Norton RETURN OF THE BRITISH GIANT

I’ve done a shedload of interviews over my time that have been both enjoyable and insightful, but I’ve got to say, this was one of the best. To hear Norton’s CEO come out and say that “this is a strategy for turning Norton into a brand that can compete with the Ducatis and BMWs of this world” and mean it, with the minerals to back it up after all their trouble? Well, that’s something I wouldn’t have bet any cash on hearing just a few years ago after all their drama – I mean, the history of the brand is a whirlwind story if ever there was one.

There have been so many milestones and speed bumps along the way, where would we even start? Well, after doing a shedload of research and for the sake of the story, it has to be smack-bang at the beginning as even though I knew of Norton, I didn’t understand just how epic the brand used to be. You see, all the way back in 1898 a chap named James Lansdowne Norton founded the Norton company in Birmingham, and from the very beginning, it was looking to be a big, British success – I mean, it took the brand just nine years to create history as Rem Fowler won the very first Isle of Man twin cylinder race in 1907 on a Norton (although it was powered by a Peugeot engine, cough). Even so, that’s a mightily impressive feat and just the following year they’d started building their own engines... and then just a year later in 1909, they were even selling their bikes in Harrods! Fast forward to 1954, and not only had Norton won a bagful of Grand Prix races, Senior and Sidecar TTs, but in between had also produced almost a quarter of all the