As a matter of interest..........

A chap came up to me at last weekend's rally and was rattling on about a Coventry Victor marine engine he has/had that was exactly the same as my Norman T300. He thought they shared the same castings.

Was he inhabiting a planet of his own (he appeared to exhibit a number of beatnik characteristics) or was there such a beast? I could see how a distant memory addled by too much wacky baccy could recall a standard Coventry Victor horizontal twin as looking slightly similar to a Norman T series but he seemed adamant. Was there any tie-up between the two companies?

On a slightly different subject, I noticed that whilst I got two offers for my Amanco from the engine men, the general public seemed to be far more interested in my T300. I would have thought that a large(ish) shiny red engine hitting-and missing would be more appealing to the average punter than a little T300 droning away, but apparently not. The other odd thing I noticed was that for obvious reasons, my Lister H3 pump was of no interest to the engine men but some of the female public were mesmerized by it (perhaps there's something sub-conscience (sp?) phallic about it's action!). Oh, and nobody, but nobody, was in the slightest bit interested in my almost immaculate, original BSA 300W charging set even though it was driving a couple of blindingly bright spot lamps. I won't bother showing that again (the drone drove me and fellow rallyists insane anyway!).

Regards

Mark

Reply to
mark.howard10
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I always get a lot of interest in the T300 - it's the Biggles factor, I think, as it might just be a cut down radial to the willing mind! I used to love wearing a WW2 flying jacket, a flying helmet & Mk VIII goggles when out in my mate's OHV JAP Morgan three wheeler. The stained flyscreen, the whiff of oil, the chattering rockers - where's that bloody Red Baron???

I'd imagine that he has a Coventry-Victor MA2. They are superficially similar in that they are both about 300cc, side valve flat twins and contemporaneous of one another.

The MA2 is cowled & the steel disk flywheel has stubby fins to cool it. The Norman has the characteristic cast ali fan/flywheel (bolt on hubs on the Mk1) that makes such a draft that it has no need of cowling. Its larger brother the T600 *is* cowled and apparently can get all hot and bothered under load if its tinware is left off.

The larger CV is a 750 & there is also a four cylinder version that must bring a smile to any member of OPEC!

Oddly enough, I had both the smaller engines out for a run in Friday last. I noticed again that the MA2 seems steadier & better carburetted, perhaps because it breaths through exterior induction pipes which must be quite smooth internally. The Norman has a buried gallery in the timing/crankcase & as the fan is so effective, I suspect it suffers from condensing as the crankcase is never more than warm off load. A cast gallery may well have a lot of inequalities.

The Norman is perhaps a third lighter than the MA2 the amount may be subjective, I've not weighed them, but certainly there is a noticeable difference. The extra weight may well be in the bottom end & this would account for its greater steadiness.

I'd dearly love to get hold of a Stuart Turner flat twin & see what that's like.

Regards,

J. Kim Siddorn,

Reply to
Kim Siddorn

Hmm. see what you mean about the MA2 (found one in a book). I still think the guy had spent too many nights on his boat doing things we constantly remind our kids not to do!

Thanks

Mark

Reply to
mark.howard10

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