WHEN MANX NORTONS RULED THE WORLD
Geoff Duke was signed by the works Norton team in 1950, when he debuted the first Manx Norton with a featherbed frame. He stretched the lap record from 91mph average to 93.33mph. He won the Senior race, which was over seven laps, with a finishing time of 2 hours 51 minutes 45 seconds. Racing a Manx Norton for close to three hours and averaging 92.37mph nearly 70 years ago was an incredible achievement. Brookes’ total race time in the Senior this year was 1 hour 46 minutes 9 seconds. Duke, back in 1950, was racing for another hour. In 1952 Duke set a new lap record of 94.88mph, then in 1953 Ray Amm (Manx Norton factory rider from Rhodesia) took the Senior win and set a 97.41mph average, taking 23m 15s off the record. This year Brookes and the factory team set a best lap of 131.745mph (17m 10.994s).
At the TT the 230bhp Norton recorded a true top speed of 193mph, at the end of Sulby. Back in the 50s an original long-stroke Manx Norton could push 140mph. This was before dustbin fairings. Hailwood won the Norton Manx’s final TT in the 1961 Senior.