Norton at the TT

john robert bould · Jun 9, 2012

I think i must be getting old, and grumpy
Norton have returned to the TT this year :!:
Finnishing a race bike at Donnigton,
Frame....Spondon,,,not Norton
Engine ...RSV V4 , Not Norton
Forks Itilian or Dutch..Not Norton
Suspension ..you where ahead of me..Not Norton
Foot rests ...Norton ...wow yes Norton!

What's the point of this :?: ...OK they can C.N.C machine foot pegs

Total waste of time. instead of putting their energy into making the customers bikes!

Hobot · Jun 9, 2012

Yep you have old age era expectations in new age comedy of errors, as many of us do too.
So that's part of the appeal of Vintage Nortons, living with stuff that's honest to the marrow.
But should sell a few more expensive Norton watches to commemorate the new Norton feat.
Kenny Dreer got the right reaction, ignore em and get it on a drag strip blast w/o em.

L.A.B. · Jun 9, 2012

john robert bould said:
Frame....Spondon,,,not Norton

Yebbut....Garner is (partly) Spondon.

john robert bould said:
Engine ...RSV V4 , Not Norton

Pity they didn't do that from the outset-instead of wasting so much time and effort developing and manufacturing what is basically an underpowered, antiquated, pushrod aircooled "Norton" twin engine. :roll:

john robert bould said:
Total waste of time. instead of putting their energy into making the customers bikes!

I expect it will bring in a few more deposits. :lol:

john robert bould · Jun 9, 2012

What a silly billy i am...it's so SANDTANDER can be stuck on the fairing

and not to look silly they insisted the 916 push rod engine should be replaced with the V4 1000 RSV! Guess a 90 mph lap would look the pits.
Took me 10 minutes to solve that one :lol:

L.A.B. · Jun 9, 2012

john robert bould said:
What a silly billy i am...it's so SANDTANDER can be stuck on the fairing

Well... why not? After all, they're the ones who are paying for the IOM outing!

john robert bould said:
916 push rod engine

Or even a 961 pushrod engine? :mrgreen:

1up3down · Jun 9, 2012

Interesting TT trivia:

The Commando's great great grandfather, the 500cc twin Dominator, was the first twin and the first OHV engine
to lap the Isle of Man at over 100mph in a TT race in 1961.

That year, 1961, saw Mike Hailwood win the 500 class on his Lacey tuned Manx, and Norton finished first, second, third in the Senior TT, the last famous Norton victory until Peter William's Formula 750 victory in 1973, when he averaged 105mph over the island course.

Just thought I would throw in some Norton TT history

FastFred · Jun 9, 2012

I wouldn't worry about it as I came back yesterday a day early as it was p*ssing it down. Good call as the Senior was delayed a day and then cancelled today first time in it's history so the Norton didn't run..

john robert bould · Jun 9, 2012

Lab,
961 it is

I cannot think what a RSV 1000 V4 powered Norton would do for there image....certainly Rictor scale stuff! ..175 mph Norton Commando . put me down for one!!

L.A.B. said:
john robert bould said:

What a silly billy i am...it's so SANDTANDER can be stuck on the fairing

Click to expand...

Well... why not? After all, they're the ones who are paying for the IOM outing!

john robert bould said:

916 push rod engine

Click to expand...

Or even a 961 pushrod engine? :mrgreen:

Rohan · Jun 9, 2012

1up3down said:
Interesting TT trivia:

The Commando's great great grandfather, the 500cc twin Dominator, was the first twin and the first OHV engine to lap the Isle of Man at over 100mph in a TT race in 1961.

And if the back tyre hadn't rubbed the guard and robbed some rpm, may have won !!

Actually, the 1961 domiracer engine is a bit closer to the Commando engine than that, only 1 &1/2 generations removed, or less ? And was ahead of the Commando in some respects, having needle roller bearings for the cams, etc...

The all-iron Dominator Model 7 engine of 1949 would be the Commando's great great grandfather ??

More trivia....

Rohan · Jun 9, 2012

Getting any bike sponsored, built, prepped, to the circuit, and qualified for the race with someone good enough to tackle that circuit fast enough is a mighty achievement.
Top marks, top marks.

1up3down · Jun 9, 2012

Actually, the 1961 domiracer engine is a bit closer to the Commando engine than that, only 1 &1/2 generations removed, or less ? And was ahead of the Commando in some respects, having needle roller bearings for the cams, etc...

The all-iron Dominator Model 7 engine of 1949 would be the Commando's great great grandfather ??

yeah, I think you are maybe more correct than I

I was counting Commando as being the son of the Atlas, which was the son of the 6500SS, which was the son of the 600 Dominator 99 and son of the 500, with the 49 Model 7 being the original sperm donor

or maybe Bert Hopwood was...........

