Norton Dominator

The Norton Dominator was the twin-cylinder motorcycle Norton developed to compete against the Triumph Speed Twin. Bert Hopwood, who had worked on the Speed Twin at Triumph, designed it in 1947 and 1948, and it went on sale in mid 1949 as the Model 7 with a 497 cc parallel twin, setting the pattern for Norton twins for the next thirty years. The Model 77 followed in 500 cc and 596 cc forms, and the Featherbed frame produced the Model 88 in 1951 and the 597 cc Model 99 in 1955, with a Slimline frame from 1960 and the 650SS in 1961. A race-tuned Dominator, the Domiracer, took Tom Phillis to third in the 1961 Isle of Man TT, the first lap over 100 mph by a pushrod engine and by any twin. Paul Dunstall later built tuned Dunstall Nortons from the Domiracer.