Welcome to our little sanctum where we promise no mention of pandemics or politics! We begin with some sad news and the passing of Peter Williams. That rare blend of great rider and open-minded, pioneering engineer, bikes were Peter’s way of exercising his brilliant mind. His bikes like the Monocoque Norton or his faithful Arter Matchless G50 were, for their time, engineering leaps ahead of the competition, despite their old-school Brit engines. Magnesium wheels on a bike? Sheet metal frames? ‘You know how good your ideas are by the resistance you encounter from the great swathes, afraid of change’ my nanny would say – especially true of Peter.
It was truly sad to hear of his passing in December and I am grateful I had a chance to see him at the Bristol show a few years back, smiling away, despite not being in the best of health. I hope our look at Pee- Jay’s life and a rare test of the Monocoque JPN Norton does him justice.
We have also just heard of Hubert Auriol passing away.This Frenchman, born in Ethiopia, was not only the first rider to win the Paris Dakar rally, but won on a bike twice, both times on a BMW, before winning a third time in the 1992 Paris- Cape Town rally in a car. The off-road equivalent to John Surtees then helped

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• Fine Gardening – January February 2021
• Architectural Digest India – January-February 2021