British Superbike champion Josh Brookes is no stranger to road racing. But for the very first time, he will contest the legendary event with the Wiz Norton Racing team for his debut at the 2017 Classic TT presented by Bennetts.
The Australian will ride a 588cc Norton Rotary alongside Richard Wilson in the Motorsport Merchandise Superbike Classic TT race. The Norton produces approximately 120bhp and is running an original specification from the same era that Robert Dunlop, Ron Haslam and Trevor Nation all enjoyed success on the British built machinery.
In 1992, Steve Hislop won a race long battle against Carl Fogarty during the Senior TT and it was voted the greatest ever race by fans in a 2011 survey conducted to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Mountain Course. The Scot lapped at an impressive 123.50mph which is the fastest ever lap set by a rotary machine.
Brookes made his comeback to the Mountain Course after a three year hiatus, and took four top twelve finishes which included a sixth place on Ryan Farquhar’s IEG International/KMR Kawasaki in the Bennetts Lightweight race. His best performance came from the PokerStars Senior race, where he scored an incredible sixth on the SG6 Norton and lapped at an impressive 130.883mph – the fastest ever lap around the course on a Norton.
Speaking about his signing, Brookes said: “I’ve always been interested in the Rotary Norton racers from the 1990’s and love the engineering ideas that went into this truly iconic motorcycle. I saw the Wiz Norton guys at an event and got talking to them about the project and one thing led to another and it wasn’t long before I was testing the bike.
“I’m really excited about making my Classic TT debut on such a fabulous motorcycle and getting some more time on the TT Mountain Course.”