WHAT IF...?
We’re all well aware that in the annals of British motorcycle lore there are many potentially great bikes that never got past the prototype stage or were never fully developed due to mismanagement – in terms of finance or enterprise. But can you imagine Rex Mccandless’ dismay when his avantgarde, pressed-steel-framed Dommie got this kind of response from Norton’s management? “Well, yes Mr Mccandless, it’s a brilliant concept and it looks years ahead of current designs, not just in our range but against those of our competitors, too... but maybe it’s a touch too radical for our customers. And there’s the difficult issue of materials we’ve already ordered for our tried-and-tested current model to continue in production. We can’t simply throw them in the scrap bin...”
Well, at least Sammy Miller’s Museum has preserved the Mccandless Dommie so we can look on and wonder: ‘What if...?’
This issue has a bit of a Norton theme. Former John Player Norton team mechanic and racer Norman White took us around the old JPN race shop, based in the small industrial estate on the perimeter of Thruxton race circuit near Andover, for a wander down memory lane.
We’ve also had lunch with Paul Dunstall to talk about the time when he successfully ran his own Dunstall Norton race bikes – but, of course, there’s way more to his story than that.
And, still with a tenuous Norton link, we’ve taken a look at the Triton built by Ian Williets for track days. Ian’s Triumph motor is probably not the high-performance lump you might expect, but we do have another Triumph on steroids that prompts the ‘What if...? question again.
Gez Kane tested a hot-rod T160 and couldn’t help wondering whether, if Triumph hadn’t been on the rocks, the Trident could have been developed to the level of Brian Eastham’s 930cc road burner. And if it had been, would there have been a chance it would have continued to sell in quantity against bikes like Kawasaki’s Z1 – long enough, perhaps, for Triumph to have developed that modular concept that also never saw the light of day?
I’ll leave you with that thought...