It’s that man Parr again!

In reply to Jamie Allium’s letter in the May OBM, Jamie asked: “Was Chic Parr a tuner?”

My first meeting with Chic was at a national meeting at Snetterton in July 1968. I was racing my 500cc Velocette, Chic walked across in the paddock and started chatting about my Velo; after a few minutes I realised who it was from photos from one of the motorcycle papers I’d kept and had looked at many times. Anyway he invited me to his place at Linslade, Leighton Buzzard. I drove there a couple of weeks later and spent most of the day there. He told me about a 250 that he’d built from a 350 Velocette KTT engine, and showed me the frame he’d made which only weighed 19lb and which housed a 1937 350 (I think) KTT modified engine. Chic showed me a five-speed gearbox with the internals made by him from a copy of internals lent to him by Bertie Goodman (the Velocette MD) and a number of parts were drilled for lightness. Unfortunately there wasn’t a Parvel race bike there that day. Chic also told me he planned to build a 500cc Venom-based racer, which I believe he did. I hoped I would come across it at race meetings I was riding in, but unfortunately never did. I am so pleased I met Chic and I will always remember the day I spent with him - a wonderful engineer, tuner and enthusiast. Unfortunately Chic passed away in 1970 when he was only 41 years old. I’m certain he would have achieved so much more.

Dave Hartley, Cambridgeshire