To keep up with the motorcycles born on Lake Como, because the four-cylinder Gilera are far, far away, in Norton we get to imitate the shape of the fairing, but with less than brilliant results. It takes little to give Ray Amm’s 350-500 an “anteater”, thanks to that extended protuberance that exceeds the size of the front wheel. The aerodynamic study of light aluminum sheet hulls was carried out in Norton with decidedly rudimentary, not to say empirical, means.

Remember, there is no money for racing, so instead of a wonderful wind tunnel like that of the Moto Guzzi (it was born in 1950 and gave birth to excellent and profiled fairings that are pure “bell” shaped), a simple fan is used. that moves the air along the maquette of the aerodynamic coating; to verify the behavior of the “fluid threads”, many strips of paper, glued as best as possible, dance frantically to indicate the whirling motion and the stretch to be modified for the best aerodynamic penetration.

The anteater fights in the GPs like a lion, obviously British, thanks to the help of a driver who comes from Rhodesia, and we are always in the possessions of his Majesty. Ray Amm is a guy who never gives up: he shows his best at the Tourist Trophy of 1953, where he wins the 350 and 500; repeats the victory in the top category the following year, in a controversial edition interrupted in advance by the commissioners for the rain, with Duke and the 4-cylinder Gilera in clear recovery on Amm. In 1955, after the withdrawal of Norton from the GP, he marries in MV Agusta and his prospects are brilliant, but he died in Imola, during the 350 Shell Gold Cup race, crashing into an iron stake, a type of accident common to many other drivers of those disastrous years.

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