Peter Williams, from Nottingham, England, was a Grand Prix and TT competitor in the 1960’s and 1970’s. He started his racing on UK race circuits in 1964 and won the 250cc class of the 1964 Thruxton 500 race on an AJS model 14 CSR.
Williams won the 1966 North West 200 500cc race in Northern Ireland on a Matchless.
In Grand Prix, he reached the top step once, winning in a wet the 350cc race at the Ulster round. His best placing was fourth in the 1967 500cc championship.
Williams scored one first place (Formula 750 in 1973) and seven second places in the TT.
Notably, Peter was an engineer, not just a rider. In early 1967, he marketed an engineering solution to enable a proprietary disc brake assembly produced and merchandised by Rickman Motorcycles to be fitted to Manx Norton and AJS 7R/Matchless G50 racing machines.
Williams had a long-standing relationship with sponsor Tom Arter, riding his Arter-AJS (350cc) and Arter-Matchless (500cc) machines which were later developed with special lightweight frames, disc brakes and introduced six-spoke, solid-cast Elektron (alloy) wheels to racing.
Williams was the standout performer for the British team at the 1973 Transatlantic Trophy match races aboard the John Player Norton.
The Transatlantic Trophy match races pitted the best British riders against the top North American road racers on 750cc motorcycles in a six-race series in England. Williams ended the series as the top individual points leader with three victories along with a second place and third place results.
His competitive riding career was ended by injuries suffered in a racing accident at Old Hall Corner, Oulton Park on August Bank Holiday Monday, 26 August 1974, when the fibreglass one-piece fuel tank/seat/tail unit became detached.
Peter Williams died in 2020, aged 81.