At BritIron Classics, a Division of Italianiron, We will be Building Norton Racers As Well

We established  BritIron Classics earlier as a division of Italian Iron Classics LLC, as we do enjoy working on Norton, Triumph and BSA's. Growing up as a wee lad in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 1960's, I developed my passion for motorcycle racing by following the racing "greats". This was also the time when the sport of motor racing was simultaneously exploding in popularity on the world stage. Shown below are two of my favourite racers, Paul Smart (#74) who I have met at the AHRMA vintage race weekend at Mid-Ohio in the US and Peter Williams (#3) who I would love to meet some day, racing two of my most favorite marques, Ducati and Norton.  

Fast forward to 2019, and we are excited to work with Molnar Precision, LTD (Molnar Manx) who recently purchased Two Wheel Classics-UK. Due to this new affilation with Molnar Precision, LTD we will be having fun continuing to work on Ducati TT and F1 Racers as well as Norton Comando twin cylinder racers and race reps. It was a real pleasure traveling to meet Andy Molnar and his team at the Molnar Precision, LTD facilities in Preston from my Mother's flat in Cambridge, England, UK.

At the Molnar Precision workshops, I was able to see where Manx history and "magic" has been created for decades. Seen below is one of the many of these custom, hand-built 500 cc and 350 cc Manx motorcycles that are in process. Frames, cylinders, engine cases, heads, barrels, fork tubes, wheel hubs and a multitude of additional bits that are all custom made in the Preston facility to Andy's exacting specifications. This is true excellence in British craftmanship!!

Andy Molnar has moved all of the Two Wheel Classics Ducati TT & F1 inventory to Preston and has already begun to create the engineering drawings of the TWC bits for manufacture. We are excited at the technical enhancements to the existing portfolio of Ducati items which like the Manx items will be primarily made at Molnar Precision LTD. I was also present to see the fiberglass TWC bodywork but also the new carbon fibre bodywork for the TT and F1 racers. There will be some great innovations and enhancements due to this acquisition of Two Wheel Classics by Molnar Precision, LTD. Stay tuned!

Shown below is the first Molnar Ducati with Ducati 1000 cc twin cylinder engine. The goal at Molnar Ducati is "applying the same principles of high quality and impeccable attention to detail, which have made us the best in the business when it comes to Classic single cylinder machines. We intend to take the Post Classic Racing scene by storm" with the Ducati twins. Team Molnar Ducati will be campaigning a pair of Post Classic TT 1000 Racers with Ducati engines in CRMC in the UK. There will be much more to write about these Molnar Ducati racers once we get closer to the 2020 race season.

The first project that our BritIron operation will be working on is a John Player Norton "basket case" that I found in the US and will be using a Guss Kuhn JPN kit. This kit is quite complete with brackets, fasteners and stainless clamps as shown below. I will be taking the colour pallet back to the original livery which I think is iconic! We will also be mounting our SmartCarb flat-slides carbs in an effort to wake up this 850 Norton cc twin!! This BritIron project will be of course in conjunction with our other Ducati TT projects. 

First we will need to rebuild the 850 cc Norton Commando engine and it will be interesting to discover what made this engine detonate in the first place. Then comes the painstaking task of taking the remaining Norton motorcycle apart and checking tolerances. Then we begin the rebuilding process after replacing all worn out parts and replacing bearings, seals and rubber bits. We will also replace the points with electronic ignition and modern coils that will connect to our own loom that we will make with upgraded components. This is all in an attempt to dramatically improve reliability. 

The future is extremely bright for us at Italian Iron Classics and our BritIron operation for our current Ducati TT and F1 Racers and now we have access to some critical Norton expertise and custom engineered performance bits. Our focus will remain Ducati vintage racers but we will start stocking some British Iron bits in the upcoming months. Let us "Fuel Your Race Passions at Italianiron.com (BritIron)!!"