Norton 750 breaks land speed record

Great news.

Randy Johnson's production class 750 Nort now holds the Bonneville speed record for pushrod motors on gasoline. The bike just did 126mph on the salt flats.




Among other things, the bike is equipped with JS ultra high compression domed lightweight pistons, gapless rings, longer rods, stage 2 cam with lightweight lifters, beehive valve springs and black diamond valves.

"The engine really wants to run, it picked up 9 mph between the 2 and 3 mile traps... Thanks for the great parts and the advice. It's a great motor," Randy

Randy plans on running again at the world finals in october and I expect he will go even faster after some more tuning (there is a MotoGuzzi not far behing him).

Jim

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

What keeps a stock trimmed bike from going faster? Air resistance?

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

Alrighty Jim, glad them yellar Combats are so fast : ) Maybe next upgrade might be a fullauto head attended to by Comstock? Bet its 20+ faster on pavement at lower elevations. Ken said he was trying to field a NOS Norton but ain't heard back yet.

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

Good effort, did he wrest the record from Al Crashcart on the NEW 961?

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

Makes me appreciate how powerful Mal Hewitts Vincent must be to turn 162 up there. I bet most standard Commandos would barely clear the ton at Bonneville.

Glen

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

Bonneville S-F record sure, but World Record ? Didn`t Norton have a factory development hack that went 143mph?
& Matt Spencer will tell us that his old pre-unit Bonnie could beat 126mph on a low barometer day, with left & right handed Monoblocs synchronised WFO & open mega`s...chin on tank, ...jeans tucked into boots ...scowl on face...fag on bottom lip...& etc..etc...

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

I've done 113 @ 6600 rpms on stock 72 combat, single mikuni on the flats, have timing slip to prove it. oh, by the way this bike has 70,000 miles on it

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

donmeek said:

I've done 113 @ 6600 rpms on stock 72 combat, single mikuni on the flats, have timing slip to prove it. oh, by the way this bike has 70,000 miles on it

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On the Bonneville Salt flats?

Glen

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

But my RD will do that ! . :shock: Knactually the BonEvil would run to 110 , in third .IF you got it right . Figures for top are a wee bit over that , James . Then settling in , or the harmonics ' phaseing ' ,
after sundown when theres a moisture content , itd get comfortable oover that . Only did this Twice though , Valve float in top . PULL ANOTHER TOOTH . My first thoughts on our yellow friend here , or two .
And if youre not sure James , ask Pete how long he took to the toll gates .The thing went past himthere brakeing for the left hander and managed to pull up , wasnt sure it was going to at all .
Think the front was off an inch or two for a way too , winding up . :shock:

The old cow would ' Load Up' , Rich cut ? if coarse throotle , at times . And sit at 90 ( all the way down the albany straight on a RD s number plate , a crack off , to nudge Rt for a curve , And it opens up clean .)
Or does it ALL the way from the bottom corner , nailed at the apex . Slowly over the top the mixture changes , and the after burners are ' ON ' . Things happen faster than a man can imagine .

93 in third ( 7.500 ) is where they chime in , throttle on stop , itll hit 110 . And get the shift right .Real Quick . Trying a notch back on the go lever , she runs over the top at 105 .

One is limited by the stability of the pillion . Id go say 6/10ths . As it could be neccesary to ' pull up ' .Which can take some room . Therefore we drive to the conditions .

This got us thinking . Ran the 32 in from Valve on a V4 with impresive results , and Fancy sequential spiked collector on a 2L ohc with The big ends Loctited ( a fresh engine ) . 7500 straight out , unladen .
Part throttle ( 7/8 ? ) ( 40 Sync. Weber ) she would ' go over the top ' of the cam , at 5.500 ( stock cam . ) SO , same pipes , a extra 2.000 rpms from the old dog , nice cam wouldve run 8.000 odd .
Expensive engine that. $120 odd . . . ( recoed - bores/ pistons crank / cam. The THIRD cam , lifters , 3 goeing . The NEW cam feed pipe was $ 20 . The Coke Up . Hence previous owners recos ! )


So , right , another THREE teeth then , and a set of those ' Wassell ' " silencers " :lol: AND a tape recording . If I ever see him , I ow him a drink . Put a RD in front , for aiming point .

