Notes:
Born in 1949 at Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, England, Roger Williamson started competing at the age of 12, driving a kart built by his father Dodge Williamson, a former speedway rider. At 18, as soon as he was old enough to hold a driving licence, he moved to Mini racing, driving a 850 saloon, then he progressed to a very fast Ford Anglia which he campaigned with his "giant-killing" style and considerable success until 1970. After he had his Formula 3 debut, he came under the wing of Tom Wheatcroft, one of the best-known figures in British motor racing, team owner, race promoter and car builder who later became the owner of Britain's Donington Park race circuit and museum. They first met at the 1971 Monaco Formula 3 Grand Prix, then Williamson raced under Wheatcroft’s patronage throughout his career.

Backed by Wheatcroft Racing, the red-haired Roger Williamson won three Formula 3 titles in Britain - the BRSCC/MCD Lombard North Central Championship in a March 713M-Ford/Holbey, in 1971; the BRSCC/MCD Shell Super Oil Championship and the BARC/Forward Trust Championship in a March 723-Ford/Holbay soon replaced by a GRD 372-Ford/Holbay, in 1972. His talent was recognised by winning the first prize at the 1971 Grovewood Award and the British Racing and Sports Car Club “Driver of the Year”. Roger Williamson had wins at home and on the continent circuits, including La Chatre and Clermont Ferrand in France, Anderstorp and Zandvoort. In 1972 he won the prestigious John Player British Grand Prix support race at Silverstone. He competed also in different categories, finishing sixth in a Brands Hatch Formula Atlantic race driving a GRD, and seventh at Oulton Park on 14 October 1972, in a Rothmans Formula 5000 Championship race, at the wheel of the Kitchmac-Chevrolet, a McLaren M10B chassis modified by Tony Kitchener.

In 1973 Roger Williamson competed in the European Formula 2 Championship, at first with the underperforming GRD 273–Ford. He finished seventh in the Grand Prix Automobile de Pau, scoring two championship points because two FIA graded drivers ineligible for points such as François Cevert, winner of the race in the Elf 2 (Alpine A367)-Ford, and Tim Schenken in the Motul Rondel M1-Ford, finished ahead of him. When the Wheatcroft Racing International team switched to the dominant March 732-BMW, Roger Williamson obtained an outright win in the Gran Premio della Lotteria at Monza, and three weeks later he was well on his way to win once again in a non-championship race at Misano, until engine problems intervened. His ascension to Formula 1 in mid-1973 was seen as the beginning of a great career at the top of the sport.

Wheatcroft was planning for a full Formula 1 season in 1974 for his protégé Roger Williamson. He discussed a contract with Ken Tyrrell for two cars, and also meditated to run a private McLaren M23 for him. He even hired engineer Ian Phillips to work for them. A deal with the STP March team was done mid-season when their factory driver Jean-Pierre Jarier deserted the Formula 1 car, being busy winning the European Formula 2 title. Wheatcroft Racing embarked on a Formula 1 Grand Prix campaign and Roger Williamson made his debut in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 14 July 1973, only to be involved in the famous Jody Scheckter's first lap big accident at Woodcote, in which nearly a dozen cars were destroyed, being only Andrea de Adamich so severely injured that he never raced again.

Williamson had previously tested for the Marlboro-BRM team in February 1973, but was advised not to take the drive by Wheatcroft, who wanted him in a Cosworth-powered car, and instead took a race seat with March. His mind was set on proving himself the most exciting and promising of the many young lions from Britain, trying to establish themselves on the sport's top level.

Wheatcroft’s private entry in the British Grand Prix, was changed into works status for the subsequent Dutch Grand Prix, two weeks later. The race held at Zandvoort on 29 July 1973, could have been remembered as Jackie Stewart’s 26th career win, breaking Jim Clark’s record, but sadly it is remembered for very different reasons.

On his eighth lap Roger Williamson, who was in only his second Formula 1 race in the March 731–Ford Cosworth DFV, lost control of the car and crashed hard, as a result of a suspected tyre failure. It happened after the Schleivak turn, Williamson had just negotiated the first of the two Hondenvlak fast left-right bends. The car bounced on the outside into an inadequately secured barrier, which launched it across the track, coming to rest upside down, right on the apex of the second right-hander. The fuel cell of the March ruptured upon the shunt, it was soon engulfed in flames, with the driver trapped in the cockpit. Marshals were unable to put out the fierce fire, all of them with insufficient equipments.

