Bonneville Salt Flats on the Factory Rotary Norton

During the late 1980’s and early ‘90’s I remember watching the British made factory rotary Norton race machines take on the best of the Japanese machines in the British Superbike Championship and Isle of Man TT and win in the skilful hands of Steve Spray, Trevor Nation, Robert Dunlop, ‘Rocket’ Ron Haslam and the late great Steve Hislop.

Now this motorcycle is very unique as it doesn’t have an engine like any other you’ll have come across before as it uses the rotary engine which was designed by Felix Wankel back in 1924. The Wankel engine has only three moving parts that simply rotate rather than a conventional engine which has countless parts that move at a rapid pace.

As the design is so different from any other engine design the true engine capacity was always a matter of debate, however the Twin rotor air-cooled rotary was classified as a 588cc machine yet would race and win against the larger 750cc Japanese motorcycles.

Anyway, by sheer luck I bumped into the new director of Norton motorcycles Mr Stuart Gardner at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Stuart was there to test and push the factory Norton to its limits at the world’s ultimate speed course and after he was finished having set an incredible run of 173mph, he said that I could have a run!

Amazing, I could hardly believe it, there was no way I was going to turn this chance down so I borrowed Stuart’s leathers and jumped on board.

My first impression was its size, I thought beforehand that it was going to be big and heavy but it was quite the opposite, the rotary Norton was small, light and nibble. The handmade Spondon frame cradled the Wankel engine perfectly and the once fired into life the engines sharp response gave off a beautiful note from the underseat exhaust.

The run down the salt was breath taking; I’d never ridden on the Salt Flats before and gave it a little too much gas on the take-off, the rear wheel easily spinning the moist salt high into the air as I fishtailed off struggling for grip. Short shifting into second and then third I eased her up to speed gently and quickly gathered speed, the Wankel engine providing instant power at a rapid rate which continued to spin the rear Dunlop tire all the way into top gear as I reached 165mph, totally astonishing.

I’ve been a childhood fan of the Norton as my Dad once owed a Manx Norton and seeing it take on the major Japanese brands and win on the UK circuits, it was always a motorcycle I’ve been fascinated with.

Like a surprise gift I was handed a ride on one of the world most unique motorcycles that left me in awe and actually speechless. The whole experience was hard to believe it was real, the Norton, the salt, the sheer excitement of it all – totally amazing.

Thanks to Stuart Gardner Norton are on the comeback and have recently launched the superb looking Norton Commando 961 SE, Cafe Racer and Sport models as well as great merchandise, firmly putting the famous Norton brand right back on the map.

Check out the official website: www.nortonmotorcycles.com