CLASSIC RACER TEST
30 years on, the magic of it all still thrills the spirit - especially in the memory of those privileged to have witnessed it personally. The closest, fastest, most exciting and most enthralling Isle of Man Senior TT ever run resulted in a long-awaited all-British victory for super-Scot Steve Hislop and the Norton Rotary, painted an unaccustomed white to reflect the support of Steve’s personal security equipment sponsor ABUS, rather than the more usual black of Norton’s mainland cigarette sponsors, John Player Special. JPS management must have kicked themselves when they heard the result for not finding the extra budget to support Norton’s quixotic, shoestring assault on Japanese supremacy in the world’s oldest and most famous road race, one that Norton hadn’t won since 1961. Back then the Senior TT was confined to 500cc GP racers, and a spotty kid named Mike Hailwood brought his single-cylinder Manx Norton home first after the all-conquering MV Agustas uncharacteristically self-destructed. Laudable as Mike the Bike’s win was (and both he and fellow Norton rider Derek Minter lapped at over 100 mph for the first time ever on single-cylinder machines), Norton got that win by default - something you could never accuse Hislop of doing this time around.
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