1933 Model 40 Norton

Sent by Leonardo in Argentina

Leonardo is the owner of this Norton; it used to belong to his father who won a few races on this one.

Simon: "I looked it up in the Works Records. It's a Model 40. Engine number 24XX. Frame number 509XX. Gearbox: racing Sturmey-Archer 4-speeder, number 10796. Magneto Number 385920 (looks like BTH). Forks number  8989. TT Specification - tuned. Despatched 20/9/33 through the London based Export Merchants Agar Cross. This company dealt exclusively with South America so it is no surprise that this bike is in Argentina."

John: "The Norton has matching frame, engine and gearbox numbers. Note the racing goodies like the megaphone exhaust and rubber Dunlop saddle. It's a bit of a mess but very original. See the pic below; that front downtube had another shape when it left the Works!

1933 Model 30 Norton

Advertised on the PreWarCar website (thanks Martin!): "Norton ex-works racing machine, 1933, engine updated by Arthur Carroll and Joe Craig (Norton Racing Development), bronze head, twin coiled springs, no filter bolt, 14 mm plug, change of roller bearings. Raced at the Island of Man TT by Tim Hunt or Jimmy Simpson. Older restoration and comes together with rare (hard to find) spare parts"

JdK: Very interesting if the seller can provide some proof of the bike's history. The Norton would have been modified quite a bit after it's racing career (which is not unusual) and parts like the magdyno, gearbox and footrests fitted to the engine plates are more at home on a WD16H.

Colin's c1933 596cc Model 30 Norton

Sent by Colin in Australia

JdK: another 596cc Model 30! Compare this Norton to Ballazam's Model 30 and Thierry's engine. None of these Nortons have identification numbers in the frame or crankcase.

Simon: It it obviously fairly early as it still has a Sturmey Archer gearbox and Best and Lloyd filler caps. Also note the studs on the tank to take George Dance kneegrips and the inverted lever for the valve lifter - all pointers to it being - originally - '32/'33 -ish. It has a Mosely inflatable 'bum-pad' and down draught carb. The forks are strutted and I've never seen strutted Norton (as opposed to Webbs/Druids) forks before but the struts may be bolt on jobs - not easy to see one way or the other...

"This outfit was bought by me in about 1964, from one Joe Vial, who ran a wrecker’s yard specialising in early Jaguar cars at Blackburn, Melbourne, Australia. The bike was tucked away in a corner of the yard covered with the bonnet of a Standard ‘Vanguard’ and numerous waterlogged potato bags. It appeared that Joe’s brother had cleared out his garage and the outfit had been dumped in the yard – probably because it was closer than the tip. When found, the Norton was fitted with a narrow 1930’s-period racing sidecar, rather like a ballet shoe in contour. The sidecar is built up on the basic frame of a lightweight Goulding touring ‘chair’. The most notable things about the bike on casual inspection were the crankcase, rather roughly cast in bronze (!), and the faded legend “Norton 596” painted on the sidecar nose. When, on discovering it, I asked Joe about the bike, he described it as an ‘Oily Manx’, essentially a prototype, that later evolved into the single OHC ‘International’ sports machine and the twin-cam ‘Manx’ of racing fame through the 1950’s, 60’s etc. The crankcase has no identification and there is no frame number either!

Joe and his brother had raced it in Victoria, mainly fitted with the side-car, prior to World War Two. It had ‘blown up’ in 1939, and had been re-built. It was being run-in when war broke out and was not used again. It's claim to fame, according to Joe, was that it held the record for the long defunct Whittlesea hill climb.


I coveted the machine from the outset, but being in the ‘impoverished student’ category, couldn’t afford the £50 Joe demanded for it. I went around to the yard from time to time for car parts and checked up on it whenever I was there. The price went down to £45 after a time, but that didn’t really help me much. Finally, during one visit Joe told me, with a sort of morose satisfaction, that one night, a week or so before, someone had tried to steal the bike. They had dragged it to the corrugated iron fence of the yard, but apparently found it too heavy to lift over. The evil-doers (or at least evil-attempters) then tried to take off the carburettor and magneto. Fortunately, as both are rare period racing items (a BTH magneto and an Amac twin float chamber carburettor), they could not get them off with the pair of pliers and screwdriver which seemed to be their only tools. All that was actually stolen was the fuel lines and magneto chain cover (bastards!).


Now this episode thoroughly scared me, and I immediately came to the conclusion that the motorcycle was actually more desirable than three meals a day, so I bought it for £45. It came with a box containing a set of engine shaft sprockets and a selection of alcohol jets for the carburettor, together with a spare high compression piston and a few other odds and ends. In order to get it from the wreckers yard to where I lived four or five miles across town, I enlisted the help of a student friend with a car to tow me on the equipage. Being towed through Melbourne suburban Saturday afternoon traffic on a sidecar outfit with only one grabbing brake and the chair hovering in mid-air on its dirt-track camber was something of a defining experience in my life – it brought home a profound conviction of my own mortality.


