'72 Norton Commando Racing Mid-Ohio
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Racing my 1972 Norton 750 Commando during the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days weekend at Mid-Ohio, July 2014. It was a short and not sweet weekend when I put a rod through the cases while doing 100 mph up the front straight during practice Saturday morning. I left a long skid when the rear wheel locked solid but kept it upright.
Big thanks to Herb Becker and Fullauto Technologies.
OUCH!! I am so sorry that happened. Great footage that you were able to provide. Thanks! I remember training myself with right hand shift and left brake. One up, four down with the Benelli I learned on.
Cool! Right side GP shift is all I know...!
norton ride it work on it ride it work on it push it ... still one of the greatest motorcycles ever
It was 1971, I was 17 years old and I had just bought a used 1968 Norton P11A Ranger. I kept it completely stock except to add velocity stacks to the carbs, Dunstall pipes, and Avon Roadmaster tires. Man! I was King of the Highway where I lived, situated in the middle of several twisty mountain highways. The first CB750 and H1 were starting to show up and although they gave me a run for the money in the straights I left them in the dust in the corners. The Featherbed frame was a delight to ride with no vices and I soon found out why they put folding foot-pegs on the Norton as I had no problem rubbing them in the corners.
I am sorry your weekend went this way. However, I loved the video :-) They are my pick for the best sounding bike of all time along with Guzzi LeMans.
That was beautiful to watch , sorry to hear about the tragic accident , hope you are ok .
Thank you very much for sharing .
Love Mid Ohio the Vintage days are the highlight of my year.
I love the track at Mid-O, I have not made it there the last two years but maybe next year...!
Norton's were the best motorcycles ever!......... for first 3 months .
Build them right and they last a long time!
Thanks for sharing, and better luck next time ! I love listening to the Nortons coming into 1 ! I know a couple other racers that had motors go on them at practice . One Ducati , (Andrew) and Yahweh racing (Chuck ) also blew a motor in practice and had to fetch another bike. Sometime its good to have "Lady Luck" along for the ride.
Daniel Lander These things do happen in vintage racing and even in MotoGP but maybe not as often...!
Great sound and ride Doug
Thanks a lot David!
Magnifique pilotage de la Norton, merci 👍
One gorgeous looking and beauriful sounding two lung sweet heart.
Hope she gets well! 🤥 👍
Thanks!
Amazing! Sounds great!
I was 6 years old when the bike was built in England and if I could run like it I'd be an olympiad,, for every omelette a few eggs get broken,, can you run carrillo rods,, or is there limit to the mods especially when some of the parts are really expensive,, you must get an attachment with the bike,, when you go through so much with it brilliant viewing,, from Northern Ireland greatly appreciated ☘️☘️☘️☘️👏👏👏
Somehow similar story with my Atlas with a con rode and case but at a modest speed-street racing. It took me 4 years....including new magneto at Jim Schmidt that was not working perfectly....
These things happen when you use them hard which is of course the way God intended they be used...!
Great bikes to own as long as you knew how to work on them. If you didn't just get a Japanese 4 cylinder, add a 4 into 1 and a steering damper. Only the Italians and the Brits made production bike frames that handled.
Now that's an oh shit moment !!!
The Norton isnt squirting oil after such speeds at the track? My uncle 's Norton does ;) Great video mate!
Good luck with the repairs.
probably put in the 50 weight for the track
Holly shit...
that por motor, did you ever figurevout why you lost the rod? oil starvation?
The rods in the motor were custom machined from billet we made and we found out what the life was on these which was about 8 race weekends, unfortunately it took the rest of the motor with it when it went. Now I am using Carillos, don't want to break any more rods...
Nice video. Was the crank standard? The rods?
Thanks! Crank is a one off short stroke billet steel and rods are Carillo long rods from JS Motorsport, made to go with his lightweight pistons
I'm assuming you mean the new engine? From memory, the original cranks were useless, but the rods were pretty good.
Bad luck. Looks like the big end bearing could not take the load?
+Thomas Elliott The conrods we had in the motor were one-off, machined from billet alloy and we discovered the hard way what their life expectancy was. I believe they lasted about 8 race weekends before one of them simply broke from the abuse. We now have Carillo's in my latest short stroke motor, it is way too hard on my wallet to break a rod and destroy a whole motor like that (race cases, barrels, pistons, rods, cam etc), I am running late 850 cases right now, still haven't saved up enough to buy more proper race cases
+Douglas MacRae who makes race cases for them? It'd be interesting to build a bike with a full race engine seeings how hard it's getting to find a decent Norton for sale in California these days
Steve Maney makes race cases and barrels and now you can get a new Fullauto head as well. The Maney cases are super strong but I have blown up 2 sets of them still by having rods go and rod bolts shear
Douglas MacRae seems like a different set of rods would be useful then.. \\Maybe a set of 4340 instead of aluminum.
Don't blow up your Norton. Try blowing up a Triumph or a Honda or a Kawasaki or a BMW . You name it, nothing is indestructible. Believe me, I have had the bills to prove it. Not broken my Ducati yet, Jesus.... imagine the price of that!?!?!?
This old dogs are a pleasure to ride
But to be honest all the stuff inside the engine and gearbox is a mess. All the people that constructed this engine belong to a mentle house