New 210bhp Norton rotary

Norton is set to make a stunning return to racing next year with an all-new 200bhp+ rotary superbike.

The news – which is revealed in full in tomorrow’s MCN – means Norton could have a BSB and even WSB bike over the next three years.

The new Donington Park-based factory is currently in full flow building the limited edition Commando 961 SE roadster, and has secretly been developing an all-new rotary racer since last Autumn with eyes, initially, on the 2011 TT.

Despite being a commercial disaster 20 years ago, the old Norton regime achieved significant UK racing success in the early 1990s with a range of bikes developed, initially by Norton mechanic Brian Crighton, from a wankel-engined, police-spec Norton Interpol. 

A clutch of British championships for the iconic JPS-liveried machines, rounded off by Steve Hislop’s historic victory aboard a privateer version in the 1992 Senior TT followed, before the company collapsed and fragmented.

Read the full story in MCN in newsagents on Wednesday March 24.