New video racing my 750 Commando in Superbike class at Mosport 2018

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Doug MacRae

Doug MacRae

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Racing my 1972 Norton 750 Commando short stroke at Mosport (CTMP) in the P3 Superbike class. I wound up with a tough race against a fast guy on a Honda 750 Interceptor but beat him to the line. The bike was going well and I put in my fastest laps ever there, within 1.2 seconds of the Superbike P3M lap record.
At the end is some footage of a opening lap crash in the P2 Heavy race, my correct class. I was late to the grid and forced to start from pit lane and was charging up when the crash happened.
Thanks to Herb Becker, Fullauto Technologies, Walridge Motors and JS Motorsport for their help!

 
Great vid Doug.

Not bad riding either !

So much for needing a fancy frame eh!?

Thanks for posting.
 
Doug Macrae
Great video and the bike is beautiful, is that your black one in new paint or a different one?
Color scheme is striking and reminds me of the Ron Wood Nortons, Fast Eddie is right, Commando frames can do the job with the right people involved in the shed and on the track.
Strictly a street rider myself but love vintage racing and the machinery.
 
KiwiNeill said:
Great video and the bike is beautiful, is that your black one in new paint or a different one?
Color scheme is striking and reminds me of the Ron Wood Nortons, Fast Eddie is right, Commando frames can do the job with the right people involved in the shed and on the track.
Strictly a street rider myself but love vintage racing and the machinery.
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This is the same bike, I just grew weary of the flat black thing. I actually just picked up some cans of 'Chevrolet Red-Orange Engine Enamel' paint from my local hardware store and went at it. I most certainly was inspired by the Ron Wood Nortons, I photographed them for a BikeEXIF profile. It helps having someone good back in the shed for sure...!

Holmeslice said:
Nice one, Douglas. Those are some very fast times.
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Thanks Kenny!
 
Great stuff, Doug. Thanks for posting. I get more pleasure out of watching this than I do watching MotoGP (and I really like watching MotoGP:)). You and Herb are both pretty impressive performers.

Ken
 
lcrken said:
Great stuff, Doug. Thanks for posting. I get more pleasure out of watching this than I do watching MotoGP (and I really like watching MotoGP:)). You and Herb are both pretty impressive performers.

Ken
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Thanks Ken!!
 
I enjoyed the video vey much, but I could not identify with what was happening in it. Most of our race circuits are not so big and the differences between the tight bits and the big bits are not so great. With that circuit, the main danger might be slipping off on the tight bits where the speeds are still very high. I noticed on the tight bits Doug was using only two gears, but on the big bit he was using all five - on the slow bits the speeds were still high.. One thing I have found with the Commando on most of our circuits, is you can be slow out of the corners but fast at the end of the straights, or fast out of the corners and slow at the ends of the straights - there is usually no way of being fast everywhere - except at Phillip Island.
 
At the lap times I am doing at Mosport, my average speed is 89 mph in a lap. I always feel watching the laps on video is that the end of the back straight when I go into the T8 right hander it does not look like I am going fast even though I am not touching the brakes at 130 mph and just pitching the bike into the corner, scrubbing off the speed that way and then carrying the speed through 9 and 10 onto the front straight, not much on the gas but carrying the speed. I am not sure I can go through there any faster than I was in the video, the front was starting to pogo and chatter on me
 
The way the steering on my own bike is set up. It is much faster through corners if I brake slightly before them, then go through gassing fairly hard. I never back-off halfway through. I am not criticising your riding or your bike, but sometimes you can get the bike set up so that slight hesitation half-way through corners does not happen. If you listen to a lot of on-board videos, most guys are forced to back-off halfway through corners. I don't like riding through corners on the over-run. If I stay on the gas through corners, my bike becomes more stable and positive and does not tend to run wide. There is adjustment for the steering geometry on most modern bikes, but the taper in the top yoke of Commandos stops you from moving the yokes up and down the stanchions.
 
I have never raced a standard framed Commando. But from what I have read, I suspect that Peter Williams had it right when he specified road race steering geometry for the first Commandos. For commuters, neutral steering is probably SAFER. But for road racing, neutral steering can force you to use more lean and back off halfway around corners. Whenever I watch a road race video, I always pay particular attention to the comments about handling. Years ago when I raced regularly, I simply accepted the bike as it was.
 
how's the gearbox holding up? regular gears? what clutch plates do you use & how long do they (& belt) last?
 
84ok said:
how's the gearbox holding up? regular gears? what clutch plates do you use & how long do they (& belt) last?
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Gearbox I have always had a few minor downshifting issues with but it is generally good. It is a 5 speed Triumph cluster in a NRE gearbox shell with a Norton output shaft. One day I will be able to afford a TT box. I am pretty sure the clutch plates are Barnett and they last pretty good. I have shredded belts before, two in one weekend racing at Barber so I went to these 'Gold' belts now, twice the price but supposed to be indestructible- I did notice that after 4-5 race weekends it was starting to wear about 1/8" off the outside at Mosport so I swapped it out for another of the Gold belts to be safe and kept the other as a spare
 
With that 5 speed Triumph cluster, before he died, Phil Pick used to sell two pairs of gears which moved 2nd and 3rd closer together and more towards 4th. Fast Eddie said Tony Hayward might now sell them. Closer ratios improve acceleration, even when the overall gearing is higher - might fix your down-shifting issues. I once tried racing with a standard commando box - it was appalling - slow everywhere. Even the American 4 speed close box is brilliant everywhere, except off the start. What find is that most guys always slow down too much for turn one - I go round it at the same speed I would on any other lap. So the high first gear is not such a big problem.
 
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