Classic camera

The hard-charging RAF man who enjoyed a relatively brief, successful spell in the limelight, died earlier this year.

Chris Conn, who has passed away aged 83, is pictured here at Mallory Park, in March 1965, aboard one of the Manx Nortons on which he enjoyed so much success.

Originally from Bristol, it was while serving with the RAF in Singapore, Conn had his first go at racing, on a Triton. Finding he quite liked it he enjoyed some success, so much so that when he returned to the UK, he acquired a Manx Norton (from Syd Lawton, who was friends with his stepmother) and embarked on a racing career in 1961.

He found the competition a bit tougher than in the far east, but he persevered, graduating to a new 500cc Manx (thanks to Lawton’s influence) in

1962. On it, Corporal Conn (he was still in the RAF) claimed the newcomer’s award at the Manx GP. It was the start of a successful Isle of Man career, recording an eighth place finish in the 1962 Senior race.

The RAF were interested and supportive of his racing, enabling him to win the Singapore GP as well as the Southern 100, in 1963, though he suffered a couple of serious crashes and bad injuries. But he was fit for 1964’s TT, best being 10th on an AJS in the Junior, then there was seventh in the

1965 Junior TT on a Norton. But his finest hours were arguably his pair of third place finishes in the 1966 Junior and Senior races, both on Nortons, after a short, largely unsuccessful period on Tom Kirby’s AJS/Matchless machinery.

After a tricky start to 1968, Conn realised he wasn’t enjoying it anymore – so, in a race at Cadwell Park, he pulled into the pits, packed up the bikes, went home and never raced again, going on to forge a successful career in business.