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May 15
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New top management at Norton Motorcycles announced

By General Posts

from https://www.financialexpress.com

TVS announces new top management at Norton Motorcycles: 2021 V4SS to launch soon.

With TVS infusing multi-million-pound investments, the Solihull facility will be the most advanced and modern plant that Norton has operated out of in its 122-year-old history.

TVS Motor Company (TVS), owner of The Norton Motorcycle Co Ltd (Norton), today announced that Dr Robert Hentschel has been appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Vittorio Urciuoli as its Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of the historic Solihull-based motorcycle brand. Hentschel and Urciuoli will take up their new positions as John Russell steps down from his role as Interim CEO. Dr Robert Hentschel joins Norton from Valmet Automotive Holding GmbH & Co KG, where he has served as Managing Director since 2017.

Before that, he headed Ricardo Deutschland and Hentschel System and was also Director of Lotus Engineering. Vittorio Urciuoli’s former key roles within the global automotive industry include Director of URVI LTD, Head of Powertrain at Lotus Cars and Project Leader at Ferrari and Aprilia Racing.

TVS has created a plan for Norton to transform into the future. Along with the entire TVS team, I look forward to working together with them for the revitalisation of one of the world’s most storied brands. Under John’s tenure, with investment and support from TVS, Norton has returned to a firm footing and made marked improvements to engineering and product quality, which will be seen in the updated V4SS that will be launched soon. In addition, we have established a new, state-of-the-art global design, engineering, manufacturing and sales and marketing HQ in Solihull, Sudarshan Venu, Joint Managing Director of TVS Motors, said.

In January this year, Norton announced it would get back to work in full swing by March at its new facility at Solihull, Birmingham in the UK. The British manufacturer has moved its production base from its former headquarters at Donington Hall after its acquisition by TVS Motor Company in April last year.

With TVS infusing multi-million-pound investments, the Solihull facility will be the most advanced and modern plant that Norton has operated out of in its 122-year-old history. The production of the Commando Classic has also been resumed.

The V4SS will also be one of the first motorcycles to roll out as the company resumes operations. Limited to just 200 units, the V4SS boasts full carbon fibre bodywork contrasted by a bright finish on the frame and engine casing. It gets a single-sided swingarm and carbon fibre wheels. It is powered by a 1,200cc V4 engine that makes 200 bhp and 130 Nm of peak torque. Soon after the V4SS, the company is expected to unveil the updated V4RR as well.

Apr 29
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MotoGP Inspired Honda RC213V-S Limited Edition

By General Posts

by Dragos Chitulescu from https://www.autoevolution.com

MotoGP Inspired Honda RC213V-S Costs as Much as a Ferrari, Comes With Zero Miles.

When Honda first announced the RC213V-S a few years ago, quite a few people were hoping that they would at least get a chance to see this bike with their own eyes. After Honda took Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez to the RedBull Ring to test it, pointing out that this is the closest you could ever get to a MotoGP motorcycle, levels of excitement continued soaring.

Not long ago, we showed you a very spectacular Ducati 1299 Superleggera, which was already a very fast and very expensive motorcycle, and it looks like it still hasn’t been sold. But the fact that this RC213V-S just popped up is even more impressive. Because it’s nearly three times more expensive than the aforementioned Ducati, and it’s also much rarer.

Honda initially planned to release just 250 units of this bike, but rumors have pointed out that a smaller number has made it to production stages. It is a hand-built motorcycle in a dedicated factory in Japan, and the bike that is for sale here is unit number 007, which gives it an extra degree of coolness.

Looking over the specs, this particular unit is almost like the MotoGP bike but without the pneumatic valves and the seamless transmission.

Those were changed to provide increased reliability for people using them on public roads. There are also other elements to make it road-legal such as the headlights, taillights, side mirrors, a horn, and a license plate holder. While the “normal” (if you can call it that) version came with just 157 horsepower, this bike also has the optional HRC Sport kit, which should provide you with about 212 horsepower.

The parts included in the kit are just what you need to get the whole racing experience. There are many lightweight materials on this bike, and the way the chassis was built means that you will need a fair share of courage and skills to even acknowledge its potential. Not to mention the fact that just by riding it down the road won’t be enough for you to tell the difference from a tamer, albeit fast 1000cc bike.

All you need to do now is come up with £219,995 ($306,796), which is what you would expect to pay for a brand new Ferrari. But I guess it makes sense considering the odometer reads zero miles. Right now, I’m tempted to say that if I could afford to pay that much for a motorcycle, and if I had considerably more experience with race bikes than I do now, I would probably go all out and on a world tour of all the race tracks where MotoGP is held and see what it can do.

But I guess it’s considerably more likely for someone just to buy this and place it in storage or put it on display for years to come. And in 20 or 30 years from now, when everyone is likely to be riding electric bikes only, people will look at it and probably label it as a slow, outdated motorcycle, but a fascinating piece of history nonetheless.