Dave Wildman was born in Egerton, Kent, England. In 1998, he was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.

Dave's earliest recollection of motorcycles is from the early 1930s when his father sold their Matchless sidecar outfit. “I hid in the nose of the sidecar when he rode it off to its new owner. Of course, he could feel my weight there, and out I came.” The first bike Dave owned was in 1943 when he was given a 1933 Ariel 350 cc Red Hunter. With its dropped in exhaust valve, this bike lit a passion in Dave which continues to burn brightly today, some 60 years later.

After the war, Dave went to a var-iety of events as a spectator including the Isle of Man races. It was not until he came to Canada in February 1952, that he had an opportunity to compete in trials on a 197cc James. This led to racing at Abbotsford Airport Dave won the Dominion (now Canadian) Motor-cycle Road Race Championship in 1953. He bought a 500 cc long stroke Manx Norton in 1954 which he suc-cessfully raced for two years. After racing the final race at Abbotsford

DAVE WILDMAN - Inducted 2002

Pioneer - Motorcycling

Dave Wildman  (Brian Pratt collection)

from GVMPS files, - edited by Tom Johnston, 2004

Dave Wildman

Airport in 1957, there was a gap in his racing career until 1959 when the Westwood Racing Circuit opened.

Dave still had a burning desire to compete in the Isle of Man races. In 1960, Dave took his family across Canada, took an ocean liner to England, and picked up a Norton Manx from the factory in Birmingham. After placing reasonably well at the races at Brands Hatch and Silverstone, Dave came off the bike in practice at the Isle on Man and spent three days in hospital. Fortunately, Dave had already qualified for the race but unfortunately his

injuries proved to be too much, and he did not finish.

Throughout this time frame, Dave was involved in the Canadian Motor-cycle Association (CMA) BC Region and in forming the BC Motorcycle Racing Club (they later changed they their name to Westwood Motorcycle Racing Club.)

In 1961, Dave decided to give the Isle of Man race another try. He crash-ed again during practice. He did win a bronze replica in the Junior Race (350cc) and a bronze in the Senior Race (500 cc) on the same bike. Therefore, he decided to stay until the 1962 race. Again, he won a bronze replica in the Junior Race, but he retired in the Senior. During this time, he competed at most of the race circuits in the U.K. As a member of the Canadian Team at the Isle of Man, Dave was part of the team which won the Junior Team trophy in 1961 and 1962.

Dave returned to Canada and raced at Westwood, Seattle, Portland and Edmonton. He started Cariboo Motorcycles in 1966 and continues in the business today as a Harley Davidson Dealer in Port Moody.