Gino Rondelli · Jun 10, 2012

I was there, worst handling bike I saw all week, it just didn't look right at all, the rider was 10mph (average ) faster on his other bikes so it wasn't his ability that made it slower.
Anyway managed to get a few shots, here's one at Ballaugh

Rohan · Jun 10, 2012

Great photo...

The edited highlights of races showed the BMW being a bit average over some of the jumps too. But at the speed it was apparently going, maybe thats acceptable... !

Hobot · Jun 11, 2012

The edited highlights of races showed the BMW being a bit average over some of the jumps too. But at the speed it was apparently going, maybe thats acceptable... !

No it is not acceptable, it can easy get unpredictable dangerous. After about 120 mph there can be significant lift and change of center of air pressure too far forward with big swirling eddies and that seems to make the rear patch hunt around over a few inches sideways, plus any lean on road texture following, that upsets the over all ringing stiff chassis into the forks. Something has to give and they don't know what yet. Music to my ears of course but I do fear for the brave pilots working their tails off to control these weird handling missles.

Bernhard · Jun 11, 2012

john robert bould said:
What a silly billy i am...it's so SANDTANDER can be stuck on the fairing and not to look silly they insisted the 916 push rod engine should be replaced with the V4 1000 RSV! Guess a 90 mph lap would look the pits.
Took me 10 minutes to solve that one :lol:

Agreed, about the “SANDTANDER” bit
The Norton story was on ITV4 and as far as this exercise goes, it was badly planed and thought out with basic schoolboy errors, such as not fully testing and shaking the bike down ( running out of petrol!) even thought they are right on the doorstep of Doddington Park racing circuit.
They had 3 hours to retime the engine which had to be removed from the frame, in the IOM paddock, for this purpose
They got free publically on national wide TV even though they didn’t even do a qualifying lap, so, I suppose they thought it was worth it.

ZFD · Jun 11, 2012

Badly planned? Schoolboy errors? Nevermind- nobody else got that much publicity out of a bike that was slower than the Lighweight class- Ryan Farquar won the Lightweight Race with a higher lap time on a bike of only 650cc with 2 cylinders and all parts with the exception of the exhaust and seat are from a Kawasaki road bike- let alone received the "Motul Team Award for Technical Excellence" for a bike that lasted only one training lap at a time.
Schoolboys in racing, maybe, but world champions in publicity!

john robert bould · Jun 11, 2012

I bet the TT bought in hundreds of orders for Norton , people queueing up with their cheque books :lol: ...Ho well yet another Norton "rushed" project, I would bet a £ to a shilling Santander where pulling the strings..at the end of the day Norton are not in a power/speed market...so whats the point? and using another firms engine...carn't see John Bloor building a Honda powered Triumph to limp around the Island :!:
Not a soul will be impressed,infact this is a damp squid...who the hells in charge of PR....micky Mouse or Dumbo :!:

ZFD · Jun 11, 2012

John,
As an Englishman you are probably not aware nobody outside the UK gives a s**t about the TT any more- the rest of the motorcycling world sees it as part of British national folklore, basically on the level of a local race for suicidal nutcases.

I found out the hard way when I started selling the Norton F1Sports and realized nobody outside the UK had actually noticed Steve Hislop had won the TT on the rotary Norton. That was in 1992, twenty years ago. Since then the TT has become more obscure still, as the old-timers die out who have seen Hailwood, Agostini and Read battle it out on the Isle of Man in world championship races.

As publicity on the national scale it is great, however, and diverts attention from mundane questions like "when will I get the bike I have paid for".

Gino Rondelli · Jun 11, 2012

At the end of the day they got loads of free publicity, and the really good thing was the Senior was cancelled so they can now claim "what if"
Yes its a bit of a joke to us "purists" but the general public are possibly getting stirred up enough to "invest" in them
Most of the feedback I heard in the island was positive, and nobody would listen to my extreme doubts about the whole thing, so the publicity machine is working. Just like politics, the polititians are only there because 80% of the voting public are gullible enough to believe them!

J.A.W. · Jun 11, 2012

I note that there was a 10,000 quid prize for the 1st electric bike to do a ton-up lap at the TT, funny that a production racing Commando did that 40 years ago.

Norton at the TT

john robert bould

Hobot

L.A.B.

Moderator

john robert bould

L.A.B.

Moderator

1up3down

FastFred

john robert bould

Rohan

Rohan

1up3down

Gino Rondelli

Rohan

Hobot

Bernhard

ZFD

john robert bould

ZFD

Gino Rondelli

J.A.W.

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