A GREAT GUY
The interview with the Duke of Richmond in the December issue made mention of the untimely death of Chas Guy. While I knew that Chas had been killed in an accident whilst racing, I did not know that it was at the first Festival of Speed. I met Chas only twice – both times at his motorcycle shop ‘Conway Motors’, the famed Vincent specialists on the North Kent coast at Tankerton.
It was the summer of 1987. I had ridden there to buy an electronic ignition conversion kit for my Vincent Comet-engined special. Chas was surprised at my intention to fit the kit to the bike, there and then, outside his shop – and being the generous soul he was, he suggested that we work on it together inside the shop. So, for the rest of the day, in between dealing with customers, he helped me set it all up. It was one of the most enjoyable days working on a bike that I have ever spent. He and his partner even provided lunch of soup and sandwiches.
He would accept no payment, although I was at least able to let him have the bike’s redundant magneto for his spares stock. During the proceedings Chas had identified that my bike had been fitted with a six-volt JG converter instead of the correct 12-volt item – thus explaining a charging problem. He told me to come back once I had the replacement so we could fit it and suggested fitting an ammeter to provide some confidence that the charging circuit was working.
So, two weeks later, I rode back down to Chas’s shop now armed with the correct 12V JG converter and an ammeter. With the bike back in his shop, Chas and I set to fitting the new JG converter and wired in the ammeter (whilst offering apologies to Norton’s onetime engine guru Joe Craig as we drilled yet more holes in the sacred Featherbed frame).
At the end of the day, Chas showed me his Vincent racer. As I sat on the thing it felt low, light and narrow, the view of the enormous engine barely hidden by the fuel tank (off a late ’60s BSA Barracuda 250, I think). Just begging for a ride up the coast to Whitstable and back!
As I rode back to Wimbledon, everything was working as it should with the Comet motor and I counted myself very lucky to have met one of motorcycling’s true gentleman.
Much later I read somewhere that Chas was also involved in racing a Harley Sportster in the BEARS series of the late ’80s; maybe someone else can throw more light on that...