Beschreibung
H&H Classic Auction @National Motorcycle Museum | Solihull, West Midlands
15th Nov, 2023 11:00
1992 Norton F1 Sport
Full mechanical and cosmetic rebuild by Richard Negus in 2019
Estimate
£37, 000 - £42, 000
Registration No: K133 VFD
Frame No: 050322
Engine No: 050322
CC: 588
MOT: None
Stunningly presented 1992 Norton F1 Sport rotary
Finished in iconic JPS Black and gold race colours
Run recently and supplied with lots of paperwork
The famous Norton company was formed in 1898 and began building motorcycles with French and Swiss engines in 1902. In 1907 a Norton with a Peugeot engine won the first Isle of Man TT race starting a long tradition of sporting excellence. Never the biggest British motorcycle manufacturer, they were always at the forefront of development with trendsetting designs such as the legendary Featherbed frame, developed for their Manx Norton race bikes, and the equally iconic Roadholder forks. In the early1970s BSA began working on a rotary engined bike, having obtained a licence from NSU/ Wankel they created a prototype twin-rotor engine installed in a BSA A65 frame. As the British industry collapsed against the onslaught of the Japanese invasion, Norton picked up the design and in the mid 1980s produced the 'Classic', a sports tourer that found initial success as a police bike. Norton's design engineer Brian Crichton then made the inspired decision to build a race bike using the engine from a scrapped police Interpol. Working under the radar out of the shed behind Norton’s factory, Crighton’s masterstroke was to design an exhaust that used the notoriously hot rotary’s exhaust venturi to pull cooling air through the engine’s internals, much like a two stroke expansion chamber, to allow the engine to run cooler and allowing air for the carbs to arrive unrestricted. This almost doubled the rotary’s power output and after a couple of seasons of development, in 1989 and now sporting the iconic Black and Gold JPS livery a two man team of Steve Spray and Trevor Nation swept all before them. Spray won Norton’s first F1 British Championship round at Mallory Park, a feat he repeated at Donington, Snetterton and Cadwell with Nation never far behind and the duo were equally dominant in the 750cc Supercup series, Spray winning again, seeming to easily fend off the challenge of Terry Rymer and Carl Fogarty aboard the Yamaha OW-01 and RC30 respectively. The success continued into 1990 and spread into road racing, particularly in the Isle of Man TT where in 1992 Steve Hislop delivered arguably Norton’s greatest win by storming to Senior victory aboard his ‘White Charger’, a race that has been voted the TT’s greatest ever moment.
After concentrating on Police bikes and the ‘Sports Tourer’ Commando model, the Norton F1 was launched to cash in on this racing success. With a fully enclosed bodywork designed by Seymore Powell, a frame like the race bikes built by Spondon and some state-of-the-art suspension components, it was a striking-looking machine but buyers wanted a bike closer to the RCW588 racer. Their prayers were answered with the arrival of the F1 Sport, basically a road-going version of the iconic race bikes. This immaculate F1 Sport, finished in classic JPS race team colours, was originally registered by Norton when new in 1992 and sold to its first actual owner soon after who kept hold of the bike until 2018 when it was bought by the vendor, a collector who has owned numerous Norton rotaries over the years. Having covered about 13, 500 miles by that point, it was taken to renowned Norton specialist Richard Negus who carried out a restoration including a new set of clocks now showing just 160 miles since this expensive rebuild. The bike looks better than new and comes supplied with invoices detailing the work carried out, a large number of old MOTs and tax discs as well as an extremely rare owner's manual and both keys. Very few F1s were made and even fewer of the race replica Sport version so this is a rare opportunity to acquire one of the most sought-after British bikes ever produced. Run recently by the owner, see video, it comes together with a current V5C.
