The Norton name has been around in various forms since 1898, with the iconic British brand celebrating its 120th year in 2018. The modern, Stuart Garner generation of Nortons began development in 2008, with the Commando 961 quickly amassing legions of fans and a reputation as a refined, reliable modern classic.
John McGuinness on the 200mph Norton SG7
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Meanwhile, Norton Racing saw both success and failure, with CEO Stuart Garner in 2009 setting the World Speed Record for a Rotary Powered Motorcycle (recording 173mph for a timed mile).
A premature return to the TT in 2009 – for the first time since Steve Hislop’s fairy-tale Norton win in 1992 – proved unsuccessful, with Michael Dunlop failing to qualify for the Senior race aboard the NRV588. However, in 2012 Norton headed back to the Snaefell Mountain Course with the 1,000cc V4 SG1, and the rest, they say, is history…
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At this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, the most recent iteration of that bike – the Aprilia-powered SG7 – was ridden up the Hill by John McGuinness in Batch 3, Class 10: Modern Racing Motorcycles.
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The SG7 is the bike that brought Josh Brookes a fifth-place finish in the 2018 Senior TT, but also the same machine on which McGuinness suffered disappointment at this year’s event. In the opening lap of the Senior race an engine bolt broke and the 47-year-old Lancashire rider only narrowly avoided crashing, and was forced to pull over and park alongside the Bungalow.
Of the machine, McGuinness commented: “This is the bike that Josh finished fifth on last year at the TT. It’s been round the TT track at 131.5mph I think, so it’s been round pretty quick. We had no luck with it this year at the TT – it broke down in all the races – and I just felt like I was kicked in the bollocks, every time I did anything at this year’s TT it was just a disaster.”
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While he may not have had much luck in 2019, McGuinness refuses to be disheartened.
“You know we’re developing the new SG8, with a Norton engine in,” he explained. “It’s the Aprilia engine in this bike. Which is good, we’ve been doing a bit of stuff behind closed doors, doing a bit of testing with it. That’s the future of Norton with their own engine in it.
“I’ll just keep developing and working with the guys and keep the program pushing along, and eventually they’ll should be able to pull a big result off.”
Photography by James Lynch.
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