Rotary Bikes at Rotorstock III 2006

[Norton]

I dont hold out much hope for a big turnout (i despair!!). Much of the problem is that the Rotary (Motorcycle) Owners Club attend a Classic Bikes event at Stanford Hall on the Sunday

ok, so the Classic Bikes event at Stanford Hall has been cancelled at the last moment due to waterlogged grounds... so... we MIGHT have a few bikes at RS after all.
I wonder how wet the camping field is at Shakespeare Raceway.

[Ianmcurtis]

.......
I wonder how wet the camping field is at Shakespeare Raceway.

This just in...... :2eek







Joking - I hope  

[Norton]

Thats ok, theres still a couple of green bits  :cool

[Norton]

Rotorstock III… we got our asses whipped reeeal good!! Malcolm Stanley, ex- Derbyshire police Norton rotary mechanic and experienced bike racer, brought his red ‘Earlystocks’ Norton Interpol 2 race bike along to Rotorstock for his first ever venture onto a Drag Strip. Im not sure how many runs he did, it must have been around eight. On his penultimate run (against me) we were side by side about two thirds of the way down the track when Malcolm unexpectedly pulled out a lead of a few bike lengths to finish in 12.1 seconds, beating my best of 12.3. On his final run (against Geoff) he repeated his ‘top end of the track blitz’ to set an amazing time of 11.7 beating Geoffs best ever run of 11.9, all this without the aid of an ejector exhaust!!! When pressed on what his secret was, it would appear that its all down to revs, Malcolm has modified the bike to rev higher than the standard 9000rpm, I think a figure of 11,750 was mentioned. He reports a loss of bottom end torque but is able to hold each gear longer and wring a few more bhp out at the top end. Congratulations to Malcolm. Red faces for me and Geoff (sunburn, honest).
And we still haven’t managed to get a Suzuki RE5 to Rotorstock… pleeease, can somebody bring one along to put on display next year.

[Ianmcurtis]

RE5 would be nice   . Here\'s some of the Norton\'s for now  :Thumbs-up

[mattmaclennan]

You\'ll have to pursuade Tim to resurect some of his old two wheeled rotary machines.

[Norton]

You\'ll have to pursuade Tim to resurect some of his old two wheeled rotary machines.

Tell me more!!
Tell me more!!

I had hoped that a friend might be bringing a pre-JPS liveried factory race bike along but unfortuately it doesnt look like its going to be ready in time, it should be at RS4 though. So, everything crossed for the JPS replica.

The early red silver & blue race bike belongs to Malcolm who brought the Plod bike and the suprisingly quick red bike this year, so that should be there next year.
Sadly a no-show from Mark and the JPS replica, dunno why yet.


 :Thumbs-up Nice pics Ian.

[Norton]

And i see that Fish has taken some excellent action shots...  :Thumbsup!

[Fish]

Not excellent, could have been a lot better, but was sitting half way up the stand. Get me a better position and I\'ll do better.

If you want the full sized version, please mail me (Dan (at) MazdaRotaryClub.com)

Fish

[Norton]

And another photo by Matt Woods (miniwilliams)...

[Norton]

Rotorstock III… we got our asses whipped reeeal good!! Malcolm Stanley, ex-police Norton rotary mechanic and experienced bike racer... set an amazing time of 11.7 without the aid of an ejector exhaust!!! Malcolm has modified the bike to rev higher than the standard 9000rpm, I think a figure of 11,750 was mentioned.

I asked Malcolm how he did it, this was his reply...

Author wrote:
> Thats top secret, but its a factory built RC588 spec
> Sparkrite unit on mine! OK its a standard ign box that
> was modified by Paddy at the factory in 1989. He was a
> television engineer who used to rebuild and test all
> the Sparkrite ignition units and voltage regulators. I
> had 2 boxes modified, one for the race bike and one
> for the Earlystocks bike, but only the one for the
> race bike had the tacho take off wire and as I was not
> using the alternator, this was the only one I could
> use.
> One big problem though is the need to replace the
> rotor bearings if high rpm are used. (Brian Crighton
> says 300 racing miles). I was a bit complacent and put
> off changing mine, after all, it was running really
> well and there were no noises until a sudden thud and
> the engine locked after the bearing broke up. The L/H
> endplate, centre plate, rotor shaft, rotor and housing
> were all scrap! All parts which are hard to get hold
> of now. I think it is the cage of the bearing that is
> forced into the rotor and fails.
> Nearly twenty years on and the Sparkrite units can be
> modified if you can find someone to do it. Graham
> Wilshaw can probably supply one made to order or
> Norton Motors are advertising new systems and could
> probably supply to order,ie no retard and rev limiter
> set at what you want.
> Malc


Oh!... sod that for a game, think i will stick to 9000rpm then. LOL.

[Ianmcurtis]

Cheers Norton   .

BTW - Malcolm sounds like he knows his stuff  :yes  :Thumbs-up .

[Norton]

Ive just got hold of Malcolms figures from his final run...

   60ft-       2.080
   330ft-      5.075
   1/8mph-   95.97
   1/8sec-    7.589
   990ft-      9.737
   1/4MPH-   116.51
   1/4SEC-   11.72627

Looking at that i think theres more to come, the 60ft could be better and the Terminal Speed isnt as high as i expected... watch this space.

[Ianmcurtis]

Seems pretty quick considering how old the technology is in those Norton rotary bikes. Do you know where and when Malcolm is likely to be performing Derek?

[Norton]

Unfortunately hes had to give up the circuit racing so i think we will have to wait until Rotorstock IV. By then he should have the 1987/88 \'ex-works\' blue/silver/red bike up and running which should be a whole lot quicker again so the red bike may lie idle... hmm.. maybe he will lend it to me