Norma M20 FC (Hillclimb/CN)

The Norma M20 is continental Europe's hillclimb weapon: the French-built CN sports-prototype that owns the FIA European Hill Climb Championship and the continent's great mountain courses, from Trento-Bondone to St. Ursanne.

2020sCN / FIA European Hill Climb Cat. 2

History

Norma Auto Concept of Saint-Céré built its reputation on the CN class — lightweight two-seat sports prototypes with production-based two-litre engines — and the M20 family (M20, M20F, definitive M20 FC) became the class's reference: a carbon-bodied, tube-and-composite chassis around 550 kg, most commonly powered by Honda K20-derived engines tuned toward 300 hp, with aero generating serious load at mountain-road speeds.

European hillclimbing's blue riband — the FIA European Hill Climb Championship, run on legendary courses like Trento-Bondone (17 km of hairpins), Rechbergrennen and Osnabrück — became Norma territory: Simone Faggioli's record-shattering career (a dozen-plus European titles) was built overwhelmingly in M20 evolutions, with Christian Merli's rival Osella duels defining the discipline's modern era. Course records across the Alps fell to the car repeatedly.

Beyond Europe's hills, M20s raced in VdeV endurance and CN circuit series, but the mountain remains home. The market operates like a professional tool exchange: chassis are known, Faggioli-connected provenance carries cachet, and cars sell with venue data — because in a discipline where every course is different and practice is minutes long, the setup book is half the machine.

Palmarès

FIA European Hill Climb Championship titles throughout the 2010s–2020s (Faggioli's record run in Category 2), Italian CIVM championships beyond count, outright records at Trento-Bondone and the championship's classic venues; French and Swiss mountain titles; plus CN-class circuit racing wins in VdeV — the most decorated modern hillclimb machine in Europe.

What to check before you buy

Buy the package, not just the tub: competitive M20s transfer with venue-specific data, gear stacks for different mountains and a relationship with Norma or the specialist preparers (mostly Italian and French) who dominate the paddock. Verify chassis crash history — armco is close in this sport — engine builder and rebuild hours on the K20-based unit, and which evolution (M20F vs FC vs FC 'EVO' updates) the car represents, since aero and suspension differ. Faggioli/Merli-era provenance adds collector value atop the tool price.

Did you know

Trento-Bondone climbs over 1,350 vertical metres through 40+ hairpins — M20 records there average speeds that circuit racers refuse to believe until shown onboard footage.
Faggioli's European title count in Norma machinery exceeds any driver's haul in any FIA championship discipline — hillclimbing's Schumacher, barely known outside it.
CN rules require two seats and 'sports car' bodywork — the M20's passenger space is a legal fiction roughly the size of a shoebox.