Arthur Wheeler

Who was Arthur Wheeler?

Arthur Frederick Wheeler was a Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Wheeler gained a reputation as one of the top privateer racers on the Grand Prix circuit.

Born in Epsom, Surrey, Wheeler left school at the age of 15 to be an apprentice electrician and engineer. He began his competitive motorcycling career campaigning a Velocette in grass track racing. Opening a motorcycle shop in 1937, he used his profits to enable his motorcycle racing career. When World War II started, Wheeler's engineering skills led him to being chosen to work alongside Barnes Wallis in developing the bouncing bomb.

After the war, his motorcycle business boomed, allowing him to enter Grands Prix racing on the circuits of Continental Europe. Wheeler won the 1954 250 cc 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.