AUGUST
British race fans lost a favourite when Peter Williams’ racing career was cruelly ended by a crash at Oulton Park
In 1973 Peter Williams had been among the favourites to win the F750 TT, so at Motorcycle News, where I was working at the time, I asked him to take readers on a lap of the course on his John Player Norton. We’d only got seven miles out in this verbal journey, at Ballacraine, when Peter said something that stopped me. He said he liked to loft the front wheel of the Norton briefly on the slope from this slow right-hander leading up to Ballig.
“Why?” I asked.
“To reduce tyre scrub,” he replied.
His response stunned me. How many hundredths of a second would that have saved him on that short rise? Over a 38-mile lap, it was not even measurable. But that was Peter Williams – perfectionist, purist, idealist. At the 1967 Belgian GP he fretted because, on his 500cc Arter Matchless, he would lose 15 metres to the Continental Circus specialist Jack Findlay on the 140mph Malmedy curve. That hurt; so did the ten metres he lost to Findlay at Stavelot. At the TT he worked on a larger scale, often calculating half a mile ahead. That enabled him to shoot out of the Kerrowmoar section, 21 miles out, 10mph mph faster than if his line had been less razor-fine. All riders use similar techniques, of course – but Peter Williams did it better than most.
His approach was a reflection of his character. But it was also necessary, because he was fated to spend most of his career competing against riders who had more power at their disposal. In Junior and Senior TT races, he finished second four times, usually by several minutes, to multi-cylinder Japanese and Italian factory machines, ridden either by Giacomo Agostini or Mike Hailwood. Fifty-three bhp against 80bhp – no contest.
In 1973 there was a slender chance that Peter’s desired Senior TT win might happen. The main opposition was Findlay, on a 75bhp Suzuki twin. Wily Jack was unlikely to make a mistake on the Mountain circuit – but would his two-stroke have the reliability of the metronome MVs? It did, but Peter had the consolation of setting the fastest ever single-cylinder lap at the TT in the classic era of 102.74mph.
He was also a gifted design and development engineer. He introduced to motorcycling the cast wheels and disc brakes that featured on the Arter Matchless, which in its
final form weighted only 292lb (132kg).
He also developed the monocoque John Player Norton that debuted in that 1973 season. The chassis, formed in stainless steel from 600 pieces, weighed only 37lb (17kg). It contained the fuel and oil tanks, ducted cooling air to the engine and contributed to a low drag co-efficient of 0.39.
Peter believed that power was not everything in racing, and strived to achieve low weight and a slippery shape. Unfortunately, re
