Manufacturer | Norton Motorcycles |
---|---|
Also called | Norton Inter, Cammy Norton, Model 30, Model 40 |
Production | 1931–1939, 1947–1958 (Model 30 & Model 40) |
Engine | 490 cc (30 cu in) / 349 cc (21.3 cu in) single overhead cam air-cooled |
Top speed | 93 mph (150 km/h)[ citation needed ] |
Power | 29 bhp (22 kW)[ citation needed ] |
Transmission | Four speed, chain final drive |
Brakes | Drum |
Wheelbase | 54.75 in (1,391 mm) |
The Norton International or Cammy Norton is a Norton Motors Ltd overhead cam (OHC) motorcycle built between 1931 and 1957.
More than a TT replica sports roadster, the OHC Model 30, was 500 cc and the OHC Model 40 was 350 cc. During the 1930s it could be ordered from the Norton factory with all manner of racing parts fitted. Such factory bikes won many Isle of Man TT races during the 1930s, many of them 1-2-3 results.
Norton factory riders on Inters, including Jimmie Guthrie, Jimmy Simpson, Stanley Woods were household names of the era. Production of the Model 30 and 40 International ended temporarily on the outbreak of World War II. [1]
Production of the Inter resumed for 1947, and continued until 1957. Although the engine continued almost from first to last unchanged, the famed featherbed frame was adopted for the 1953 models. By the 1950s though, the model was outdated and outclassed by the new twins and shared only the featherbed frame with its postwar Manx racing cousins, and only sold in small numbers. In the final years the Inter was not even mentioned in the catalog and was available only to special order.
The name International was first used by Norton both for its newly designed race bikes and also for the TT replica sports roadster in 1932. Overseen by Joe Craig, Arthur Carroll had designed an overhead-camshaft engine for the works racers and although it retained the 79 mm × 100 mm (3.1 in × 3.9 in) bore and stroke of the Norton CS1 the Model 30 International was all new. The racing heritage led to quickly detachable wheels and hairpin type valve springs that could be changed rapidly when racing. In 1933, the forks and gearbox were redesigned [1] and in 1935, the Sturmey-Archer gearbox was replaced, as Sturmey-Archer had stopped making gearboxes, so Norton bought the rights to the design and commissioned Burman to produce them. These gearboxes proved so good they remained unchanged for the next 30 years, [2] although the external appearance was altered several times, and the gearchange mechanism fully enclosed and thus lubricated.
In 1936, the engine was upgraded with an alloy head and barrel with a bronze liner, available as an option. In 1938 suspension was upgraded to plunger type. And telescopic Roadholder Forks as ridden by Harrold Dannels and Freddie Frith in this year 1938 [1] also available as an option. Production of the Model 30 and 40 ended on the outbreak of World War II. [3] After the war, production of the International Model 30 (500 cc) and Model 40 (350 cc) restarted with an iron head and barrel, as fitted to the pre-war CS1 and CJ Nortons. The suspension was upgraded to Norton Roadholder telescopic forks instead of girders and Clubmans versions were also produced without silencers and lights for racing use. Close ratios gearboxes were supplied as standard from 1947, and the alloy-headed engine made a comeback in 1953 in the new Featherbed frame. Volume production of the International ended in 1955, although small numbers were built to special order for two or three years after. [4]
In 1935 works Norton team rider Jimmie Guthrie set a number of world speed records on a Norton International at the concrete bowl track in Montlhery, France. As well as setting a new one-hour world record at a speed of 114.09 miles per hour (183.61 km/h), he also broke the 50 km (31 mi), 50 mi (80 km), 100 km (62 mi) and 100 mi (160 km) records. [5]
Military police from the Provost Company of the Territorial Army's 1st London Division, commanded by Captain Sir Malcolm Campbell, were equipped with the Model 30 in 1940 for fast escort and traffic control in the Coats Mission to evacuate King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and their immediate family in the event of German invasion. [6]
A Norton International owned by comedian George Formby sold for £30,582 at an auction on 3 December 2007. [7] The 1947 Norton International was one of several motorcycles owned by Formby, who starred in the film No Limits, a spoof of the 1935 Isle of Man TT race. The International was presented to Formby during a visit to Norton’s Bracebridge Street factory in July 1947.
For 1951, the by-now outdated and heavy plunger frames on the Internationals were upgraded with Nortons new race proven Featherbed frame. The engine stayed essentially the same, although the lightweight alloy head and cylinder were fitted as standard (previously a no-cost option), and the gearbox was the laydown version (same gears in a revised housing).
Although Nortons advertising slogan of the time was "Built in the light of experience. Norton. The Worlds Best Roadholder" the new featherbed Inter was well behind the specification of the racing Norton Manx – double overhead cams and 8-inch twin leading shoe front brake. Also, the BSA Gold Star was proving formidable opposition in the Clubman Racing scene, so popular in the 1950s. So sales of the 1950s Norton International were somewhat muted, and by the mid-1950s it had disappeared from the catalogue, available only to special order.
A final facelift for the 1957 and 1958 models was a cosmetic update to the full width alloy hub wheels, chrome plated tank sidepanels, new type Lucas headlamp and tubular exhaust. Only a dozen or less of these final models are reputed to have been produced.[ citation needed ]
The Norton Motorcycle Company is an English motorcycle marque, originally from Birmingham, England, UK. It was founded in 1898 as a manufacturer of "fittings and parts for the two-wheel trade". By 1902 the company had begun manufacturing motorcycles with bought-in engines. In 1908 a Norton-built engine was added to the range. This began a long series of production of single and eventually twin-cylinder motorcycles, and a long history of racing involvement. During the Second World War Norton produced almost 100,000 of the military Model 16 H and Big 4 sidevalve motorcycles.
