Norton Manx
| Norton | |
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| Manufacturer | Norton Motorcycles |
| Production period | 1947 to 1963 |
| class | Racing motorcycle |
| Motor data | |
| Four-stroke engine , air-cooled single-cylinder engine, DOHC , driven via a vertical shaft, with two valves hanging in the head, dry sump lubrication , a carburetor, magneto ignition | |
| Displacement (cm³) | 350 or 500 cm³ |
| transmission | Four-speed gearbox |
| drive | Chain |
| Brakes | front: duplex drum brake / rear: drum brake |
The Norton Manx or Manx Norton is a British racing motorcycle with single cylinder - four cycle engine , for the racing classes to 350 cc and 500 cc to 1947 to 1962 from the Norton Motors Ltd. was prepared.
meaning
The Norton Manx is one of the most successful motorcycles in racing history : no other brand and no other type of motorcycle has won as many races and world championships as Norton with the Manx and its predecessors.
A Norton took part in each of the Isle of Man TT races on the Isle of Man , which gave the Manx machines its name , from the first race in 1907 to the 1970s, a consistency that no other manufacturer could match . The Manx racing machines have become an inseparable part of the entire motorcycle racing history. The Manx motorcycles are the racing machines that - well ahead of those of MV Agusta - have won the most world championship titles by far.
Even new Manx Nortons are - long after the end of production at Norton itself - still available assembled from individual parts; offered and manufactured by several companies, either according to the old original specifications or with targeted improvements to shapes and newer materials.
These machines, original old Manx as well as their young replica sisters, continue to be successfully moved around the world in various categories of historic races.
History of origin
Shortly after the Second World War , the first Norton Manx came out. The 1947 Manx were slightly improved versions of the "International" pre-war racing machines with a single overhead camshaft (" OHC ") to control the gas exchange in the single cylinder engine.
The Norton factory racing machines under Joe Craig were experimental models . But customer racing machines were also available from the factory on Bracebridge Street - for selected customers. Equipped with the so-called “feather bed” frame by the McCandless brothers since 1950, the Manx became a new, powerful racing machine, to which the new frame gave a fine controllability that was useful for some of the very fast racing courses of the time.
The last Norton Manx on Bracebridge Street were sold in 1963. Although Norton withdrew from international racing as early as 1954, the Manx remained the backbone of the racing business of highly committed amateurs.
In the 1960s, Manx machines disappeared from the international racing scene due to a lack of competitiveness. Italian and Japanese multi-cylinder motorcycles began to dominate the races. Single-cylinder motorcycles could no longer keep up in racing.
The movement for classic races from around 1970, however, soon saw a large number of initially original Norton Manx return to the race tracks, and later more and more Manx replicas. A thriving supplier scene developed to keep these motorcycles running.
development
The Norton Manx was designed to win the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy , a competition for single-cylinder racing machines with SOHC engines. Norton racing engineer Joe Craig was in charge of development. The DOHC design (two overhead camshafts) was developed in 1937 and, after a number of problems, perfected a year later. Further development of the Manx was delayed by the outbreak of World War II, but was resumed for the Manx Grand Prix in 1946.
The motorcycle has been improved with the new telescopic fork . In 1948 it received a duplex brake in the front wheel. In 1950 the innovative feather bed frame was developed, which gave the Manx decisive advantages by means of a low center of gravity and a short wheelbase, properties that made the racing motorcycle suitable for the winding racing circuit on the Isle of Man. The fully welded tubular frame was light and sleek, without the usual forgings that added useless weight. In 1950 the feather bed Manx achieved a double hat trick in podium positions at the TT.
The Manx engine was completely redesigned in 1953 in order to obtain a very short stroke with a 86.0 mm bore × 85.6 mm stroke and thus to significantly improve the behavior of the engine in high speed ranges.
The 1954 improvements were to tilt the engine forward in order to lower the center of gravity and keep up with the racing machines from Moto Guzzi and Benelli . The decline in motorcycle sales from the mid-1950s onwards forced a number of motorcycle manufacturers to retire from racing, and Norton took this step in 1954. The last development of the Norton Manx F Type still exists and is in the Sammy Miller Racing Machine Museum displayed. With Norton's retirement, Joe Craig, who had made Cammy racing machines more powerful and reliable for more than 25 years, retired.
The Norton Manx MX from Les Archer
The British racing driver Les Archer worked with the frame specialist Ron Hankins and the engine tuner Ray Petty on the development of a motocross Norton Manx. The double camshaft short-stroke engine of the Norton Manx road racing machine was fitted into a Hankins frame and provided with an aluminum tank and titanium axles. The Manx MX was successful and won the FIM competition in the 500cc European Motocross Championship class in 1956 . The MX then turned out to be not strong enough to withstand the emerging two-stroke cross machines.
Use of Manx engines in car races
Manx-Nortons also played a significant role in post-war racing car development. At the end of 1950, the English national regulations for the 500cc class were established as the new Formula 3 . The JAP speedway class engine had initially dominated these races, but the Manx engine was more powerful and became the engine of choice in this racing car class. Because Norton did not sell individual engines, complete racing machines were purchased to remove the engine from them. This resulted in " Café Racer " by combining the Manx chassis with Triumph 500 cm³ two-cylinder engines to create the so-called "Triton" Cafe Racers.
End and new beginning
1962 was the last full year of Manx racing machine production. In July, the manufacturer AMC announced the move of production from Bracebridge Street to Woolwich in London. 42 Norton Manx were still in production between November 1962 and January 1963. In 1966 Colin Seeley bought the remaining spare parts and tools from the factory.
Seeley sold his leftovers to John Tickle in 1969. John Tickle took over the Manx name when Norton ceased motorcycle production and in turn acquired the factory's remaining inventory. He also made complete racing machines, which he named Manx T5 (500) and T3 (350). Both used the short-stroke Manx engine in a frame that Tickle had designed himself, but those machines were powerless against the emerging Japanese multi-cylinder machines. In the late 1970s, John Tickle sold his holdings.
Web links
- 1962 Manx Norton 500; The best in the first four-stroke MX era. In: Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum . American Motorcyclist Association , 2010, accessed March 25, 2011 .
- Paul D'Orleans: Leo Kusmicki And The Norton Squish. In: The Vintagent. February 27, 2010, accessed March 25, 2011 .
- 1957 Norton 30M. In: RealClassic. Retrieved March 25, 2011 .
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Andrew Kemp, Mirco De Cet: Classic British Bikes . Bookmart, 2004, ISBN 1-86147-005-3 .
- ↑ 1957 Norton 30M. Retrieved November 13, 2008 .
- ↑ 1962 Manx Norton 500. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on October 5, 2008 ; Retrieved November 13, 2008 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ray Ryan: Motocross racers: 30 years of legendary dirt bikes . MotorBooks / MBI Publishing Company, 2003, ISBN 0-7603-1239-7 .
- ↑ Mick Walker: The Manx Norton . Brooklands Books, 2005, ISBN 0-9544357-9-6 .
