Wrong section, but WOW!

[arkline]

I'm not flogging this but one of the NWNO listees put this into an email and sent it round. No bids yet! Reserve at $30K plus a little....

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&indexurl=7&item=8048298619

I tried to save the picture, but you'll get the picture if you click on the link.

Vrooooobah!

[Dallara]

Let me take a shot at getting the pictures up for Ron...


http://i7.ebayimg.com/04/i/06/87/1b/76_3.JPG


http://i21.ebayimg.com/02/i/06/8c/06/8b_3.JPG


http://i8.ebayimg.com/03/i/06/8c/dd/61_3.JPG


There are more pictures in the listing, and needless to say these pictures will disappear when the auction is over, so look while you can.

A Norton F-1 Rotary just doesn't come along every day...

Cheers!

Allan (Dallara - NACD)

[arkline]

"A Norton F-1 Rotary just doesn't come along every day..."

Nor does 30K...Hmmmm, I wonder if Donna would be willing to forget about the house renovation in order to put two more wheels in the garage....:badgrin:

Seems unlikely...

[Boxerboy]

Here's another............

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Norton-John-Player-Special-NRS588-replica-P55B-F1-SPORT-ROTARY_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6714QQitemZ46230 92374QQrdZ1

Have a listen..........

http://www.vintagebike.co.uk/Sounds/Norton%20Rotary.mp3

[arkline]

Boxerboy,

That sound file is the same as the one I was talking about in a different thread. AMAZING. I got it on CD with an issue of BIKE from England and can't listen to it anymore at work. My office mates have had quite enough...

Too cool.

[DarthRider]

It sounds like a cross between a Speed Triple and a 2-stroke!

Dave

[arkline]

Absolutely curls the short ones for me. It has that really lumpy idle that is synchopated and then when the throttle is cranked open it's a tearing sound. Gets me every time. Very different and gut clenching.

[Dallara]

One has to wonder...

What are the odds that TWO of the very few Norton JPS Rotaries would go on sale, on e-Bay, on two different continents, in the same week?

Man, I love the sound of the thing, too... But then again I always LOVED the sound of two-strokes, and a rotary is more related to a two-stroke by far than it is a four-stroke!

Cheers!

Allan (Dallara - NACD)

[GPM]

Well let's see, we've currently got 150 members. So, for only $200 each she'll be ours.

Everybody send me your $200 and I'll take care of that pesky bidding process. You guys won't mind if we store it at my house, right???

[Dallara]

I'm in GPM, but...

Since I'm the first in, and willing to donate even more than $200 bucks, can the bike live at my house HALF the year?

Cheers!

Allan (Dallara - NACD)

[Boxerboy]

And yet another.....dodgey bros, inc. I expect!

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/1991-Norton-John-Player-Special-NRS588-replica_W0QQitemZ4626140994QQcategoryZ32625QQrdZ1Q QcmdZViewItem

[arkline]

Interesting quote on Boxerboy's discovery ---

"Carburly Britsh bike that could compete, and win against the Honda RC30 and Yamaha OW-O1."

What means this, ask I you?

[Sir Limpsalot]

I'm not entirely sure what "carburly" means either......
But I *DO* remember the Norton Rotary race bikes of the late eighties giving cause to the Japanese race team managers to adopt the look of a buldog chewing on a wasp!
Honda (RC30), Yamaha (OWO1) and Suzuki (GSXR750) pretty much owned the race tracks of the world back then and weren't overly bothered when a young British engineer called Brian Chrighton set about turning the Rotary Norton into a race bike.
The Norton factory had been reduced to making just a few hundred Rotaries a year for the Police and Military and the "Racer" started off as a converted Police machine. A virtually unknown rider called Steve Spray won on it first time out, twice in a weekend actually.
Team regulars included Spray, Trevour Nation, Ron Haslam and Robert Dunlop. Norton won the British championship (with Spray) at its' first attempt. The Japs reacted, as they often do, badly. Running around trying to find a reason why the rotary should be banned. They claimed it was oversized (750cc class limits applied at that time) so the ACU called in independent industry experts who measured and deliberated and pronounced it legal at 588cc.
It was a great time again, the might of Japan Inc defeated soundly by half a dozen englishmen working from a small shed in Warwickshire. Doug Hele had achieved the same in 1971 with his Trident/Rocket3 racers (and had, in fact ben involved with the development of the Rotary) immensly satisfying.
Sadly, of course, it came to nothing in the end. Norton went bust (again) so John Player withdrew it's sponsorship from the team and it was all downhill from there.
Apart from one last glorious swansong at the 1992 Isle of Man TT when Steve Hislop stuck it to a Yamaha mounted Carl Foggarty to become the first British rider on a British machine to win the Senior TT since Hailwood on a Norton in the sixties.
Check out this link (I hope) Ron. Would you like to have been there? I know I would.http://www.realclassic.co.uk/news04052700.html
Si.

[DarthRider]

Way to go Si...it brings a tear to my eye!

Dave

[arkline]

Si,

Great article with really great pictures. It is truly a pity that Norton went TU. I think the rotary was an idea well ahead of its time and the folk who developed and rode them to beat the Japanese hardware were truly heroic. We know where there is a huge pool of engineering talent, don't we? Too bad the times failed us all. As for wishing to have been there at Mallory Park, what can I say? My fondest wish is to someday go to the TT, the British MotoGP at Donnington, and get to visit the Goodwood Festival. Some day, by God! Some day!

[Sir Limpsalot]

Goodwood is only about 30 miles from me, last year I had to turn down *FREE* tickets because I couldn't get out of working that weekend :icon_cry:
Donnington is sort of OK, not the best circuit to spectate from though.I shall probably take my daughter to the Moto GP in July.
The TT always has been, is now, always will be, the absolute ultimate racing spectacle. Difficult to put into words just how thrilling it can be. Your first visit will leave you stunned and you become hooked for life. It's some years now since I last went (it's by no means an inexpensive venture even for us) but every year I study the lap times etc and still get a thrill from watching it on TV.
My big ambition is to go to a "Mile" race. Ever since I first saw "On Any Sunday" and saw the footage of the flat trackers in action I've wanted to see one.
Do they still run them? Are they still popular? Which would be the best one to see?
As you say, one day!
Cheers Si