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Norton
Rotary Racing Development- Middle Years 1991-1992
In the years 1991 and 1992, a change in the leading figures in the race
team took place, in that Brian Crighton, the man behind the very first
efforts, was mobbed out of the team and Barry Symmons and Ron Williams (of
Maxton frames) took over. Symmons, a forceful
and outspoken man, had no time for Crightons semi-artisan approach, but
wanted things done systematically and according to his, and no-one else's,
agenda. Crighton was equally adamant in his views on engineering
development and team direction, and with characters as
incompatible as these, something had to give.
It is true, that the team became far more professional in some respects,
whilst on the other hand the learning curve that Crighton had already
behind him was, in many ways, started again at the bottom with the NRS588
race bikes.
Furthermore, the efforts of the "chassis guru" were not really
complimented by the riders, TT winner Hislop commenting that the bike he
first tried- as prepared by the works team- was practically unrideable, and
had to be set up completely differently for the TT course. Obviously, the
requirements of the Isle of Man are different to those of short circuit
racing and it is to the credit of Hislop and his team that they changed the
bike from unrideable to race-winner in such a short time.
Crighton, in typical one-upmanship, was at the same time making steps
towards the good old days setting his latest chassis up with twin shocks.
He claimed it worked better, and we suspect this is true, as the damping
of the central units must have been adversely affected by the great heat
of the rotary racing engine hitting it squarely, whilst twin shocks had
the advantage of air cooling (unless they were under cover, as in the
Commander, that is!).
A clever move by Simmons was to recruit "Rocket Ron" Haslam, a
world-class development rider if at that time perhaps past his competitive
peak, who must have led the team out of the woods in the handling
department.
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The first
"post-Crighton" bike was this 1991 JPS Norton with new,
Harris-built chassis.Whilst far more elegant in appearance perhaps than
the 1990 machines, it took a long time to become as competitive as
the previous seasons bike had been- ask the 2004 Ducati Moto GP
riders about the symptom! |
| Brian Crighton, on the
other hand, left with Steve Spray in tow to build and race the Roton
and
even had a short stint in Australia, where he was left penniless and
stranded by his sponsor. His approach was "retro" rather
than "modern", and he stuck to the 1990 works fairings as
well as the Spondon chassis, whilst going over to twin shock rear
suspension. |
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| The oft-cited
injection never came, though announced as imminent several times in
"sensation" interviews of Crighton in MCN, nor did any
clever electronic ignition equipment. Basically, the bikes were on
the technical level with early 1970s bikes, having normal
carburettors, pretty basic electronic ignitions, and engines whose
main components were in most details identical to those of the
late-seventies prototypes ("Cooke Neilsen"). Still good
enough to take on, and beat, the latest opposition from the Land of
the Rising Sun! |
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In the end, Norton did
write history by winning the 1992 TT under the late Steve Hislop,
who leased the bike and in so doing paid for the privilege to give
Norton its last TT win (so far?), 85 years after its first under
H.Rembrandt Fowler. Normally, this should have been the rotary
racing swansong, and as far as the works team was concerned, it
was. |
| picture of Roton
by friendly
permission of www.jpsnorton.com |
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