Another brave British driver, his fellow newcomer David Purley also in a March 731–Ford, stopped his car and ran to assist. He hurled himself into the flames and began a desperate attempt to free his friend, trying to overturn the car on his own. Millions of television viewers saw Purley wildy gesticulating for help from marshals, other drivers and spectators, but no one came to his aid. He ran to the opposite side of the track to get a fire extinguisher, which he emptied into the burning car’s cockpit. But to no avail Williamson died from smoke inhalation, in terrible circumstances. Wheatcroft said: "He was like a son to me - such a big part of my life. It was the saddest day of my life, but I have so many good memories of him."

The Dutch Grand Prix was not stopped. For over 50 laps Ronnie Peterson led the race in his JPS Lotus 72D–Ford, followed by the Tyrrell 006-Ford pair of Jackie Stewart and François Cevert. With six laps to go, Peterson had gearbox trouble that forced him into a withdraw, and Tyrrell obtained an impressive 1-2 win. Third finished James Hunt, in his Hesketh March 731-Ford. A few months later, Purley was awarded the George Medal, the highest civilian award in UK, for his heroism.

Roger Williamson's crash happened almost at the same section of the track in which Piers Courage lost his life three years earlier, as an inevitable result of an eerily similar fiery accident. Since then the names of the two drivers have been linked. The connection was formalised in 2013, with the unveiling of a joint marble memorial, located in front of the main tunnel to the infield of the circuit. The stretch in which the accidents occurred was cut off from the modern Zandvoort track, extensively modified in 1990.

In 2003, on the thirtieth anniversary of his fatal crash, a bronze statue of Williamson was unveiled at the Donington Park circuit. Roger Williamson's sister Barbara Upton attended the ceremony at the track in Leicestershire, the English county where he grew up and started his racing career.

The decade of the 1970s was particularly tragic to British racing, which experienced the fall of its “Lost Generation”. Contemporaries of the World Champion James Hunt, these racers competed together in Formula 3 but lost their lives in awful consequences before reaching the sport’s highest glories. Roger Williamson was killed at Zandvoort in 1973, aged 24. Tony Brise was 23-year-old when he lost his life in a air crash on 29 November 1975, while returning to Britain from a test in France with his team boss Graham Hill and four members of his team. The racing career of another British rising star, David Purley was cut short by a terrible accident at Silverstone in 1977; he was never able to race as before and eight years later he died crashing into the sea while piloting his stunt aircraft. In a space of less than four years since Williamson’s accident, Tom Pryce's name was added to this somber list, being killed at Kyalami during the 1977 South African Grand Prix. Two of them lost their lives while racing. All of them had the potential to become Formula 1 World Champions.

• Book "The International Motor Racing Guide", by Peter Higham, David Bull Publishing, Phoenix, United States, ISBN 1-893618-20-X, pages 73, 75 and 909.
• Book "Grand Prix Data Book 1997", by David Hayhoe and David Holland, 3rd. edition, Duke Marketing, Douglas, Isle of Man, United Kingdom, 1996, ISBN 0-9529325-0-4, page 178.
• Book "The Lost Generation: The Tragically Short Lives of 1970s British F1 Drivers Roger Williamson, Tony Brise and Tom Pryce" by David Tremayne, foreword Tom Wheatcroft, Haynes Publishing, 2007, ISBN 1844252051.
• Book "Thunder in the Park. The Story of Tom Wheatcroft and Donington Park" by Tom Wheatcroft, Live Wire Books, UK, 2005, ISBN 10 0954286057.
• Magazine Autosprint, issue 30 July 1973.
• Magazine Autosprint, issue 06 August 1973.
• Magazine MotorSport, issue of May 2013, page 44.
• Magazine MotorSport, issue of November 2013, page 30 and page 104.
• Website AUTOSPORT → Forums → The Nostalgia Forum, thread "Speed's Ultimate Price: The Toll", page 21, posting by "ReWind", message http://forums.autosport.com/topic/9705-speeds-ultimate-price-the-toll/page-21#entry1472063 .
• Website Old Racing Cars, by Allen Brown, page http://www.oldracingcars.com/car.asp?CarID=721G/4 .
• Website Road&Track, article "Roger Williamson died before his time", page http://www.roadandtrack.com/racing/race-car-drivers/roger-williamson-fatal-formula-one-crash .
• Website Facebook - F5000 Racing Cars, page https://www.facebook.com/groups/38786554343/permalink/10160155013719344/ .
• Website Roger Williamson Bio, page http://www.asag.sk/bio/williamson.htm .
• Website Find A Grave: Roger Williamson.
• E-mail by Hans Fohr, dated 24 March 2005.
• E-mail by Adam Ferrington, dated 22 May 2005, citing Roger Williamson's birth certificate.
• E-mail by Ron Currie, dated 30 September 2005.