We test: The Norton Monocoque

Thinking outside the box In our admiration of the late Peter Williams, we look at the bike he’s remembered mostly for; the bike that did the most, with the least, 50 years ago.

Only four were ever made, and CBG gets to ride one. What was this unique bike like?

Five decades ago Nortons JPN tiny Thruxtonbased race shop not only established the prototype of the modern fully-sponsored road racing team, it also created a race-winning bike that was the most sophisticated and avantgarde motorcycle in its chassis design that the world had yet seen. Even by today’s standard’s the JPN Monocoque would be a true leading edge design, yet in echoing Britain’s newly-established early-1970s Formula 1 supremacy via firms like Lotus, Cooper, Brabham, BRM and Lola, the Norton was a two-wheeled anachronism thanks to its semi-archaic air-cooled pushrod-twin motor, housed in this mould-breaking frame. Although just three such motorcycles were ever built (plus a fourth prototype chassis), all of which competed for just a single race season in 1973, its unlikely success against much more powerful Japanese two-stroke opposition, has granted the JPN Monocoque legendary status as one of the benchmark racers of the modem era.