CLASSICS
WORDS AND PHOTOS:
Rhys Jones
NORTON INTERNATIONAL
W
ith the Christmas season rapidly
approaching it’s perhaps time to
relax, sit in the sun, if there is any,
and think about the bikes we have enjoyed
riding, owning, or simply looking at. This
suggestion was prompted by a picture of a
splendid Norton International, which resides
in Sammy Miller’s museum in England, well it
did when the picture was taken sometime in
the late 1980s. I have always had a soft spot
for Nortons. I think it could be hereditary.
My father owned a Norton just before the
Second World War broke out, and during the
post war years, when I was growing up, he
took me to race meetings such as the Ulster
Grand Prix, and club meetings at Brands
Hatch. He was a devout Norton fan. I have
ridden many a Norton, but have owned only
one, a Commando during the 1970s, which
remains one of my favourite bikes.
The sight, however, of the 1954 348cc
Featherbed International Norton Model 40,
sparked my interest in the model which must
have been one of the most successful and
colourful in classic motorcycling history. The
story begins in the early 1920s when Norton’s
new over-head valve 500 ridden by Alec
Bennett, won the 1924 Isle of Man Senior TT,
an achievement repeated by Stanley Woods
in 1926. But Velocette was showing the future
with a new OHC Junior TT 350cc winner, and
Norton soon realised the need for an OHC
motor and a new “cradle” frame. The days of
Norton’s pushrod single seemed numbered.
Design engineer Walter Moore set about
redesigning the pushrod engine with
overhead-camshaft valve-gear. The result
was the CS1 (Camshaft Senior One). The
Junior version was called CJ (Camshaft
Junior). Alec Bennet won the Senior TT in
1927, and Stanley Woods posted the fastest
lap at 70.90mph. Stanley Woods went on to
win the Belgian and Swiss Grand Prix, as well
as the Dutch TT.
The CS1 was made available to the public
as a sports machine in late 1927, establishing
a clear association between race bikes and
those that could be used on the road.
The 1954 348cc Model 40 International
Norton, restored by Sammy Miller