One of the top privateer racers in the history of the Grand Prix circuit, Arthur Wheeler wins the 250cc class Argentine Grand Prix aboard his ever-trusty Moto Guzzi.
Born in Epsom, Surrey, Arthur Wheeler left school at the age of fifteen to be an apprentice electrician and engineer. With his first paycheck he bought a set of leathers and an old black "pudding basin" helmet from his uncle, the Brooklands race veteran Frank Taylor. He was initiated into Grass Track racing riding a Mark IV Velocette at pre-war venues all over the south-east of England. Then, in 1936, against his parents' strong opposition, he rode at Brooklands in a "Clubman's Day". Although he finished third in two races, reaching speeds of 81.5 mph, his father forced him to sleep for three nights in the garden shed with his Triumph Tiger 100 as a "penance", intended to cure Arthur of his racing bug, it failed to work.
Arthur used his bike skills to open a small, one-man bike shop in 1937, using all the profits to enable his motorcycle racing career. With the outbreak of World War II, Wheeler's engineering skills led him to being chosen to work alongside the legendary scientist (and fellow bike nut) Sir Barnes Wallis in developing the "bouncing bomb".
After the war, he travelled to the circuits around the British Isles and Europe the hard way, transporting himself and his bikes in a 1945 Morris van that had a top-speed of only 45 mph!
After the war, he travelled to the circuits around the British Isles and Europe the hard way, transporting himself and his bikes in a 1945 Morris van that had a top-speed of only 45 mph!
Wheeler won the 1954 250cc class Nations Grand Prix at Monza after the dominant NSU factory racing team withdrew from the race. He was a five-time winner of the North West 200 race in Northern Ireland and won the Leinster 200 at least twice and had a fourth place finish in the Isle of Man Lightweight TT.
Only five months before his death at 84, Arthur Wheeler was racing Classic class motorcycles in Australia on his prized 250cc Moto Guzzi.
Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk
