Indoor Norton International

One to play with and another one to admire in the living room. This is a 1936 M30 International. Built from parts and too nice to use.

Tony's 1937 Model 30 Norton

Sent by Tony in the UK

"Above 2 photographs of my 1937 Model 30 Inter which I think is more or less to catalogue specification except for the tank finish and the additional rear light which I think is necessary safety feature."

Stanley's 1932 Model 30 Norton

Stanley's winning Model 30 at the 1932 Dutch TT

1939 Model 30M Norton - For sale

At dr George's site. George:"The ‘M’ denotes to “Full Manx specification”. The differences from a “Standard” International are: Paired down lugs on frame. Full wrap round oil tank (this one is a new alloy item). Larger petrol tank (this one is new alloy item, and slightly smaller). Magnesium crankcases, cambox, timing chest etc. Different flywheel and conrod. Hotter cams. Manx clutch, C.R. gearbox ratios. Conical front hub, with magnesium brake plate. Megaphone exhaust. And probably a few more variations which escape me at present."

"This bike was bought by Wilfred Caunce in 1939 to race at the Manx GP. The 2nd WW stopped all that, but Caunce hid the bike, to avoid it being commissioned for the war effort. He rode in the Senior Manx GP in 1946 and came 34th and the following year he was 40th, but there was a much larger entry in 1947. It is matching engine and frame numbers, original log book and V5C. Picture shows a replica petrol tank which will be replaced by the original. Totally rebuilt. Available when running in miles and road tests are complete. A rare opportunity to buy an original pre-war Manx with Isle of Man history and totally sorted."

1934 Model 30 Norton

Sent by V. Devis in Italy

This is a Model 30. It was checked by Annice and Michelle against the Works Records and it still has the original engine to frame. It was sent to Jordan, Hull, 8 May 1934. The specification is very hard to read in the records but it probably contains the word 'racing'.

Jon's 1936 M30

Another nice picture of Jon's 1936 Model 30 Norton, taken at the village of Snape in North Yorkshire.

1933 Model 30 Norton

Advertised on the PreWarCar website (thanks Martin!): "Norton ex-works racing machine, 1933, engine updated by Arthur Carroll and Joe Craig (Norton Racing Development), bronze head, twin coiled springs, no filter bolt, 14 mm plug, change of roller bearings. Raced at the Island of Man TT by Tim Hunt or Jimmy Simpson. Older restoration and comes together with rare (hard to find) spare parts"

JdK: Very interesting if the seller can provide some proof of the bike's history. The Norton would have been modified quite a bit after it's racing career (which is not unusual) and parts like the magdyno, gearbox and footrests fitted to the engine plates are more at home on a WD16H.

1937 Model 30 Norton

Oliver in Canada sent me these pics of a 1937 Model 30 Norton. The bike was probably raced in 1952-1952, converted to road trim in 1975 and stored for most of the time since.

Bill's 1938 International

Bill bought himself another Norton; it's a 1938 Model 30 International (or Manx?).

More of Ko Konijn's Nortons

Sent by Marcel

These Nortons used to belong to my uncle Ko. They were made in the 1950s-1960s and the three pics on top show Ko with his bikes. The first photo shows Ko on an early postwar Model 20, note the wooden shoes! In the second pic he is helping a friend fit a piston to what appears to be a two-stroke barrel; there is at least one Norton cammy engine on the bench. GX4757 must be a mid-1930s Model 20 with a too small tank fitted? The Inter in the last pic was sold - or exchanged - at one stage as the engine was wrecked completely; which is a pity as it looks very original.

Marcel's 1934 M30 Norton

Sent by Marcel

This is Marcel's 1934 M30 International, another Norton that used to belong to Ko Konijn. Fresh paint was applied by Marcel, for the rest it had been properly rebuilt by Ko in the past. This was the first bike from Ko's collection that was started after decades in storage.

Enclosed rockers, springs and double camshafts

By Roger

One of the main disadvantages of bound copies of "The Motor Cycle" that are in the Brooklands Museum library is that the advertisements have been removed. A small number of complete copies of the magazine have recently been added to the collection and some of the "small ads" have revealed some interesting machines. The one below from Kings offers a Norton International to racing specification with totally enclosed rockers and valve springs (!) and this made me have another look at an earlier blog.

The "mystery" of the single versus double overhead valve Nortons in the 1937 TT has already been resolved by Mick Woollett but this is an opportunity to add some more to the background. The Norton and Velocette directors were on very good terms and often lunched together. In 1935 the introduction by Velocette of enclosed rockers using the "dog kennel" cambox was so well publicised that when Norton used its enclosed box for the TT there were rumours that it had been made by Velocette. The rumour gained enough credibility that Norton were forced to advertise the fact that it was their own design and manufacture.