According to Joe a rough factory manual with tuning and gear ratio recommendations was around somewhere; he thought his brother still had it. At that stage I was leaving Melbourne for a couple of months, so I arranged to pick up the manual from Joe on my return. When I went around to the yard next, not only was the manual not there, but the whole yard had disappeared and a housing estate was going up. Despite extensive detective work I never located Joe or his brother.


Various explanations have been offered for the bronze/brass crankcase, but no definite explanation has emerged – It may have been part of the 1939 rebuild, but looked far more weathered than short running-in sessions would explain.  Presumably the extra strength of bronze over aluminium justified the awe-inspiring weight of the unit. Alan Bruce and some of the old-time riders in Europe became very excited when they heard of it, saying that Norton had built a couple of bronze-crankcase 596’s in the 1930’s for an attack on records on Brooklands and this could well be one of them. So far we have not been able to confirm this. The frame seems to be heavier gauge than a standard Norton 500 and has exceptionally low ground clearance, as if it were designed specifically for side-car racing.


It has been very difficult to get much information about this machine. Roy Bacon, in his book “Norton Singles” makes a short mention on page 47 of a Norton 596cc OHC “Big Banger”, observing that:  ‘few were built, all intended for sidecar use’. A handful of iron head, single-cam versions were built, said to be intended for a British ISDT team. This example has an iron cylinder head. Apparently a few did escape from their British captivity; early photographs of Victorian and South Australian competition indicate that probably two made it to Australia. Judging from some early photographs, this may be the ‘596’ raced by Laurie Wren of Adelaide earlier in its life."

Guthrie and Woods at the 1933 Junior TT

Photo by Howard

Jimmy Guthrie on his 1933 Model 40 racer; he came 3rdin the 1933 Junior TT. Stanley Woods, the winner, on the left. Bill Mansell is behind Guthrie, Arthur Carroll at his left shoulder. Norton mechanic Frank Sharratt is holding the handlebars.

Jock Muir, 1933, Model 40 Norton

Sent by Dennis. Text by Simon.

This is Jock (also known as Spug!) Muir. Jock never competed in the TT - only in the Manx, every year from 1930 to 1933 inclusive. His best result was the '31 Senior win, on a Norton. He also came second in '32 on a Velo in the Junior and 5th in the Senior on a Velo in 1930. In '33 he rode a 350 Norton as well and finished 13th on it.

The 1933 TT races

Photos by Howard, research by Simon

The winners of the 1933 Junior TT: Jimmy Guthrie (who came 3rd, number 20) Stanley Woods (the winner, number 16, at 78.08 mph) Tim Hunt (2nd, number 30). Bill Mansell is behind Woods, at his right shoulder. At the far right of the photo is Arthur Carroll having a celebratory drink! At Arthur's right shoulder is a well-known Norton mechanic, Frank Sharratt.

The winners of the 1933 Senior TT: Tim Hunt (3rd, number 25) Stanley Woods (the winner, number 29 at 81.04 mph) and Jimmie Simpson (2nd, number 15). That's Arthur Carroll again at Woods' left shoulder. 

Stanley's 1933 TT winning Model 30 Norton

From: "The Motor Cycle, January 18th 1934, page 74-76". Click the pictures for a full page version. Contributed by Alf.

Stanley Woods, Model 30, 1933

Stanley on a 1933 Model 30 International. (Thanks Wim)

Stanley Woods, TT Assen, 1933

Stanley on a 500cc Model 30 International Norton at the Dutch TT, 24th of June 1933.

Roger's Model 40 International Norton

This machine was supplied by the Norton works for the 1933 Grand Prix with a specially tuned 350cc engine. It was used in road races and was first raced at Brooklands in 1936 in the Hutchinson Hundred by JB Moss. By the end of 1937 it was becoming uncompetitive in road races so it remained at Brooklands where the rigid frame was not a significant disadvantage.

When war ended racing on the track it was sold to Ray Petty for use as a means of getting to and from the Vickers works at Brooklands. In 1947 it was sold to Denis (Jenks) Jenkinson who raced it in events at home and on the continent. At a race in Belgium Jenks blew up  the original 350cc engine which was replaced by the current 1950 500cc engine. This is where the confusion comes from; originally a Model 40 it may now be described as a Model 30 International.

Jenks loaned it to the Brooklands Museum in 1990. Still on permanent display in the museum, it was aquired by Roger Bird who uses it in special events like the Spring Motorcycle Gathering; the YouTube film below shows Roger storming Test Hill in fine style.

1933 Model 18 Norton

A Norton Model 18 road test from a 1933 issue of "Motor Cycling". (thanks Dave)