Aprilia-Powered Norton to Compete at Isle of Man TT

Norton will not be bringing their own V4 to a MotoGP circuit anytime soon; no one has any doubt that they want to, and as soon as they are able. As a stop-gap, and a very good learning experience, they will field a kit Aprilia RSV4 engine - not too different from what the CRT teams have access to - in a Spondon frame in this year's Isle of Man TT. That last connection is interesting as Spondon used to frame many racing Nortons in its previous incarnation. And, Norton's new owner, one Stuart Garner, also happens to own Spondon. It's better to keep the program in-house as much as possible so as to learn everything it is possible to learn when using another marque's engine. In this way, Norton can prepare to create their own future MotoGP CRT engine. Since Norton already has some designs for this, I doubt very much that they will make a duplicate RSV4 engine - they will want their own. Norton has a reputation to protect if they plan to stay connected to their heritage in a meaningful way.

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