Great shot of Peter Williams at Daytona
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johnm
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Hi
Did you ever have the opportunity to meet and talk with Peter? I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time with him when he visited NZ about 18 years ago.
Peter was a very intelligent and intellectual person. He was extraordinarily modest and could be called an English gentleman. More like a university professor than a professional road racer.
His choices about his career and the machines he rode came from a fascination and passion for engineering. His accident was tragic but he went on to follow his engineering career and he seemed to me a very happy man both in his career and his family.
Definitely one of the most remarkable and thoroughly nice people I have met.
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I spent most of my working life as a scientist in large engineering factories which had the same sort of old style hierarchy the Norton factory had. Peter Williams obviously had a lot of brains, but he would have really been behind the 8-ball. It does not matter how much you might love such an organisation, it is almost impossible to change it from within, I am sorry he failed to get sense out of Norton, but at least he tried.
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I watched Hailwood ride a Manx at Winton Raceway in about 1974. He was most unimpressive. He also rode all tucked-in and super smooth. - More modern bikes handle differently, often you have to hang off them to get around. It is almost impossible to get a lot of lean with the older style bikes, and they don't need it anyway. They were set up to cope with shit tyres.
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Peter Williams raced Tom Arter's ' Wagon Wheels. The steering geometry he used on the Nortons was probably very similar. My Seeley probably has slightly more trail - if I climbed off the side f it to get around a corner, it would probably tie itself into a knot. Most modern bikes steer neutral and put more side loading on the tyres. Nimble might be dangerous when you have a lot of power.
trident sam
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I met and spoke with him several times, and would agree with your interpretation .
Hailwood was one of the riders that help contribute to the development of the Dunlop racing triangle type tyres in the 1960s that other riders couldn't get on with.
1974 would be 6 years after his "forced" retirement from the sport, so I would expect him to be a little rusty.
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Hailwood "rusty" would still beat most anybody. 
Re Peter Williams - I met/talked with him for quite a while at a Norton get-together during the IOM Manx GP a few years ago...AND I have the (autographed) T-shirt!!
As has been stated many times, I was impressed with his willingness to sit and talk about things that he has probably had to talk about on endless occasions but I guess that's the price of fame at whatever level. Paul and Ringo are still asked the same questions about the Beatles that were asked/answered 50 years ago!
Re the pic that was posted in the lead post in this thread - is it available in a large print somewhere?
Re Peter Williams - I met/talked with him for quite a while at a Norton get-together during the IOM Manx GP a few years ago...AND I have the (autographed) T-shirt!!
As has been stated many times, I was impressed with his willingness to sit and talk about things that he has probably had to talk about on endless occasions but I guess that's the price of fame at whatever level. Paul and Ringo are still asked the same questions about the Beatles that were asked/answered 50 years ago! Re the pic that was posted in the lead post in this thread - is it available in a large print somewhere?
True.Hailwood "rusty" would still beat most anybody.
He was in the 1971 Race of the Year on a 350 tz Yamaha, and I watched him swoop around the outside of none other than Jarno Saarinen on Devils Elbow, also on a Yamaha TZ350.
Jarno very closely followed him for three laps learing all the race lines and breaking points until Hailwood's bike broke.
Saarinen won this race in 1972, I wondered how he improved that much?
baz
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If only you had been around back then to advise Peter Williams and Mike Hailwood where they were going wrong!
I reckon they could have been successful ?
Jeez!!!!!!!!
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They were both great riders, anyone who can come back and win the TT in 78 after that long a lay off does not need to brag, and never did ....Hailwood was no mechanic either knew very little about the workings of the machine....but still the best ever all rounder in my opinion........some people on here are the complete opposite always blowing their own trumpet, its the only way they get noticed!
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Please excuse me for having an opinion. I was around back then and worked on the bike Hailwood rode at Winton. I think it was after that, when he returned to the UK and rode the Ducati on the IOM - and won. He was in New Zealand for a few years. Then returned to the UK and was killed on a motorway. The timeline escapes me.
Schwany
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Where can I get a trumpet? I'm so misunderstood.
I know nothing about P Williams or Norton racing history, but he definitely appears to be applying the throttle at that turn exit. No disrespect meant. He looks like a natural on a Norton, so to speak.
I know nothing about P Williams or Norton racing history, but he definitely appears to be applying the throttle at that turn exit. No disrespect meant. He looks like a natural on a Norton, so to speak.
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Doing that is the only way to get an advantage with a Commando based bike. It depends on the set-up whether you can do it. Peter Williams seems to have worked from his experience with Tom Arter. He would always have had less horsepower to play with than other riders. My friend was in the UK with Kim Newcombe when Peter Williams was racing. Newcombe had the 500cc Konig two stroke. i am fairly certain they raced against each other.
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