Reigning TT Privateer's Champion Ian Mackman now has three laps under his belt on the all-new Norton machine but admits there's work to be done to the RSV-Aprilia engined bike. The Runcorn rider first went out on the bike on Tuesday evening, posting a lap of 112.364mph and improved ever so slightly on Wednesday to 112.48mph.

"Tuesday night was just a gentle lap really, more of a shakedown than anything else but I enjoyed it. We made some changes for Wednesday evening but we've a bit of work to do as it's a fair bit unstable, both in a straightline and especially over the bumps. I'm having to roll off the throttle in a lot of places but we're learning all the time and I've completed three laps now without any major problems so that's good," he said, speaking to bikesportnews.com this afternoon.

"Completing each lap is really crucial as the more information we get about the bike and what it's doing where is really important. To be fair, my ZX-10 was a bit of a handful on the first lap so we'll continue to make changes and hopefully go in the right direction."

As well as the Norton, Mackman also has the Kemtile ZX-10R Kawasaki Superbike and Hairy Snid ZX-6R Supersport machine to ride this week and has already got close to his personal best. Wednesday night saw him lap at 124.335mph on the ex-Dan Kneen Kawasaki, which is only two seconds slower than his best ever lap around the Mountain Course.

"Like I say, the handling on the ZX-10 was a fair way off on the first night but we've got it working really well now and to lap at 124.3mph on just the third night of practice is brilliant. I'm really happy with it so, hopefully, there's more to come."