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My
Triton
by Ian Milton
Recently President Brian
asked me to prepare an article for our website about my Triton
Race bike – so here goes.
I started racing fairly late in life
- mid thirties, mostly due to family commitments. At first I rode
in regularity events on my trusty old 500 AJS but soon wanted to
compete in actual race events. I had a lot of fun but not much
success due partly to lack of horsepower, poor brakes and very
little skill. Following assistance from
Rob Olsen, Geoff Howie and Mike Farrell, the AJS became more
competitive and I was able to run mid field.
By then I had realized however that I was never going to be
a Mick Doohan and decided to look for a better bike which
hopefully would compensate for my lack of talent.
Bruce Russell who had been helping
me prepare the AJS decided he would like to compete and so the old
Ajay was given a new lease of life. However that’s another story
and since I don’t want to steal Bruce’s thunder, I’ll leave the
telling of that to him, in a future article.
I purchased a Norton Slim Line
rolling chassis from Col Rowe and set about building the Triton
with go and show goodies imported from England. I stumbled onto a
650 cast iron Triumph engine, which was set up for methanol,
fitted with a Nourish crank and through bolted, at a Phillip
Island race meeting and slotted it into the Norton frame.
At last I had a Triton. The bike
was quite competitive and we had a lot of fun and achieved the odd
placing on it. Unfortunately like most
over stressed engines, it eventually disintegrated. With no budget
to develop another competitive engine, we put together a 750
engine which turned out to be OK. During all this time I had also
developed a passion for side car racing and realized that I was
more competitive as a three wheel racer.
Since Bruce and I had been sharing
rides on the now 750 Triton at various events including the
Leyburn Sprints, with Bruce achieving far better results than me,
we decided that he campaign the solo and I would stick to
something safe like side car racing.
I had been collecting parts
including a set of Routt 810 barrels, for some time with a view to
building a BIG engine for the side car.
Following a spectacular off-track
excursion on my outfit at Stanthorpe a couple of years ago, which
left both me and the side car temporarily disabled (read stuffed),
we decided to give the Triton a complete bare frame rebuild and
donate the BIG engine to the project.
After mortgaging the grand kids, the
result is what you see now – a nice looking bike which goes hard
and following a little more sorting, should be a winner. Specs are
as follows:
| Engine
capacity: |
810 cc |
|
Crankshaft: |
Harris 750
(balanced) |
| Con Rods: |
Carillo |
| Camshafts: |
Megacycle –
big suckers |
|
Carburettors: |
Amal Mk 11 –
36 mm |
| Oil Pump: |
Morgo |
| Fuel: |
Methanol |
| Gear box: |
Triumph five
speed |
| Primary: |
Belt drive |
| Ignition: |
Joe Hunt
Magneto |
| Front
Brake: |
Norton/BMW. |
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See you at the
track and good luck.
Milto
Perfect for
every track
Brian
Fleming’s 1962 Norton/Jap
Ask any QEMSC
member to name the top couple of bikes they lust after and Brian
Fleming’s Norton /Jap would be right up there. Hand-crafted
between 1996 and 1999, this is a bike to keep an eye on at
top-level historic meets throughout Australia.
A founding
QEMSC member and “veteran” historic racer, Brian’s first meeting
was back in 1979. He started on a B33 BSA, which evolved into a
very fast 350 that he campaigned through to 1999. The Norton/Jap
project started with the sale of another 350 BSA racer in 1995.
Cashed up and eager, Brian started designing and collecting the
bits to create a very special historic racing motorcycle.
An old Jap
speedway engine under the house was assessed as a very good
starting point for combining fast and reliable propulsion with
the most desirable period frame – a Manx featherbed of course.
Bryne Payne was commissioned to build a new frame, while a five
speed AMC cluster was sourced from Bob Jolly in SA to slot into
a racing AMC gear case.
Then the real
work started. Unfinished crankcase castings were sourced from
Dave Basham in SA and finished off by Brian under the watchful
eye of Mike Farrell. A Carillo rod and Wiseco piston were fitted
to a long-stroke Jawa crankshaft (new of course), and a Cooper
alloy barrel was sourced. This engine was built to be bullet
proof – brand new from the bottom to the top – almost. That old
Jap motor under the house turned out to be useful after all and
on went the old cast iron head and valve gear (new valves and
springs of course).
Next the
wheels – Brian opted for a G50/7R rear brake and with the help
of Mike Farrell built a Manx four-leading shoe front brake
assembly from rough magnesium castings.
(According to Maureen Farrell she offered to set up a permanent
bed for Brian in Mike’s workshop.)
Finished off
with a 35 mm SS1 Delhorto, new Jap-grind cam from Ivan Tighe, a
primary belt drive and NEB clutch, alloy tank, fairing,
roadholder forks (oriental internals of course), twin-fire SR1
magneto, alloy rims, a set of Avons etc. etc. etc. (Hey! What
happened to all that money I got for the BSA??) and in 1999
the bike was ready for its first outing – the Aussie champs at
Queensland Raceway.
First
impressions were: Wow! Great power and handling and an
unbelievable spread of torque. Unfortunately a nasty rattle
while at idle in the pits put a quick end to the week-end. The
problem was traced to a valve seat falling out (so much for that
old head) which had set about destroying the piston.
New valve
seats and piston in place and Eastern Creek for the 2000 Aussie
champs was the next challenge. Would you believe it – first race
and a holed piston. Brian had taken a bit much off the top
trying to get compression down to a civilised 13.5:1 and paid
the penalty.
From that
point on, Brian has never looked back – except at the rest of
the field that is. The bike has proved to be exceptionally fast
and reliable. Those of us lucky enough to ride it have been
blown away by the continuous feed of power.
Brian has
campaigned the bike at Lakeside, Phillip Island, Eastern Creek
and Morgan Park. The real buzz is mixing it with bikes of real
racing pedigree and coming out on top. He has never felt the
need to change the gearing, or anything else for that matter –
perfect for every track.
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