1960 Chris Vincent 500cc BSA
Sidecar 
Eric Oliver was, in the years after World War
Two, the finest racing sidecar rider in the
world. He was World Champion four times, won
an Isle of Man TT race and countless minor road
races always ona Norton-Watsonian outfit like
the one pictured. In later years success would
have been easier on a foreign multi cylinder
machine but fiercely patriotic Oliver stuck
to the British single cyclinder saying he had
flown British during the war and would always
race British
As a flight engineer on Lancaster bombers he
had safely returned from an almost unprecedented
47 missions and came to regard number 13 as
his lucky number. Given the choice he would
wear it on his racing bike. Although in his
championship years he had help from Norton,
who provided works engines and Watsonian always
provided his sidecar, he built his own machine
mixing and matching new and old parts to suit
his needs. After trying out the Norton Road
holder forks seen on this machine he soon reverted
to the old pre-war style girder forks until
Nortons gave him experimental telescopic forks
they had discarded for solos. His constant changes
in the search for the most competitive outfit
makes it difficult to identify them now. Particularly
because be liked to ride a solo machine in the
Isle of Man TT races as a typical clubman private
owner and bought a Manx Norton like this with
an extra engine so he could ride in both 350cc
and 500cc races. That was a ploy which went
back to his grass track racing days when he
was a champion with one bike and two engines
changed by helpers between races. Striving to
beat later competitors with faster engines Oliver
was first to develop streamlining with the help
of Watsonian Sidecars. It helped on fast circuits
but hindered on slow ones by limiting the amount
he and his passenger could lean in and out of
corners.
His success was the result of utter dedication
to the task, meticulous preparation and practice.
Before every race he and his passenger would
practice the push start with the result they
were always away first. When faster outfits
got in front Oliver would plan to outwit them,
For several laps he would pretend to overtake
the leader on a bend from one side. By the last
corner of the last lap, by which time the rival
moved to block an attack from the usual side,
Oliver would make his bid from the other side,
this trick nearly always worked.
He twice made comebacks after retiring as a
professional, In 1955 he rode a roadster Norton
Domintaor with touring sidecar and seated lady
passenger amidst the pure racing outfits and
finished 10th and by no means last.
In 1978 he build himself an outfit, very much
like the one pictured for vintage racing and
scored his final victory at Brands Hatch on
number 13. Above all he was brave and resourceful.
Fearing he would be banned from a Grand Prix
by the medics, if he sought treatment for a
broken ankle he flew to London, had it strapped
up and returned the same day, next day he rode
and won.
This machine is truly historic not just because
it won the 1962 Isle of Mann International Tourist
Trophy sidecar race but the way it did. Designed,
constructed, developed and ridden by Vincent
himself, it interrupted the eight year domination
of the Isle of Man Blub Riband race by the German
BMW racers. Almost beyond belief he did it with
a production sports roadster engine from the
BSA range he had tuned himself, with advice
from his colleagues in the BSA experimental
department.
The BMW power units were limited production
racing engines, very expensive and only available
to selected riders. They produced as much as
25% more power than Vincent's humble twin.
His performance was not a flash in the pan
but the culmination of three years of racing
development. In 1960 and 1961 he had been in
the picture in the Isle of Man race when mechanical
trouble stopped him, but had scored countless
successes on enclosed circuits. The background
story is that, after severl years as a grass
track sidecar champion, he decided to switch
to road racing. Surveying the scene he seems
to have decided it was a power race with BMW
power in the lead, but he felt that a smaller
lighter outfit with better streamlining would
not need so much power and if the steering and
road holding could be improved it could gain
on the corners what it lost on the straights.
So Vincent's outfit was noticeably sleek. His
own design of fornt wheel suspension by a long
keading fork controlled by easily adjusted damper
spring units, could be turned to suit track
conditions, the rear wheel suspension was unusual
but it was light and seems to have worked well.
The BSA parallel twin shooting Star type A7
did not appear to be altered externally......Vincent
was never prepared to talk about the internals.
It swept into bends noticeably fast, held a
tight line ands sped away ahead of machines
hampered by wheelspin. After a mounting scale
of wins at various circuits, race watchers decided
Vincent was an exceptionally skilled rider.
No noticeable change was made in the Chris
Vincent BSQ in the five years of its active
life. A unit construction A50 engine with two
carburettors and a little more power, replaced
the old A7 unit when it became available.
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