O Features archive - January 08
O A puff of smoke
Serious players
Tobacco industry sponsorship, whatever your view on their products, certainly boosted the Norton racing effort. Nigel C tries a couple of models that benefited.
The crowd craned their necks as Steve Spray’s howling rotary hove into view and accelerated down the straight in a flash of the unmistakable black, grey and gold; but Dave Croxford wasn’t to be outdone as he brought the red white and blue twin alongside to challenge for the lead… unlikely?
Well yes, of course, and about as far away from the two generations of Norton aces as you’ll get; for this was in fact yours truly and my host for the day Flight Sergeant Mark Simpson – 2503 Squadron, RAF Regiment. What’s more, we weren’t at Brands Hatch or Cadwell Park but the magnificent wide open spaces of RAF Waddington in the heart of Lincolnshire’s Bomber County.
Readers may have seen Mark’s machines at various events over the past few years. To say he is dedicated to the Imperial Tobacco supported Norton race efforts is an understatement; indeed, perhaps obsession would be a better description. The room in his house where he keeps his immaculate John Player Commando and his JPS Norton rotary can best be described as a shrine, with photographs, posters, leathers, models and countless ex works engine components on all four walls and even the ceiling.
Like many of us, Mark followed the wonderful, under-dog efforts of Peter Williams and Dave Croxford as they challenged and often beat far more powerful Japanese two-strokes, and the memories of those lovely shaped Commando based machines never left him.
Commando Roadster
In 1976, a neighbour was trying to raise funds for what transpired to be the UK’s first 1200cc Laverda Mirage, but was struggling to find a buyer for his three-year-old Mk2A 850cc Commando Roadster. "Nobody seemed to want it – except me, I’d always wanted one and I got it for £700. I used it regularly until the mid-80s, when I was posted to Germany for four years, so I stripped it and stored it in my father’s attic," says Mark.
Home again by 1989 and the JPS backed rotaries were setting the racing scene alight in the hands of Trevor Nation and Steve Spray. Inspired, Mark decided to rebuild the Commando into a John Player replica. He says: "The main part of course was the bodywork, so I called Carl Rosner’s on the off chance that they knew of any and to my amazement he said ‘I’ve got a full set in plain white’. So straight away I got the mudguard, seat, tank cover, fairing and 3.5 gallon tank."
With the bike already dismantled, it made sense to restore it accordingly. The frame parts and fork yokes were stove enamelled by Long Eaton Enamellers. The fork stanchions were in good condition but Mark invested in a brace of Norvil sliders, Lockheed calipers and 12in discs. The fork yokes have been replaced recently by a tasty alloy set, courtesy of Minnovation. The clip-ons and rear sets came from the Mick Hemmings catalogue and Lincoln wheel-builder Ron East, of Abbey Spares, laced the polished hubs onto a pair of 19in Akront flanged alloy rims and shod them with Avon’s superb AM Super Venoms.
- End of online sample -
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