Career
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 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.
At the end of that year he retired at the age of 46. Wheeler continued to develop the long-outdated Moto Guzzi (which ceased production around 1953) all through his career, using home built streamlined "dustbin" and "dolphin" fairings and along with Ken Sprayson at Reynolds tubing (Reynolds Tubes Company Limited) he developed a spine frame with swinging arm rear suspension and oil bearing top tube.
Points system from 1950 to 1968:
(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap).