MANX GRAND PRIX
THANKS TO NEW RULES allowing superbikes made before 1997, this year’s entry was deluged with super-fast exotica. Outlandishly trick Kawasaki ZXR750s and Suzuki GSX-R750s dominated the field, but the Classic Bike team was spellbound by the maverick teams who turned up with bikes that surely wouldn’t survive the Isle of Man treatment.
Top of the list was Wiz Norton with their RCW588 rotary (above). Watching from Hilberry, we could hear the screaming nutcase before seeing it – and were left inhaling a gorgeous two-strokey aroma for minutes after it passed (like the original John Player Nortons, it runs on pre-mix).
“When it’s going well there’s nothing like it,” Wiz Norton boss Andy Wilson told us before the race. “But it’s like a two-stroke – there are days when they don’t go well.”
The engine is a water-cooled twin-rotor unit from an F1, complete with ejector exhaust which draws cooling air through the motor. “Because of that, we have to run pre-mix and an pump oil,” explained Andy. “All that oil gets dumped into the exhaust, so they’re filthy out the back. Anyone who follows one of these for half a lap needs a visor change. The other side-effect of the ejector exhaust is that we can’t slow the exhaust speed, so we can’t silence them.”
So could the rotor tips last four laps? Andy sighed wearily. “The big issue is the heat on the rotor bearings. You can put this in capital letters – THE ROTOR TIPS DO NOT WEAR OUT. But the engines do getvery hot in the core, so you have to get as much air over them as possible.”
Shaun Anderson brought the Norton home in ninth place at an average speed of 120.6mph, beating 33 Japanese
