Description
H&H Classic Auction @ National Motorcycle Museum | Solihull, West Midlands
30th Oct, 2024 13:00
1990 Norton F1
The first Norton F1 ever produced & raced
Estimate
£52, 000 - £56, 000
Registration No: Unregistered
Frame No: P5500001
MOT: None
Once in a lifetime opportunity
An extremely rare Norton F1
In single ownership from new
It has been running recently
This bike is actually the first P55 (F1) to ever leave the factory in Shenstone on 1st April 1990, weeks before the second was supplied to a customer. Its frame is #1. When a while later Norton did a lottery, promising the winner a bike with frame #1, imagine his disappointment when he was told: “Sorry, frame #1 is in Germany!” Through an agreement with Philippe LeRoux it was raced in the German 'Battle of the Twins' (BotP) Series. The F1 concept was used months before the factory could, the BotT being a prototype championship whilst the British championships, being production bike based, demanded a certain number of bikes produced to make the bike 'production based'. It was always raced by a rider who may have not been the right person to get the best performance from the machine and reach its full potential on a circuit. The other problem was the constant shortage of cash. Sponsors were impossible to get, BotT racing being a class that was never on TV, and the whole exercise was financed through Norton Motors GmbH, selling Norton and Triumph spares.
Racing is very similar to a drug addiction, and the first two seasons practically ruined Norton Motors GmbH with, in the end, the sales of the F1Sports ('TT' in Germany) models in 1992 saving Norton Motors GmbH from bankruptcy. It was entered in its first year with just the exhaust and the inlet tract plus the fairing differing from production standard. In the following years it acquired a different swinging arm and front forks, a different exhaust yet again, different carbs, high-comp rotors, aero engine twin-plug trochoids etc, etc.
Due to a lack of confidence in the ability to make the most of a 140bhp motorcycle at full speed, the current owner is selling his one-owner-from new F1 race bike 'Nepomuk'. Its habit of throwing flames when shutting it down into a corner gave it its nickname amongst the Seifert kids: 'Nepomuk', Nepomuk being a little dragon in the famous German children’s puppet show 'Jim Knopf' who to his great sorrow could not spit flames until Jim Knopf and his friend Lukas showed him how to do it.
Campaigned for 5 seasons in the BotT, by 'an average rider', it did win the occasional race, but he could not exploit the full potential of the machine. After its active time, it was ridden in parades by Tim and Joe Seifert. Richard Negus rebuilt the engine a few years ago and added a works-type exhaust system that replaced the elegant but not fully functional under-seat exhaust it acquired towards the end of its active racing career. The engine has specially machined high-compression rotors, aero twin-plug trochoids and Mikuni flat-slide carbs. The gearbox is an OW01 six-speeder. The rear swinging arm, specially made for twisty courses, front forks are the ex-P56 (Rotary Racer) 1991 show prototype WP racing forks. A few spare parts are part of the sale.
