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' (BOTT) 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.

The first two seasons practically ruined Norton Motors GmbH with, in the end, the sales of the F1 Sports ('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-compression rotors, aero engine twin-plug trochoids etc, etc. Campaigned for 5 seasons in the BOTT, it did win the occasional race. 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. A few spares are with the machine. We are indebted to the vendor for the information provided.

For more information, please contact:
Mike Davis
mike.davis@handh.co.uk
07718 584217