This cambox (above) is the type that appears in the 1983 article where the springs are exposed and the valves operated by short tappets that protrude from the bottom of the box. For 1936 Joe Craig was keen for the Nortons to use a double overhead camshaft arrangement and engines were taken to the Isle of Man. Lack of time for development meant that the small diameter solid tappets were retained and in an article in 1943, entitled "Development and the Time Factor", Joe Craig said that this lack of time caused Guthrie and Frith to revert to the 1935 type of valve gear. This is the likely explanation for the confusion over which type was used the subsequent year.

For 1937 the double cam arrangement (above) had been developed using larger diameter hollow tappets and this was used in the race as it had proved to be reliable in testing. The main advantage was that they proved to be considerably faster as even the 500cc could be revved to 6,500 rpm.

So what was the machine that was advertised in February 1939 as neither of these boxes had enclosed springs? There was a third layout attributed to Edgar Franks which is reported to have been tried by the factory which used coil springs which together with the rockers were enclosed (above) so the King’s advertisement is likely to have been for this experimental machine which with a top speed of 105mph as a fully road equipped machine would have been quite impressive!

R J D Burnie's Nortons

Pics sent by Steven, words by Simon

Steve: "This is my grandfather R J D Burnie (in the pictures) and most of these photos were taken at Pendine as this is where he was from... but he did also race at Oxwich, Brighton, Southport, Shelsley Walsh, Ulster and others... he was the chief accountant at Fort Dunlop and raced purely for fun. I have two scrap albums of his with newspaper cuttings from the thirties and fourties which is where I have managed to get most of my info from and then in '47 he get tranferred to Durban as internal auditor in a new Dunlop factory. Before leaving he was one of the most successful amatuer racers of his time..."

 Simon: "Some pics were obviously taken at Sand events and some seem to be road races but just where I do not know. It is not easy to be too sure about which models are which from the action photos. However, both bikes in the top photo are from 1928/9. The one on the right is an ES2 model and the one on the left may be an ES2 or a CS1 (they looked the same from the drive side!). I would think the photo was taken two or three years later - perhaps in the early thirties - as the front brake lever on the r/h bike has been changed to a later design.

The machine with telescopic forks and plunger rear suspension is a post war Manx Norton - as sold to the general public in the period up to the early fifties when the featherbed framed models came into the picture.

The machine with riding number 31 looks to be a just pre-war CS1 model - note full chain case over the primary chain and detachable front brake drum on left hand, while I think the other shots are all of the same machine (riding numbers 1,15,23 and 45) and this looks like a Model 30 (the 490 cc OHC racing model) from about 1933/4."

The V-twin is a New Imperial

The 1933 TT races

Photos by Howard, research by Simon

The winners of the 1933 Junior TT: Jimmy Guthrie (who came 3rd, number 20) Stanley Woods (the winner, number 16, at 78.08 mph) Tim Hunt (2nd, number 30). Bill Mansell is behind Woods, at his right shoulder. At the far right of the photo is Arthur Carroll having a celebratory drink! At Arthur's right shoulder is a well-known Norton mechanic, Frank Sharratt.

The winners of the 1933 Senior TT: Tim Hunt (3rd, number 25) Stanley Woods (the winner, number 29 at 81.04 mph) and Jimmie Simpson (2nd, number 15). That's Arthur Carroll again at Woods' left shoulder. 

Double knockers in 1937...or not?

From: "Motorcycle Sport, July 1983, page 305-306". An amusing story by "E.U." Click the pictures for a full-page version. Contributed by Alf.

1936 Model 30 International Norton

Contributed by Martin

This Norton was photographed at the Racing and Sporting Motorcycle Show at the Horticultural Halls in London, around 1972. It's a road-going 490cc International of 1936. There was a display of machines from the Richards and Wallington collection, and this one was particularly attractive. Roy Richards was later to set up the National Motorcycle Museum which subsequently burnt down in the famous fire, so not sure if this fine machine survived.

and a comment by Pa Houlihan: "Not sure if it's the exact same bike but it is a 1936 Model 30 at the National Motorcycle Museum; this photo (below) was taken in April 2008".

The 1931 TT races

Photos by Howard, research by Simon

The winners of the 1931 Senior TT; Tim Hunt (number 46, who came 1st at 77.90 mph), Jimmy Guthrie (number 44, 2nd at 77.34 mph), Stanley Woods (number 38, 3rd at 76.35 mph); all riding Model 30 International Nortons.

The woman with her hand on Tim's shoulder most probably is his mother. The man with his hand on Jimmy's shoulder, wearing the hat, on his right is Nigel Spring who entered him for the race. Arthur Carroll is behind Woods, his head is above his right shoulder.

The photo below shows Hunt again, the winner of the '31 Junior on his Model 40

Stanley's 1933 TT winning Model 30 Norton

From: "The Motor Cycle, January 18th 1934, page 74-76". Click the pictures for a full page version. Contributed by Alf.

Stanley Woods, Model 30, 1933

Stanley on a 1933 Model 30 International. (Thanks Wim)