine to Capture the WORLD 24Hr Speed record .

Dunstall was Known for his ' Hemisphered ' head reangled inlet HEADS,
which parralelled the works " P . R ." head. presumably the tooling was
part of his cache, as A.M.C. at that time , did not consider the
' Commando ' in their lights as a ' racing machine '. twins race
development tooling disposed of , as to Dunstall - removed ,
remains SCRAPPED . bother .

Matt.

Dunstall Motorcycles
1968 Dunstall Dominator 750

This Is The Fastest 750 In The World
On 5th September, 1967, at Monza, Italy, a new 750 c.c. class 1 hour record was set by Rex Butcher riding a standard fully equipped Dunstall Dominator. The record has been raised to 126.7 m.p.h. New records for the 10 and 100 kilometre distances were achieved at the same time
 
No connection whatsoever to the current "DomiRacer" parts stockists?
 
Domiracer was coined by the factory in 1961 for the works special 500cc Dominator twin developed by Doug Hele as a demonstration of its potential performance against the Manx 30M 500cc single. The frame was a Renolds lightweigh steel reduced in height due to the lower top end of the Dommie motor and named the Low-Boy. It was fitted with a custom made Hagglunds 5 speed gear set in the AMC box. Tom Phillis rode this to 3rd place at just under 100MPH lap average in the 61 TT. Sadly he was killed the following year.

The Phillis Domiracer now resides in secret somewhere in Western Australia. I have some techinical articles and photos of the original Domiracer and Dunstall's version of the LowBoy frame and a race performance test of it.

I'll post these soon and hope you find them interesting.

Mick
 
OK, hope this works out OK, photobucket crashed on me a little while ago.....

The pictorial history of the Norton factory Domiracer and Dunstall's version of it followed by Egli's.

Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


DUNSTALL

Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


EGLI

Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .



Now I expect Hobot to go ape over this............

Mick
 
Just for the record -

In 1967 Rex Butcher set a number of world records on a 750cc Dunstall at Monza in Italy, and in 1968, Dunstall rider Ray Pickrell won the Isle of Man TT on a Dunstall Atlas[1] and secured 17 1st places on a Featherbed framed 750 Dunstall Domiracer, including the titles 'Master of Mallory' and 'King of Brands'.[3] Ray also won the '68 IOM production TT race with a new race record of 99.39 mph. In 1969 Pickrell also rode Dunstall Nortons to set a new national record for the 750cc quarter mile at 144.69mph at Elvington in Yorkshire.

Mick
 
I've seen a Dunstall "lowboy" during my time spent (wasted) hanging around at Competition Cycles in Dania, Florida, a Dunstall and Read-Titan dealer back in the day. It had a nickel-plated frame and was fairly indistinguishable from a Featherbed Domi until you put the two side-by-side.
 
Good to see inteligible comments and learn something.I was obviously mistaken thinking Dunstall washed his hands of that frame type.
Have picture of Pickrell somewhere on the Domiracer Framed 750 , presumably that was the I.O.M. ,P.R. winner,not a ' slimline ' .
 
ML said:
... In 1969 Pickrell also rode Dunstall Nortons to set a new national record for the 750cc quarter mile at 144.69mph at Elvington in Yorkshire.

THAT is FAST.
 
Good to see inteligible comments and learn something.I was obviously mistaken thinking Dunstall washed his hands of that frame type.
Have picture of Pickrell somewhere on the Domiracer Framed 750 , presumably that was the I.O.M. ,P.R. winner,not a ' slimline ' .
Was that really a lowboy frame ? 🤔
 
Whether the frame was lower or not, the main thing would be the raske angle, yoke offset, wheel sixe and position of the motore. However I have watched Tom Phillis race. If he got on anytyhing, it would be fast. THe main advantafge of a manx comes from the position of the motor and the amount of traul iit has. With the weight well forward and a lot of trail, the motor can be gassed harder in corners. A Manx would always be faster than a Domiracer, If you get offline with a Manx, you just give it more stick, a Domiracer would not feel so positive.
Most of the road bikes Norton sold in the 11950 and 60 were twwincylinder, th
 
Whether the frame was lower or not, the main thing would be the rake angle, yoke offset, wheel size and position of the motor. However I have watched Tom Phillis race. If he got on anytyhing, it would be fast. hHe main advantage of a manx comes from the position of the motor and the amount of trail iit has. With the weight well forward and a lot of trail, the motor can be gassed harder in corners. A Manx would always be faster than a Domiracer, If you get offline with a Manx, you just give it more stick, a Domiracer would not feel so positive.
Most of the road bikes Norton sold in the 1950s and 60s were twin cylinder, the Featherbed bed Inter was very rare. Successes with the Manx probably did not sell many road bikes.
 
