1920 Norton Racer Pictures
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This was my favourite exhibit at the 2004 Stafford Show. It is a circa 1920 Norton Racer
Rescued from the sad ashes of the National Motorcycle Museum fire last year by George Cohen.
He has tried to retain as much as possible and have only replaced parts and finishes when necessary. Many of the nickel nuts, bolts and parts are from the original machine, they required a lot of cleaning!
The inside of the engine has many new parts and is built to full Dan O’Donovan specification.
The hardest part was to make a new gear-box end cover; the original melted in the fire as the machine lay on its timing side.
The machine is representative of the type used by the ‘Amateur’ Brooklands racer from the early twenties to about 1925 when he would have replaced it with an OHV machine. A few die hard side-valve exponents persevered with this valve layout until the early thirties! It would do 95mph laps in the hands of the right man!
I am sure that you will all agree that a fabulous job has been carried out on this bike and we are all indebted to the people like George who have the skills to carry out this type of work.
You can find out more on George’s website at www.norton.uk.com
