Manx
Norton
The Manx Norton story started in 1927, when
Walter Moore (formerly the Douglas chief designer)
created the first Norton overhead camshaft engine
with bore and stroke dimensions of 79x100 mm,
giving 490 cc capacity. Straight from the drawing
board it provided Alec Bennett with a TT victory
in 1927. Known as the CS 1 (Camshaft Senior
one) it was listed as a production machine for
the 1928 season. The smaller 348 cc version
( 71x85 mm) was known as the CJ (Camshaft Junior).
By 1930 Moore had left to work for NSU in Germany
and for the TT that year Arthur Carroll, his
successor at Bracebridge Street, redesigned
the camshaft engine. The 1930s were truly fantastic
years for the Norton racing department: from
1931 till 1939 Nortons won all Manx TTs in both
350 and 500 cc classes, with the exception of
the 1935 Senior and the 1938 Junior events.
During this period the Norton racers acquired
hairpin valve springs (in 1934), a megaphone
exhaust(1935), plunger rear springing(1936),
twin overhead camshafts (1937) and telescopic
front forks in 1938.
In 1938 bore and stroke on both models were
revised and the 498 cc model could reach a top
speed of 120 mph. The first post-war over-the-counter
racers were made available for the 1947 season.
They were standard equipped with magnesium crankcases
and aluminium-alloy cylinder barrels. For the
1954 season short stroke engines were listed:
the dimensions were almost square now. Development
went on till 1962: in early January 1963 the
doors in Bracebridge Street closed and Norton
production was transferred to the Associated
Motor Cycles premises in Plumstead. This move
marked the end of Manx production. The Japanese
racers took over for a number of years, but
in the early eighties Classic Racing really
got off the ground, and this revived the interest
in Manx Nortons immensely. Everything about
Norton Manx can be found in Mick Walker's Book
Norton Manx, ISBN 0-946627-36-3.
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