Chris Vincent (motorcycle sidecar racer)

Chris Vincent (born 1935 in Birmingham, West Midlands) is a former motorcycle sidecar road racer who was very successful in short-circuit (tarmac) racing in the 1960s and early 1970s. He entered Grands Prix using BSA, BMW and URS engines. He also rode solo motorcycles, particularly in the smaller race classes and production-machine categories.

Vincent left school at the age of fifteen and joined the BSA factory situated in Birmingham. In 1954 he joined the Norton race shop and started racing in speedway and on grass using a speedway machine with a JAP engine, later replaced by BSA engines.

Whilst working for Norton, Vincent came into contact with established sidecar racer Cyril Smith and became interested in sidecars, later becoming grasstrack National Sidecar Champion in 1958.

Before becoming well-known through road-racing in the 1960s, Vincent returned to work for BSA as a bike-tester based in the Birmingham area involving road testing for performance and economy including regular stints at the MIRA proving ground.

After racing on grass-tracks and speedway, he graduated to tarmac courses in 1959 on a BSA. He raced a solo BSA Road Rocket in the Thruxton 500 mile endurance race partnered by Norman Storer finishing seventh, and again a BSA C15 in the 1961 Silverstone 1000 endurance event, partnered by Bert Morris, finishing with speedway and selling his outfit in 1961.

He first entered the Isle of Man Sidecar TT race in 1960 followed by 1961, with DNFs in both events. He then won in 1962 with passenger Eric Bliss whom he first raced with for part of the 1961 season, establishing the first all-British Sidecar TT win since 1954, the first mountain circuit win by a British machine since 1925, and the first-ever international TT victory by a BSA.

...
Wikipedia