https://www.iomtt.com/News/2018/02/06/John-McGuinness-TT-2018.aspx Here's hoping good things come from this.
Sounds to me like the proverbial end of career cash grab. I love McPint, but I think his best years are behind him and I doubt he'll have any serious chance on a Norton. But I'd love to be wrong.
First he's got to get that leg healthy again. As for his "prime years". They wrote off Joey when he hit his 40's too. Then 2000 happened.
if i'm not mistaken its basically an RSV4 motor in a Norton chassis. dunno why that'd rule him out at this point of anything on the roads. it would probably have enough juice and Norton's chassis engineering (or outsourced engineering) isn't too shabby. shame its not the rotary still only because i love them so, but hopefully he does well.
Norton says the motor is now an in-house built project, as of last year. If I recall correctly. And I think they bought Spondon last year, so there's some chassis knowledge there. I agree, I wish it was the rotary, but that's going to be an even more expensive project.
I wish he would retire. He's spun the wheel around that place too many times. The reason I made my first trip when I did was because I wanted to say I'd seen him race. He won that Senior that year and I figured that would be it. Let's hope this is the swan song and he goes home to spend his time polishing trophies with his kids. It's better to be a living legend than just a legend.
It was a couple of years ago and if my info is correct, they didn't hire anyone from Spondon and destroyed all the jigs and design info that came with the sale. You can't buy any new Spondon parts now.
Well hell. That's not nearly as good a news as I had hoped. Guess that screws those 2 other guys who are trying to make a Norton rotary go. WIZ racing, and Crighton. As I recall, they both used Spondon frames. Then again, most of Crighton's stuff got stolen a little while ago.....not that I'm saying any of that is directly related *paranoid look around*
Crighton still doing his thing without them. Hopefully we can buy a motorset before he croaks. I knew they used spondon, didnt know they acquired. Ugly frames, but they know what theyre doing thats for sure. They have depth.
That piece of "business" has made them not very popular in certain areas of the racing community in the UK.
nm. i didn't know the old 588's weren't just a Norton home office affair 100%. interesting. looking at their facebook, its also enlighting how much further Crighton seems to have been taking things on his own without Norton. the true genius there all along?
I stumbled across them just ploinking around on the internets a few years ago, looking for RCV588 IoM pictures. Cool that they got Brookes to ride it at the Manx last year! I'm still suspicious of what happened to Crighton. The most current prototype being stolen, with a bunch of other stuff, out of his garage. I'm not thinking he did something shady, but who would steal such a unique motorcycle? Seems kinda targeted. Don't know by who, though.
what you think are the over-under on Crighton ever selling motorsets is? anything under $20k and i'm buying one immediately to put in something. i don't want that spondon chassis/bike though, i'd rather have it in an R6 or a 1098 or something, find my own deals on SBK Ohlins and Brembo stuffs and AIM telemetry.
I don't know enough about the man to tell. He seems kinda focused on one vehicle build at a time. The theft really seemed to take the wind out of his sails. I too wish the new development motor was more available to do just what your talking about. Would need to pin down a good company to service the motors, though. As you say, Crighton is getting a bit old, and I don't see a whole lot of young faces around the bike in the pictures/vids I see of it running.
depending on how different it is inside and all... i have a LOT of good avenues for rotary knowledge/work from drifting. i'm less worried about owning a rotary than i am a 2-stroke with carbs honestly. just cause i've been around it so much more. i've helped rebuild a few, and actually, a buddy i used to ride a lot with who is a casual track rider and purveyor of some MV Agustas, is a pretty skilled engineer and was a mega RX7 buff. he'd be a tremendous resource for sure. one of our good buddies ran them in Formula D for years. there's some solid shops in the US and Aussieland doing crazy rotary stuff. i have an amazing tuner at my disposal for anything not a 2-stroke... and yea man, honestly... without knowing the dude, but seeing his age, i had that thought like... this is the kinda heartbreak that just breaks a dude at that age level. like when you see some old dude's wife die who was like the love of his life, and then he dies a year later... not that you actually die from a broken heart, but like, something in your mind/body just throws in the towel. i was afraid that might happen. i'm glad he's continuing on and seems ok. at the same time i know how that goes... old guy, ex-engineer genius, builds his own thing in his home workshop, develops it forever, never makes a business of it, it just becomes some one-off museum piece after he dies with nobody knowledgeable enough about the nuances or with enough first hand knowledge of the process to continue his work. you'll never buy a Tularis... you'll never buy a Britton... same kinda shit i was afraid of.
