Any hint please ?

WWW ?

The 7R was the other way around, two inlet, one exhaust. The tripple cam motor was based on a 7R bottom end that underwent various mods, with the final version replacing the camshaft drive train with a vertical shaft and bevel gears.
It wasnt a great succsess, although Rod Coleman did win the Junior TT in '54 with it. Accordong to the blurb on it, it poked out 40 bhp....about 3-4 bhp more than 7R's of that period?

Otherwise known as one inlet, two exhaust .....

It's John's brother, Norman Surtees.

That's why the helmet design looks somehow familiar...didn't he share a m/c dealership with his brother ?
A bike which is rumoured to be ridden by him


Didn't he turn to cars as well in the end ?
Anyway, not easy to be the "little" brother for a lifetime, I suppose...

Yes, Norman raced a Ducati twin, probably owned by big brother. I think Fred Neville also raced this. What I'm now uncertain about is whether the bike pictured is one of the desmo twins that John owned and that several quick blokes such as Read, Hartle and Shory were connected with in the early sixties, and also if the shots of Norman on the Ducati on the Morton's archive, are also this bike. Just checked again, clearly not Reynolds forks on the archive shot...could still be same bike though.

Built but never raced, Larry.

I remember going to Snetterton midweek in the early 60's for a testing sesion and who should park next to me was John Surtees who proceeded to unload 2 Ducati's Said hello and asked if he was coming back to bikes Then Norman appeared in his leathers and proceeded to put in several laps. I have some old programmes somewhere with Norman as a competitor.

http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=112364

I´m totally shocked. Poor John and Jane. Eighteen years old is no time to die, damn it.
RIP Henry

Hi Phil
How was Aberdare? Any pics?

Evening Russ bit of rain yesterday , started raining about 10ish last night , still raining 11 this morning , so knocked it on the head .
Took me 3 1/2 hours to drive there ( 132 miles ) on Friday --- traffic --then on the way back MORE hold ups , blew the radiator on me camper van , the AA for some obscure reason took me to Western - Super - Mud before Exeter -------------oh yes , the racing was pretty good , no piccies , that was going to be today

I'm not sure if this is ridiculously easy or ridiculously difficult, or just ridiculous....anyway, can you tell what it is yet?

chain tensioner, part of meg, and it has to be a 7R of course...

I'm not sure if this is ridiculously easy or ridiculously difficult, or just ridiculous....anyway, can you tell what it is yet?

Blimey.....well, at least its being used. And he kick starts it....

Is this in the States, Renn?

can't exactly remember where I nicked it , could be OZ as well ...but somehow the bike looks odd , exhaust pipe ? front mudguard ?...something spoils the balance IMO

Yeah, doesn't look its best. The timing case is from a earlyish model as the later bikes were modified to allow the exhaust pipe to tuck in closer to the cover (I wonder if its not actually a 7R). The route of the exhaust pipe is not as per any G50/7R. The gearbox looks to be wrong too. That petrol tank appears to be too shallow also. Seems to have 19 inch wheels, although the mudguard is not original. The front forks and rear suspension units have covers that aren't original. God knows what's going on with the carb bellmouth extension thingy..... I think also that the angle from which the picture was taken has somehow has made the size of the engine finning to look less substantial than it actually is.

Who and when might be more difficult than where and what?

The other half.....?


You have tables Renn, was das ist?

Apologies for chipping in on the as yet unsolved Belgium GP pic, but I found this and thought it might be of interest. Any ideas?

Jack Brett close to the Norton, the guy holding the lid looks familiar too
Last season of the dustbins ? so '57 ?
No clue who the AJS rider is without checking some tables....

Norman Surtees on his Macchi and I think Fred Hardy on the REG ? or maybe his NSU? Brands '62.

These ones

http://racingmemo.free.fr/MOTO-GP-CH%20MONDE.htm

http://www.eggersdorfer.info/fahrer/index17.html

can be quite helpful for some inspiration or for the method of elimination, but not for this pic up to now I'm afraid

Correct on every point. Well done Russ. It is indeed the Reg.
The reason I posted the pic is because Norman was mentioned earlier.

You're correct Renn, Jack Brett in '57. As you know he earlier raced factory bikes, but after they stopped he was given semi works stuff? I think it was Slazengers who supported this, or was this a little later? The other guy on the 7R is NZer Noel McCutcheon.

Noel McCutcheon is a new one for me, I have to admit...so this was the race where Roberto Colombo was killed in practice on a MV, the last straw for banning the dustbins ?

Was that the final straw, I didn't know that? Also not certain if the picture is a 350 or 500 race; red number backgrounds?....also 7R's in 500 were common. Hang on, didnt one of the GP's not rin a 350 race for some reason?

Re "last straw" don't know for sure of course....but I think this crash was caused by cross winds which were quite delicate with these fairings ?

Hi Rhodie, do you have any more shots of Norman?

WWW

What a great shot.....Mmmm, bottom of Bray Hill was my first thought and the bike looks very 125 Ducati like: Ken Kavanagh around '59 ?

Winston Churchill looking over the driveway gate too....

Not sure about Mr Churchill , but the pic shows a well known guy watching..and yes it's a 125 Duc

Not sure about Mr Churchill , but the pic shows a well known guy watching..and yes it's a 125 Duc

Mmmmm, the Clypse course didn't go down Bray Hill, did it.... Yes, noticed him but why can't I remember who he is The Italian looking mechanic is signalling to the rider too.

Oh, the guy in the shades is the designer, Taglioni, or however its spelt.

No, sorry Russ. That is probably the only one I´ve ever seen and is featured in Mike Hailwood´s wonderful book,"The art of motorcycle racing". It is a timeless study of two wheel racing, with much of what he said still holding true today. It was printed in 1963 and was, at the time, the bible of how to get into the racing business for any aspiring young hopeful. A truly great book.

WWW

Luigi Taveri?