IT’S ALL IN THE PLANNING
Prefect planning prevents... well, you probably know the rest of that saying – and it’s something magazine publishers like to remind editors of occasionally. But far from perfect planning, this issue took on a life of its own when Miles Mccallum’s 1932 International, Alan Cathcart’s 1952 Daytona-winning Manx of Dick Klamfoth and the 50-year anniversary of the 1972 JP Norton team launch all arrived in the CB inbox at roughly the same time – accompanied by enquiries such as: ‘Would you be interested in this...’ and ‘How about this anniversary?’
So, with a Norton celebration emerging, we started to fill the gaps, with the 1962 Atlas and Dommie SS, then the 1972 Norton Commando road test, and suddenly we had a themed issue in the works. There are so many other moments in Norton’s glorious past to consider, so this is not the definitive history of the marque – we’re looking at it as an issue packed with landmark anniversaries we felt deserved celebrating.
Also inside is the fascinating tale of Tazio Nuvolari’s motorcycle racing career. Everyone talks of John Surtees being the only one to enjoy success on two and four wheels, but while he’s the only one to have won world championships in both sports (and what a legendary achievement that is), there are others who made a successful switch. There was Mike Hailwood (success in those burly Formula 5000 single-seaters before moving to F1), Stuart Graham (to touring cars) and Joe Leonard (three-time American Grand National motorcycle racing champion before becoming a two-time USAC Grand National car racing champion). But I’m sure not many realise how much success Nuvolari had on bikes before switching to cars – or that his car racing archrival Achille Varzi followed a similar career path.
On a different tack, we got the guys behind the Malle Mile, Robert Nightingale and Jonny Cazzola, to tell us about the two classics they recently revealed at the 2021 event. They could not have made more different choices, with Robert opting to restore an ageing Dot scrambler and Jonny going for a rebel-rousing BSA A10. It’s always great to come across a younger generation of classic bike enthusiast...
Enjoy the issue.