Living the dream
“I first bought a Moto Guzzi in late 1959 when I was 21. I was an apprentice at D Napiers in Acton, who made the Sabre aero engine and the Napier Railton cars. With a fellow apprentice, Bob Smart, we used to go to a lot of race meetings on our motorbikes. I had an AJS 500cc twin, to which I fitted G45 cams, twin carbs and close-ratio gears, and with stiffened suspension it was quicker than most of the Triumph T110s and 500cc Gold Stars that I’d come up against on the roads.
“In the end we decided to go racing ourselves. I was to buy the bike, Bob would provide the transport, and we’d share the riding expenses. Being a bit of a romantic, Bob liked Italian machinery, and he understood more about racing than I did at that time. So that’s how I came to buy a 250cc Moto Guzzi Gambalunghino from Arthur Wheeler, and we took it to a practice day at Brands Hatch. But about that time I was called up to do National Service, so it wasn’t until Easter 1961 that I got to race the bike.
“I was stationed at Detmold in West Germany, but Bob arranged the transport so that I could do a couple of races when I came home on leave that year. I came ninth in my first race at Snetterton on April 3, 1961, then the following day I came seventh at Crystal Palace.
“So in 1962 I really started racing, and it was a good year. I had my first meeting at
