The late Norman Brown talking to Fast Freddie.
In the short 4 years Norman raced competitively he amassed over 40 wins and over 50 other podium finishes.
It was on the 1st Sept 1981 that he first visited the Isle Of Man to compete at the Manx GP and not only did Norman win the Newcomers Junior race he also broke the lap record with a time of 20m 56.8s /108.7mph and the race record with a time of 1h 27m 16.2s / 103.76mph.
The Newcomers race that Norman won was only reintroduced in 1978. Newcomers races known as Snaefell races were previously held in 1957 & 1958.
Norman finished the meeting with a 2nd place in the Lightweight race onboard his Yamaha 250 with a time 1:28:01s / 102.86mph
Norman also finished the year with 2nd place in 1981 Ulster Road Race 350cc championship.
1982 started with 9 wins at Aghadowey and 3 wins at Kirkistown, but it was on the 7th June that Norman created history competing at the Isle Of Man TT at his first attempt Norman won the Senior TT as a privateer onboard a Hector Neill sponsored Suzuki with a time of 2:02:22s /110.98mph after winning the Manx Newcomers Jnr race the previous year.
Two riders, Northern Irish Norman Brown and Swiss
Peter Huber suffered a fatal accident at 15h40 on Sunday, 31 July 1983, during the sixth lap of the 500 cc race of the British Grand Prix.
As a light rain was falling, Brown was seen coming down Hangar Straight with his left arm held straight up. He was travelling at about 40 mi/h (64 km/h), clearly experiencing mechanical problems, and he was trying to get back to the pits or waiting for a chance to get to the inside of the circuit. Brown took the outside of the track going through Stowe. Entering the corner he was in full view of riders coming down the straight at about twice his speed. A few riders safely overtook him before the corner, but as Brown exited Stowe, still holding the outside and waving his hand, he found himself on the racing line in a point where it was extremely difficult for the coming riders to see him.
A first group of three racers came out Stowe and found Brown about seven meters from the apex of the corner and several feet from the edge of the track. The three riders managed to avoid him, two of them by passing on the outside on the small concrete overrun between the grass and the track. Brown continued another 20-30 meters, as another group of riders approached Stowe. The last rider in the group was Huber who had his view obscured by the competitors in front of him. As Huber exited the corner, he turned his head back to control his position, as it was usual to do in that point of the track. Doing that he did not see the slow bike ahead and went at full speed in the back of Brown.
Doctors quickly came to attend the riders, as the race continued for some minutes, then Kenny Roberts, who was in the lead, started waving his hand to urge the officials to stop the race, which was eventually halted on the eighth lap.
Brown was pronounced dead at the track. Huber was found unconscious and was taken by helicopter to the Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Eleven times TT winner Steve Hislop reckoned Brown was "One of the best (riders) I ever saw" and believed that if he hand't died Norman would have "blown Joey Dunlop and the rest into the weeds"
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