Brookes ‘It does feel raw, you know you’re on something different’
Team WizNorton Racing
Rider Josh Brookes Race position DNF
The bike By Ed Wilson, WizNorton Racing
We went to buy a FZR400 from a bloke who also had two Norton rotaries, so that turned into an expensive trip! We know some of their history: they used to belong to an Irish racer called Tony Carey, who used the Spondon frame and not the Harris one that Steve Hislop used when he won the Senior TT in 1992. Richard Wilson (team owner and team-mate to Josh Brookes this year) first rode it in 2014 and every year since. We’ve tried to simplify the bikes so parts are interchangeable. We’re a private team, learning along the way, it been an interesting project, hard at times but worth it. The engines produce around 130bhp and delivery is very linear, while our bike weighs just 155kg. We think we are about 20bhp down on the 1990s factory rotaries. Hizzy’s best lap was 123.5mph, and last year Josh did 122.9mph, so we’re close. The hardest part is interpreting the engines: sometimes it sounds like a misfire when it isn’t, others it doesn’t feel right but it’s hard to know if it’s fuelling or electrical. We have cooling issues, something the factory team had to deal with, too.
Racing it By Josh Brookes
People were telling me the 588 was going to be so different, but it isn’t. It’s 600 power, maybe a little slower. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, I love riding it, but it’s not scary quick and it’s relatively easy to ride.
It does feel raw and you know you’re on something different. You have to bump start it, there are vibrations, the clutch is heavy, there are no rider aids. It sounds fantastic, and bangs and pops on the overrun. There’s very little engine inertia and it steers easily, making direction changes excellent yet it’s stable too. I just like riding it.