OK, hope this works out OK, photobucket crashed on me a little while ago.....

The pictorial history of the Norton factory Domiracer and Dunstall's version of it followed by Egli's.

View attachment 31431

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View attachment 31439

DUNSTALL

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EGLI

View attachment 31444


Now I expect Hobot to go ape over this............

Mick
It would be a much more sensiblr answer. The motor is closer to the front wheel.
 
I don't understand the title of this thread.

The 24 hour world record for a motorcycle was set 62 years ago by a 500 cc Velocette Venom at an average speed of 100.05 mph in 1961 at Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, a banked oval racetrack in France.

This record has never been beaten by any motorcycle of any capacity.

Unfortunately the record breaking machine was basically destroyed in the UK National Museum fire although a replica has been rebuilt.

Velos are pretty damn good bikes.
 
I don't understand the title of this thread.

The 24 hour world record for a motorcycle was set 62 years ago by a 500 cc Velocette Venom at an average speed of 100.05 mph in 1961 at Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry, a banked oval racetrack in France.

This record has never been beaten by any motorcycle of any capacity.

Unfortunately the record breaking machine was basically destroyed in the UK National Museum fire although a replica has been rebuilt.

Velos are pretty damn good bikes.
There are some odd records being set that are still not records as the Velo beats them.


This one is for greatest distance in 24 hrs by a motorcycle, 2119 miles, divide that by 24 and you get 88 mph average. So the Velo holds that record too, 100.05 x 24 = 2401 miles.
 
View attachment 31430 " the ill fated battle between ' the Mint ' and Dave Downer "

When the Norton Race Shop , which had been developing the ' DOMIRACER ' Twin
was disposed of in the Factory Move (1968 ? ) the frames , perhaps seven , were
disposed of , with other assets ,to Paul Dunstall.An aftermarket fittings and
fiberglass ( the 'new fangled' ) supplier . Some people strike it lucky .

Matt, closure of the factory and relocation to Plumstead, London took place 1963.

Watch this rare footage of assembly during the last days at Bracebridge Str.! Note complete absence of daylight. Poor chaps.


- Knut
 
There are some odd records being set that are still not records as the Velo beats them.


This one is for greatest distance in 24 hrs by a motorcycle, 2119 miles, divide that by 24 and you get 88 mph average. So the Velo holds that record too, 100.05 x 24 = 2401 miles.
Yes. The world seem to have forgotten it.

Perhaps they can't spell Velocette. 🤣🤣

I have never owned a Velo but good friends have and I remember riding a 350 Mac Velo around the South Island of New Zealand almost 50 years ago. An extremely nice bike. Top speed about 75 mph and extremely well balanced and beautiful to ride on a windy road.
 
Interesting picture of the Domiracer motor. I note pressure fed camshaft lubrication and direct feeding of rocker gear lubrication (or is it a cylinder head oil cooling arrangement?). I wonder how Mr. Hele balanced the oil flows.
Head was painted black for maximum heat radiation.

Reynolds Tubing was a supplier to Norton for Featherbed frames, including Featherbed racing frames. These were of different tubing to the roadgoing frames, but were still of low grade steel, as I recall from articles on the subject.

The Lowboy frame kit really is a nice piece of engineering. Head stock was brazed - I guess that goes for the gusset plates at the rear too. This hints at the use of Reynold R531 tubing, also supported by a report saying the Domiracer's weight was considerably less than weight of the (production?) 500 Manx. A sensational weight advantage of 35 lb (16 kg) has been claimed, despite a heavier engine. Ultimately, the factory team's 350 Manx made use of 16-gauge Reynolds 531 as well.
It's more than likely Reynolds Tubing was charged with building Lowboy frames for Norton and possibly for Dunstall.

- Knut
 
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Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Bertie Goodman pushing off for one of his stints on the track . Like to see the M. D. doing that , these days . Proof of faith in product .


Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


Tho certain 1950 T Birds manadged 90 mph .

Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .



I see theres no current ' Triumph Brooklands " .

Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .
 
Think Bathust would be way more intresting if the road was unsealed . Pity they put a snot box over the track . Anyone with a brain wouldve put a cutting through the hump and kept the STRAIGHT ,
with a ' appropriate ' in line escape road , as what theres room for . Or was then . !

Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


An Offy . Cor. Just Like a TRIUMPH . ;)
Factory Race Shop -Dustall 24 Hr record .


With its distinctive Note . Who said they were backward ? .
 
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