ALL-NEW, ALL-BRITISH ROTARY SUPERBIKE DEVELOPS 220BHP

Crighton Motorcycles and Rotron Power Ltd have unveiled their ultra-exclusive CR700W Rotary at the NMM Open Weekend.

Just 25 of the unique CR700 machines will be hand-built by Brian Crighton. They will be made entirely in the UK and are priced from £85,000 plus VAT. Designed as a track bike, a road-going version will be available on request.

Delivering 220hp at 10,500rpm from its fuel-injected twin-rotor 690cc engine, the CR700 houses one of the most powerful – relative to cubic capacity – normally aspirated engines ever created. It has the same output per litre as a Ferrari Formula One car or GP racer.

Visitors to the NMM were treated to a start-up of the new rotary, revelling in its spine-tingling howl of an exhaust note. There is a chassis and monoshock swingarm fabricated from 7000 series aluminium alloy and based on the racing chassis of the 1990s. There are Dymag carbon fibre wheels, while Brembo provide the stopping power. Customers can choose between Öhlins or Bitubo suspension.

Brian Crighton is the designer who kept the Norton rotary dream alive in the 1980s and 1990s, developing the hugely powerful racing engines from a wrecked police Norton in his spare time while working for Norton. The racing rotaries he created wiped the floor with rivals on the track, with Steve Spray and Trevor Nation on board.

For the past 12 years, Crighton has been working behind closed doors with Gilo Cardozo, founder and owner of Gilo Industries Ltd, and lead engineer Shamoon Qurashi, together with the team at Rotron Power to develop the next-generation 700cc twin-rotor rotary engine.

Brian said: “In so many ways the CR700W is the culmination of my career’s achievements. Developed with my excellent lead engineer, it encapsulates the absolute best of my engineering wisdom.

“I believe the result is the ultimate track and racing motorcycle.”

Test rider and former British Superstock 600 champion Mason Law added: “The raw speed of the motorcycle was mind-blowing. I felt like I was propelling down the runway of an aircraft carrier in an F-35 jet.”

Visit www.crightonmotorcycles.com for more on the CR700.