There might yet be hope for Nortons

In the 1970s, Rod Coleman sponsored Pat Hennen on a TR750 which had a British frame. The Suzuki factory would not allow it to be raced in Europe. But I saw it several times in Australia.

And the link of that information to your original assertion of this thread is.... ?

If you never think about what could be, it will never be. The Japanese motors were often better than their frames. Racing improves the breed, but where are the development classes ? Twin-cylinder four strokes are not four-cylinder superbikes or two strokes. And you do not use them for the same purposes. The Paton 500 is the current ultimate in the development of twin cylinder four strokes - it is compared with the MV3 500. It almost gets there.
I like the concept of the 961. But balance shafts and a 270 degree crank are not really about performance. If it gets raced against similar bikes- might be interesting. The main thing is the botom end, it might still be the limiting factor.
I suggest race classes should be developed with the same mindset which applied when the IOM TT began. The classes were designed to create a level playing field.
One thing I would never do when I raced was buy the fastest bike so I could win races. I could eassily have bought an H2R Kawasaki in the early 70s, and I would have done it justice - BUT WHY ?
I know when I am on a winner, but money is bullshit - buying your way to fame does not do anything for me. Enjoying life is more about the journey than the destination.
Mike Hailwood is said to have been the best road racers ever. But the best riders are those who change the bikes to go fasrer through feed-back. When you get on a fast bike, the bike shapes you until you catch-up, then it is up to you to bring the bike to the next level.

A bike is a machine a machine is no good without a operator, to get the best out of a machine you need a good operator, there are operators that are bad, then you get a operator who has natural abilities and experience which makes a machine perform the best, but of course machines do break, some before their limits and some way over their limits, same as bikes whether used on the dirt, road or the track they are no good without a good rider who has a understanding of their own bike.
Also natural ability plays a big part and even riders who have been riding since they were kids and are experienced don't mean they are good riders if they don't have that natural ability, over 50 years of riding (have never been without a bike) and only been off the road 4 times from injuries and 2 licence suspension, I am self taught when I first jumped on a bike, I learned by my mistakes on dirt bikes, it's very rare I make mistakes these days but it does happen sometimes no one is perfect and if you think you can jump on a bike without ever riding it and think you can ride it to its limits straight away then you are asking for trouble even with natural abilities you still got to get the feel of the bike, some can do it quicker than others, but you got to have that safety aspect as well no matter how experienced you are.
Know your own ability and how far you can push yourself as well as your bike and if you don't then you might get into trouble or indanger others.
I have always put trust in my Norton and the way I built it and now with new owner of Norton and new modern factory things are looking up but they also need to be made that people can afford them.

Everybody has the same ears and the same eyes. Both of those things send messages to your brain. Riding a motorcycle is logical. The bike trains you. A bad bike helps you make mistakes, a good bike helps you to become better. Learning to ride a motorcycle fast on public roads is for idiots. On a race track, there are no speed limits and the corners and straights repeat. As soon as I get my bike onto Winton Racewaty, I always know what it is doing as far as handling and performance are concerned. If I rode it there for 5 laps, made any needed adjustments and then told you how to ride it, I could put you on it, and you would rode it very well. It would shape you riding style to suit it. But that is only one bike. Really good riders have usually had experience riding many different bikes, so they adapt faster.

I am probably a fairly good rider. It is not due to natural ability, but intelligence and a lot of crashes. I think If I got onto a modern motorcycle on a race circuit, I would not know where I was. And if the bike did not handle well, I would have a very big crash.

It is no good getting old if you do not get smarter, and if you do not get smarter you might not get old.

Ron Toombs was probably 70 when he crashed off Mount Panorama into the trees and died from loss of blood. He could turn up to a road race meeting and win the three main races. He did not go anywhere until he was 43. Then he became unbeatable. Bill Horsman is similar. He went to the IOMTT a few years ago, and really thrashed them. If you were ever in a road race and saw either of them on the grid beside you, you knew what was going to happen.
Most of the MotoGP riders seem to have come up through motocross then get sponsored on good road race bikes. Tfat is a much better way to go. Mike Hailwood's daddy bought him the best 350cc race bike on which to learn- the Mondial. - Helped him to become a natural.
Really good riders are obsessive compulsive.