Sadly, Peter Williams (3), here at Silverstone in 1973 with Mick Grant and Barry Sheene, is no longer with us
Thinking man’s racer, engineering innovator and inspirational role model, Williams leaves a legacy of turning maverick designs into winners on track
Peter Williams, a much-admired racer who immersed himself in the art and science of motorcycling, has died at the age of 81. Six feet tall, wearing glasses and quietly spoken, ‘PJ’ was not so much concerned with battling others on track, as being in a zone of riding and machine perfection that would take him to the win. He opted to apply his engineering expertise to developing British machinery rather than join the wholesale shift to more potent Japanese hardware in the early 1970s.
Arguably, the peak of his career was winning the 1973 Formula 750 TT on the unorthodox John Player Norton Monocoque, a product of his creative brain. That win with a 107.27mph class record lap came after five second placings in Isle of Man racing. But Peter was not only a Mountain Course maestro; he was British 500cc champion in 1970, scratching on short circuits aboard the Arter Matchless G50 that embodied his design ideas. He also put up sterling performances on Continental circuits, although his only Grand Prix victory was in the 1971 350cc Ulster GP as a temporary member of the East German MZ team.
Peter’s father was Jack Williams, a distinguished engineer who raced for several factory teams pre-war and took over as AMC’S racing department chief in 1953. That gave Williams Junior some advantage in climbing the racing ladder, which he did rapidly despite suffering from asthma and lacking the self-confidence and outward swagger that often marks rising stars. Doing well at school, Peter was studying at Woolwich Polytechnic when he became a Brands Hatch practice day regular on a Velocette KSS. He launched
into club racing in his mid-twenties with a used 350cc Norton Manx at Snetterton near the end of the 1963 season.
Peter grabbed attention by wining the 250cc class of the 1964 Thruxton 500 Mile race, partnered by his friend Tony Wood. Their Model 14 CSR AJS single, provided by AMC, was not a bike noted for speed, but they pushed it hard despite starting on part-worn tyres. After finishing third in the 1965 Lightweight Manx GP on a semi-works Orpin Greeves, Peter left his drawing office job at Ford to join the small Thundersley factory’s new road racing department.
Accepting the loan of Kentish garage proprietor Tom Arter’s 350cc Surtees AJS from Mike Duff was a critical move for Peter late in the 1965 season. He immediately took to the lightweight 7R-powered machine with a Ken Sprayson frame and was offered it, along with a 500cc ride, for 1966. That was the beginning of a fruitful collaboration with Arter, who financed the realisation of new design ideas. In 1966 Peter won the 500cc North West 200 on another Sprayson-framed bike that he’d built in conjunction with Arter. In his first TT race, the 350cc Junior, he took a startling second place behind Giacomo Agostini’s MV Agusta, and in 1967 he finished second to Mike Hailwood in an epic Senior after Ago’s drive chain broke.
At the 1967 TT, Williams was approached by Yamaha team bosses, who asked him if he could beat Hailwood and his Hondas. Taken by surprise, he said ‘No’, and regretted that unthinking frankness all his life, yet it was his subsequent exploits on British bikes with a power deficit that earned him great affection from UK fans.
At the end of 1967 he took job at Norton Villiers, which had replaced AMC in the Woolwich factory and was preparing the Norton Commando for production. He was still able to race his beloved Arter G50 all over Europe and at Daytona in 1968, but had moderate success. Transferring to the
‘HE SHOCKED REX WHITE OF THE SUZUKI GB TEAM BY DECLINING AN OFFER TO JOIN IT, PREFERRING TO SEEK GLORY FOR A BRITISH COMPANY’