In 1958 Paul Dunstall went somewhat against the grain and
started to race a Norton Dominator motorcycle. This was quite unusual at the
time, as generally they were not considered to be a machine fit for this
purpose and Norton already produced a very able racing motorcycle in shape of the
Manx. Through his racing exploits Paul developed the Norton Twin with
considerable success and following his retirement in 1960, was able to offer a
range of special and tuning equipment for the various models. In 1961 he became
an official Norton dealer.
In 1963 Dunstall purchased the works Norton Domiracer that
had been ridden by Tom Phillis to 3rd place in the 1961 Senior TT.
He also purchased all remaining spares and stock relating to Doug Hele’s
experimental lowboy project.
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| Tom Phillis 1961 Senior TT |
This is a short blog on his catalogue from the early 1960’s
listing the parts available for these models.
Dunstall provided race bikes for many riders over the years, the following are listed in his catalogue:-
Chris Conn
Dave Degens
Dave Downer
Joe Dunphy
Dereck
Minter
Sid Mizen
Fred Neville
Tom Phillips
Colin Seeley
He continued
to develop the Norton Twin throughout the 1960’s and in 1969 started the season
with a radically different spine-framed machine designed by Eddie Robinson.
This frame was manufactured for Dunstall by Jim Lee at his Birstall premises in
Yorkshire and was considerably lower and lighter than the previous lowboy
design. Jim went on to produce some very successful spine-framed machines of his
own, the most successful being the TR2B Yamaha raced by Mick Grant.
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| Dunstall Drainpipe |
And so to
the catalogue.
By 1966 Dunstall was building complete machines, based on the Norton, BSA and Triumph twin cylinder models available at the time. As well as offering various light-alloy and tuning modifications, options included seats, tanks and fairings, all of which gave the machine a distinct Dunstall look. In 1970 he became a Honda dealer and parts were included in his later catalogues for these machines. He also put his name to a 3 cylinder Kawasaki racing motorcycle designed and built by Alan Baker. Again the frame and tanks of this machine were built by Jim Lee in Yorkshire and it used a double disc front brake designed by Eddie Robinson which had previously been used on the ‘drainpipe’ Norton bike.
Dunstall continued to sell customising parts for Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and BMW machines until he sold the company name in 1982.
The rider of the Domiracer in the 1961 Senior TT was Tom Phillis...you can see his helmet kangaroo logo just visible...
ReplyDeleteGood spot Dennis - thanks.
DeletePhil Read practiced on the Domiracer, deemed it non competetive and raced his standard Manx.
DeleteTom Phillis took iver the Domiracer and both lapped quicker than, and finished in front of Read ...
Please change the name of this feature, it is false. Paul Dunstall never sold "genuine Domiracer equipment". Dunstall raced the 1961 Domiracer for a while, but he never officially sold any of the works racing parts he got from Norton to the public. The camshafts and cam-followers he sold in his catalog he had made to factory drawings, and they were not as good as the originals. Later he sold lowboy frame kits, but they were not original works frames but replicas he had made. There were only three original lowboy frames according to Norton employee and test-rider Dennis Greenfield, one was built up into the 1961 Domiracer bike, one was built up with a 350cc Manx engine, and the third is not on record as being built up by the factory. Norton experimental department employee John Hudson tried using Dunstall's replica "domiracer" cam equipment in the 1964 Senior TT and the followers broke because Dunstall made them too light to be reliable, Norton's bucket-tappets used on their Domiracer bikes were solid with no holes in them to lighten them and they never broke in competition. I said "bikes" because in 1962 Norton built at least six more Domiracer bikes, three with wideline frames and three with slimline frames, the wideline bikes for the 1962 senior TT, the slimline bikes to race at Daytona in the USA that year, so the lowboy Domiracer was the most famous because of it's finish in the 1961 Senior TT, but it was the oddball of the very small Domiracer family. The Domiracer parts that the Norton experimental department made by hand in the few years that Doug Hele was in charge of the project were small-batch works parts that were never given to the public, and Paul Dunstall raced a lot of the parts he got to death, threw them in the trash or sold them off not to the public but to the very, very few who might be interested in racing parts that had no hope of competing with the Yamaha two-stroke. John Hudson, who worked for Doug Hele, said that there were only one or two extra Domiracer engines that went to Dunstall. In 1971 a man who rode one of the 1962 works bikes for former Norton experimental employee Heinz Kegler wrote to Dunstall about Domiracer engines and Dunstall replied in a letter that he had one engine intact, and he wanted 200 British pounds for it, the rider nor Heinz Kegler were interested in it at that price. This information is all documented by scans of the letters or direct quotes of the parties involved in publications available to the general public.
ReplyDelete