David W. Garside is an inventor[1] and former project engineer at BSA's Kitts Green research facility.
He is notable for having developed an air-cooled twin-rotor Wankel motorcycle engine which powered the Norton Classic road bike.
[2][3] Although the Classic was not the first production rotary-engined bike, it was significantly lighter, smoother, more powerful and better-handling than the contemporary Suzuki RE5.
Garside studied mathematics and mechanical engineering at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he obtained a first class degree.
Garside then created a prototype twin-rotor engine (with F&S rotors), which doubled the capacity of the earlier test "mule".
[8] The plenum, which doubled as the bike's semi-monocoque frame, enabled the transfer of much of the heat to the surrounding atmosphere.