Page 91 - Motorcycle Trader (February 2020)
P. 91
Five Things
About Norton Scramblers
The first Nomad to arrive in
1the US finished eighth out
of 822 starters in California’s
arduous Big Bear Run. This
proved that, while it was
competitive in off-road racing,
the Triumph TR6 outclassed it.
Norton’s next scrambler
2 was the 1963 hybrid Atlas
scrambler, again initially only
for export. This comprised a
Matchless or AJS CSR frame
with the 750cc Atlas engine.
In 1967 another hybrid
3 Atlas appeared, the P11.
This featured an Atlas engine
in a Matchless 500 single
scrambler frame.
As the hybrid engine/
4 frame marriage was
difficult, Norton never felt
comfortable about producing
the P11. But as they were
light and fast they proved
extremely popular in the US.
In desert racing, Mike Patrick
took the ‘No 1’ plate in 1967
and 1968.
The single-seat P11 desert
5 racer evolved into the
P11A Ranger (with low-level
Myriad small details exhaust) for 1968, and the
were spectacular in P11A Ranger 750 for 1969.
This final dual-purpose
style and execution version marked the end of
the 750cc Atlas.