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

Matt, I was not bragging about the speed, or tooting my own horn, or anything like that, as it's really not that great. I was just responding to the statement "a commando would struggle to reach the ton on the salt".

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

hobot, can you possibly translate matt's previous post? hee hee

If you've never been to Bonneville - GO THERE!

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

Great. this proves that a Norton stuffed with new technology and parts will go faster than the Nortons did from WWII through the 70s with OEM or older speed parts. Quite a revelation!

In five or ten years someone will stuff another one with thousands of dollars worth of the next generation of trick parts and go faster still so, I will try to remember to act surprised.

Period speed results are much more interesting and representative of what an actual and real Norton can do, as would it be interesting if some sharp tuner got some good results like they did in the 70s using all factory parts like the 140+mph 850 Commando that J.A.W. was referring to.

There is quite a lot of data and calculators out there that can translate speed and horsepower results to any altitude or air density.

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

That was an impressive run ! In that class no fairing is allowed, which makes it even more impressive. The Salt Flats are at about 4300 ft above sea level. The atmospheric conditions add about another 1500 ft. It is a challenge to get the carbs set up to run at that altitude. However, last year at the BUB meet a Triumph 750 P-PP ran 129.6 Mph . Big D Cycles has been after that record over the last few years and held the record which I believe is on the number plate of Randy's Bike.

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

Dons very good result aside, most bikes do not perform as expected at the high level and on questionable traction. I stand by the statement that most Standard Commandos would struggle to get over the ton up there. Hell, there are a lot of them that would struggle to reach that at sea level, never mind at Bonneville. So 126 with a slightly modified engine is a bit of a feat.

According to the Bonneville Racing Association, the speed of a given bike will vary considerably with Salt conditions.
So that factor combined with the elevation makes it tough to get those really high numbers.

The same year that Mal Hewitt (2010?)went 162 there were a number of runs done by owners of various new stock litre Superbikes, all with that 185 mph built in limit. None of them reached anywhere near their electronically controlled limit. The only one that went faster than Mal Hewitt was the top model of the Aprilia and that was only 3 mph faster than his Vincent.

Glen

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

From earlier post

"There is quite a lot of data and calculators out there that can translate speed and horsepower results to any altitude or air density."

Bonneville Salt Flat legend Ed Mabry had this posted on a sign in his shop. goggle him

"One experiment is worth a thousand theories."

Different organization put out different record books. Each record in all books are a challenge to anyone who thinks they can break it. It take time, money ,planning and a bunch of work to set a record in any class/organization. Until you have been to the prom, you do not know how hard it is to get the pretty girl to dance with you.

This is the Production class. Head,crankcases and cylinders have to be stock. Everything you can not see ,is fair game. If you can see the part it must be stock.

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

The condition of the salt must have been optimal that day.

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

Includeing a amynitrate heart pill in the fuel tank , and sawing the Knobs off for slicks , Bert Munro style .
Yea , he did very good , guess with the 2 & 3 mile figures , he has got the gearing figured . Depends whats allowed for gas .

If we put a identical; Commando ahead , the leader would have no wake and the tail no headwind , we'll get MORE . No Trouble . :wink:

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

maylar said:

What keeps a stock trimmed bike from going faster? Air resistance?

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mostly. dont forget the salt isnt like driving/riding on pavement too

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

J.A.W. said:

Bonneville S-F record sure, but World Record ? Didn`t Norton have a factory development hack that went 143mph?
& Matt Spencer will tell us that his old pre-unit Bonnie could beat 126mph on a low barometer day, with left & right handed Monoblocs synchronised WFO & open mega`s...chin on tank, ...jeans tucked into boots ...scowl on face...fag on bottom lip...& etc..etc...

Click to expand...

I just found my new signature. :mrgreen:

Re: Norton 750 breaks world speed record

dunno about that , would see off a Z1 , theyd do 130 . Above 125 you wouldnt be looking at the speedometer . The T100 would probably do 125 / 126 . Blew of a few TZs at a Auckland round of the NZ Championships . ( (TZ350s , 500 Race class )
Will see If I can get the results from the meet from the Auckland motorcycle club .
Hillarious raceing Katana 1100s when it would pull up in 2/3 the distance .

The old Brother 1100 would get 2nd to those RG 500s at Baypark, with him on it .But wouldnt run straight on gravle over 25 mph , use one lane at 40 , 2 @ 60.