The 1975 NVT Challenge That Could Have Saved Norton, Featured In The March Issue

The 1975 NVT Challenge That Could Have Saved Norton, Featured In The March Issue

© 2020, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Featured In the March 2020 issue of Roadracing World:

This is a story of what happens when a simple idea gets lost in a maze of politics. Parts of this article are my recollections from working as a product designer for Norton at Wolverhampton. The company needed a replacement for the aging Commando, an engine that would pass EPA regulations and could be modified for F750 racing.

Norton didn’t have the capital to design an engine from scratch, but someone had a brilliant idea: Take two parallel cylinders and heads off a Formula One V8 Cosworth engine!

In one move, we had water-cooling; an efficient, “clean” combustion chamber; and proven data to make a crankshaft, conrods, pistons, valves, etc …

—Historic Racebike Illustrations: 1975 NVT Challenge, By Mick Ofield

It seemed like a simple solution to a host of problems. But politics, corporate infighting and decisions that seem hard to fathom decades later meant that the promising 1975 Norton NVT Challenge never lived up to its amazing potential. See all the details in the Historic Racebike Illustrations feature in the March issue of Roadracing World!

 

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