Norton Motorcycles Goes Into Administration

Today its been reported that Norton Motorcycles has gone into administration, placing around 100 jobs at risk at the British manufacturer which was founded in 1898. The company has been struggling to pay its tax bill and now it looks to have succumbed to debt of around £300,000. The Telegraph reports that, in its last accounts, the company registered sales of £6.7m with pre-tax profits of just £33,701.

Here are a selection of photos I've taken at shows over the last year or so.

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Great Driving Roads: B4425 Burford to Bibury, England

First in a series of videos showing great roads from a driver's perspective. The aim is not to provide flashy, high speed content (which ends with the police on my doorstep), but show footage of whole stretches of good road at legal speeds. Forums are littered with requests for good roads to try and, hopefully, videos like this will take away some of the guess work for people before they decided whether or not to try a route.

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Mini Review: BMW M2 and Ford Mustang GT

Today, Facebook reminded me that I posted the following three years ago (long before 'Motoring Nomad' existed). I'd taken a BMW M2 and a Ford Mustang (the 5.0-litre V8, obviously) for test drives. I actually bought neither and ended up getting a BMW M4 instead, but here were my thoughts following the drives:

BMW M2: Great fun. Nimble, agile with a nice power delivery. I had the backend step out under power within a minute of driving it but it was all predictable. It's got surprising amounts of traction for a small, rear wheel drive car - even at 1 degree C on damp roads. The steering's direct and precise and the car is excellently balanced. The interior's pleasant, well equipped and there's plenty of room.

Ford Mustang: They say you should never meet your heroes... This has big, lethargic V8 power delivery which made the car feel that it couldn't be arsed and needed encouragement to get a move on. A V8 doesn't have to be like that, despite the well worn "lazy" cliches. For such a big car there's sod-all room inside, especially in the rear seat (a passenger wouldn't last more than ten minutes before they'd ask to walk). The interior quality's not as bad as some reviews make out, but it's not good either. And then there's the handbrake. It's on the wrong side - you have to reach over the cup holders and there's no way of holding it without touching your passenger's thigh. It could end up in an embarrassing situation!

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Caffeine & Machine - 11th and 18th January 2020

A combined video of a couple of recent, quick pit stops into C&M. There's still plenty to see though: multiple Ferraris, Porsches, Aston Martins, a Lamborghini, Lancia Delta Integrale, TVR, a Ford Falcon and even a Jensen Interceptor (and more)!

Below is the highlights video and gallery.

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Autosport International 2020

Autosport International is Europe's biggest motorsport show and, on my first ever visit, I was certainly impressed with the huge number (and variety) of vehicles on display.

Below you'll find my highlights video and gallery, containing some rare vehicles, some priceless vehicles and so down right odd vehicles.

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The Cars of '6 Underground'

It's been out a while now, so there's a reasonable chance that you may have watched Michael Bay's latest explosion-fest, 6 Underground, on Netflix. I watched it over the weekend and, although I'd heard about the crazy car chase at the beginning it didn't quite prepare me for the 20 minute bat-shit crazy concoction of testosterone and twisted metal which followed. I say this in a good way.

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Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble, January 2020

The first Sunday Scramble of the year and there was plenty of variety, old and new, on display as always.

Check out the highlights video and gallery below.

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Caffeine & Machine - 4th January 2020

First visit of 2020 to Caffeine and Machine for me, where I was rewarded with some lovely rare cars including a McLaren 675LT, a 600LT, a Porsche Cayman GT4, a Lancia Stratos replica, a Mercedes 190SL, an Aston Martin Zagato and many more.

Check out my highlights video and gallery below.

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