1972 Norton 500 Manx Road Racer Motorcycle Track Test - 7-Page Vintage Article

Description

1972 Norton 500 Manx Road Racer Motorcycle Track Test - 7-Page Vintage Article
Original, vintage magazine article.
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
THE NORTON
MANX
A track test of
Norton's legendary
500cc road racer
■ Strictly speaking, I am of the
generation that missed the Manx. My
earliest memories of racing motorcycles
are of four cylinder Norton M.V.
Augustas shrieking down the drop into
Creg Ny Baa, that most wicked of Isle of
Man T.T. turns. The wail of the multi-
cylinder M.V.’s had .sung the requiem
mass of the Nortons—the day of the big
single in Grand Prix road racing was
finished. Or was it?
Although Nortons have not won a
world championship outright since the
early 1950’s, the Manx refused to lie
down and be buried. Mike Hailwood won
the senior T.T. in 1963 and six years later
Godfrey Nash thrashed a pack of two and
four strokes to take victor}' in the
Yugoslav Grand Prix—a full world
championship event. And, of course, no
one could forget Dick Creith’s
memorable trouncing of the world’s best
riders at the 1969 Ulster Grand Prix.
As an adolescent, my whole existence
pivoted around racing Nortons. In the
halcyon days before the coming of the
Yamahas, the English short circuits were
dominated by Manx Nortons of both 350
and 500 cc capacity and many, many
world champions cut their teeth on these
incredible machines. Among them Mike
Hailwood, Phil Read, Jim Redman, Ralph
Bryans and Gary Hocking, to name but a
few. What, then, makes the Manx so
successful?
To find out I turned to Keith Heckles
and his sponsor. Bob Vincent. Both these
gentlemen are Norton up to their ear-
balls, but that does not mean that they
race Manxes only for the sake of
nostalgia. On the contrary, they believe
the bikes still to be competitive against all
but the works machinery, and no
privateers stand a chance against such
machines in any case.
Bob kindly brought two machines for
me to try. One was a highly modified
special, based on the Manx but having
many additions to modernize it, and a
“practice” bike which, except for having
a six-speed gearbox in lieu of the more
normal four-speeder, is a standard 1962
Manx Norton.
I say 1962 for this was the last year that
Manx Nortons were made for sale to the
public. The bikes reflected Norton
boardroom policy, as the emphasis was
changed from special works bikes to
racing production versions of the Manx
and, eventually, to the discontinuance of
selling racing motorcycles at all. A
change, incidentally, which coincided
with an all-time low of Norton prestige in
the road-bike field. Perhaps mere
coincidence. Draw your own con-
clusions.
The 1962 bike was very much like its
predecessors over the last 10 years, and
still bore a noticeable resemblance to the
first D.O.H.C. model raced in 1937.
Bore and stroke ratios varied con-
siderably, gradually changing from a long
stroke 79 mm x 100 mm configuration to
an over-square 88 mm x 82 mm. Valve
sizes were also altered, the inlet finishing
up at around an enormous 2-inch
diameter, which should give all you
owners of 125 cc Honda twins something
to think about.
Throughout the period of its
development, the O.H.C.’s were driven by
the expensive and complex bevel drive
system (older readers may remember that
until Sochiro Honda arrived on the scene,
this was thought to be the only practical
way of driving camshafts).
The greatest single change came about
in 1950 when an Ulsterman named Rex
McCandless produced the world famous
"featherbed” frame. Harold Daniell, who
was the chief Norton works’ rider of the
time, gave the new frame this tag because
it was so stable and comfortable when
compared with the other bikes of the
time.
The "featherbed” was an all-welded
duplex construction which gave, for the
first time, a safe twitch-free ride at racing
speeds. Coupled to the new frame were
improved hydraulic suspension and
motor modifications which meant that
the Norton factory was back in the racing...
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