Josh Brookes believes taking an Isle of Man TT podium on the V4-RR SG7 Norton he will ride in 2018 is ‘realistic’.

The Australian has signed with Stuart Garner’s marque for this year’s two-week festival and says the bike has a lot more in it than has been shown so far - even though Brookes finished sixth and bagged a 130mph lap in last year’s Senior.

“The continuity of riding the same bike for two years will be good. At the TT I rode a Suzuki the first year, then a Yamaha the second year, two years off and then a Norton, so there has been a lot of change,” Brookes told BSN from his Bringelly gin palace.

“Also, I haven’t had any time off the TT so that will also be very valuable to me. I was really impressed with the bike last year and I’ve got no reason not to continue with the development.

“If that’s where the bike is in this short period of time, I have high hopes for it to improve further in the time from last to this. The fundamental changes for the bike came in the period between Cam Donald and Davo riding it, so it will be evolution rather than revolution.

“I think that even though I had two years off and am not that experienced at the TT anyway, getting a 130mph lap and a top-six finish was a really good result. I think that it could be a realistic target to get a podium with that bike this year. The bike’s potential is far greater than has been shown so far.

“A lot of things I ticked off last year at the TT were quite time consuming but now I think it is just more setup changes. I would like to use a different swingarm pivot and maybe a shock type. There are a couple of things that we can test quickly that will make a positive change.

“The only thing that might take some time is aerodynamics. I’d like to get more protection from the wind as the bike is quite small, so you feel the wind quite a lot. It doesn’t need anything drastic like windtunnel but some wider brackets and a couple of flared edges could make a difference.”