Velocette is a line of motorcycles made by Veloce Ltd, in Hall Green, Birmingham, England. One of several motorcycle manufacturers in Birmingham, Velocette was a small, family-owned firm, selling almost as many hand-built motorcycles during its lifetime, as the mass-produced machines of the giant BSA and Norton concerns. Renowned for the quality of its products, the company was "always in the picture" in international motorcycle racing, from the mid-1920s through the 1950s, culminating in two World Championship titles and its legendary and still-unbeaten 24 hours at over 100 mph (161 km/h) record. Veloce, while small, was a great technical innovator and many of its patented designs are commonplace on motorcycles today, including the positive-stop foot shift and swinging arm rear suspension with hydraulic dampers. The business suffered a gradual commercial decline during the late 1960s, eventually closing in February 1971.
AJS was the name used for cars and motorcycles made by the Wolverhampton, England, company A. J. Stevens & Co. Ltd, from 1909 to 1931, by then holding 117 motorcycle world records. After the firm was sold, the name continued to be used by Matchless, Associated Motorcycles and Norton-Villiers on four-stroke motorcycles till 1969, and since the name's resale in 1974, on lightweight, two-stroke scramblers and today on small-capacity roadsters and cruisers.
The 1950 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy festival was the second year the Isle of Man TT races were part of the Grand Prix World Championship.
The BSA Gold Star is a motorcycle made by BSA from 1938 to 1963. They were 350 cc and 500 cc single-cylinder four-stroke production motorcycles known for being among the fastest bikes of the 1950s. Being hand built and with many optional performance modifications available, each motorcycle came from the factory with documented dynamometer test results, allowing the new owner to see the horsepower produced.
Andrew James Guthrie was a Scottish motorcycle racer.
The Norton Commando is a British Norton-Villiers motorcycle with an OHV pre-unit parallel-twin engine, produced by the Norton Motorcycle company from 1967 until 1977. Initially having a nominal 750 cc displacement, actually 745 cc (45.5 cu in), in 1973 it became an 850 cc, actually 828 cc (50.5 cu in). It had a hemi-type head, similar to all OHV Norton engines since the early 1920s.
Edward Turner was an English motorcycle designer. He was born in Camberwell in the London Borough of Southwark, on the day King Edward VII was proclaimed King. In 1915, Turner had his first ride on a motorcycle, a Light Tourist New Imperial.
Blackburne was a trade name of Burney and Blackburne Limited a British manufacturer of motorcycles from 1913 to 1922 at Tongham near Farnham, Surrey. They were also a major supplier of engines to other motor cycle and light car makers and continued to make these until 1937. Burney and Blackburne also made small aircraft engines.
The Norton Manx or Manx Norton is a British racing motorcycle that was made from 1947 to 1962 by Norton Motors Ltd. A Norton had contested every Isle of Man TT race from the inaugural 1907 event through into the 1970s, a feat unrivalled by any other manufacturer, and the development and honing of the Manx racing motorcycle was another step in this racing achievement.
The Dominator is a twin cylinder motorcycle developed by Norton to compete against the Triumph Speed Twin. The original Dominator was designed in 1947 and 1948 by Bert Hopwood, who had been on the Speed Twin design team at Triumph. Available for sale from mid 1949, this design set the pattern for Norton twins for the next 30 years.
The Velocette Venom was a 499 cc single-cylinder four-stroke British motorcycle made by Velocette at Hall Green in Birmingham. A total of 5,721 machines were produced between 1955 and 1970.
The Norton Atlas was a Norton motorcycle made between 1962 and 1968, until it was replaced by the Norton Commando.
The CS1 was a Norton motorcycle between 1927 and 1939. Originally built as a TT racer, and Norton's first design of an overhead cam engine, it proved successful as a TT Replica road bike.
The featherbed frame was a motorcycle frame developed by the British Norton motorcycle company to improve the performance of their racing motorcycles around the twisting and demanding Isle of Man TT course in 1950. It was considered revolutionary at the time, and the best handling frame that a racer could have. Later adopted for Norton production motorcycles, it was also widely used by builders of custom hybrids such as the Triton, becoming legendary and remaining influential to this day.
The Navigator is a Norton motorcycle made from 1960 to 1965, based on the Norton Jubilee 250 cc. Production ceased shortly before the collapse of the parent group Associated Motor Cycles in 1966.
The Dunstall Norton was a Norton motorcycle made by Paul Dunstall, a specialist tuner of 1960s and early 1970s twins originally using some parts from Norton's Domiracer project when the Birmingham factory was closed in 1963. In 1966 Dunstall Motorcycles became a motorcycle manufacturer in its own right, so that Dunstalls could compete in production races, and set a number of world records before sales of the Dunstall Nortons declined in the 1970s consistent with the demise of the British motor cycle industry and corresponding rise in Japanese imports.
The isolastic frame, designated by Norton as GlideRide, used a system of engine-to-frame mountings incorporating rubber bushes to isolate the vibration of the vertical twin engine from the frame and rider. The isolastic frame was developed for use with the Commando inclined engine, whilst the Featherbed frame continued in production for the Mercury with a softer-specification 650 cc vertical-engine until 1970.
The BSA B50 was a single-cylinder 499 cc (30.5 cu in) ohv motorcycle, produced by BSA at their factory in Small Heath, Birmingham. The last of the big capacity unit-construction singles from the Birmingham Small Arms company, it had an alloy engine with a bore of 84 mm (3.3 in) and a stroke of 90 mm (3.5 in). As well as the road version, special models were produced for off-road competition use.
Colin Jordan Seeley was an English motorcycle retailer who later became a successful motorcycle sidecar racer, motorcycle designer, constructor and retailer of accessories. In 1992 he was involved in running the Norton Rotary race team.