Where did all the original Wildcat bikes end up?
That is a very good question, and I wish I knew the answer. I have no idea of the final destination of the Wildcat 125cc. The Wildcat 150cc 5 port was bought from the shop by my old mate Keith Champion from The Solent City Scooter Club. He raced it a couple of times, at Mallory Park I believe, with reasonable success. But without Les’s clinical attention to it’s preparation it was never as good as its ‘Works’ days. He eventually sold it on, and I do not know of its fate. The Wildcat 175cc was the bike used by my late friend Richard Holmes to run in his race engine on the road, and it was completely destroyed during the crash at the back of Fareham that ended his life. The Wildcat 200cc 5 port was converted into the 225cc Special, then subsequently used as the basis for my Wildcat 158cc. I lent it to fellow Hampshire Union rider Graham Richmond for the Isle of Man scooter week in 1973, and I never saw it again. It may still be languishing in his garage somewhere covered in cobwebs for a
