Norton to compete in Lightweight TT

NORTON is to compete in not only the Superbike and Senior races at this year’s Isle of Man TT, but also the Lightweight TT using a Kawasaki ER-6 engine.

Students currently involved with the British Motorcycle Manufacturing Academy (BMMA) apprenticeship programme at Norton HQ, situated at Donington Park, will be running the Norton Lightweight TT project.

The students will be building the new bike themselves, but some will also get the opportunity to travel with the Norton team to the iconic Isle of Man TT to work on the lightweight bike alongside the factory team.

A proven Kawasaki ER-6 motor will be used just like the majority of the field with Ohlins having already produced bespoke suspension for this particular project. The BMMA race team will begin testing in the next few weeks.

Motorcycle road tester Adam ‘Chad’ Child has been chosen to race the Norton project around the 37¾-mile course, which he has raced for the past three years.

Stuart Garner, Norton Motorcycles CEO, said: “It’s a great opportunity for the students who will work alongside the Norton race team. Chad will be on hand giving feedback developing the bike and the team, he’s obviously got extensive bike testing experience and knowledge of Lightweight class.”

“It’s going to be really interesting to work with the students, together we have steep learning curve; the TT is the ultimate test. They have bags of enthusiasm and it’s going to an exciting few weeks; it will be great to see young faces in the paddock actually working on the race bike.”