THEY say that life slows down when you retire.

But a 72-year-old Culcheth man spends his pension trying to break speed records on his Suzuki Hayabusa bike.

Pete Williams, of Beaverbrook Avenue, Mee Brow, clocked a personal top speed of 203.1mph on Runway 26 at Elvington airfield in Yorkshire on August 17.

He said: “People think when you get to your 70s it is cloth cap and slippers time but I’m afraid that’s not for me.”

Pete, a member of the Straightliners Club, has been drag racing since 1964 and was the third quickest in Europe on the RAF Topcliffe track on his home-built Triumph Two Faced bike in 1968.

He started speed runs in August 2012 after spending two and a half years modifying his Suzuki Hayabusa.

Pete, who helped run Mee Brow Community Centre before it closed, has also just fitted a nitrous-oxide kit for extra boost.

And despite a heart attack in 1998 and being diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2010 he has never let anything slow him down.

Pete, who is now in remission, added: "I dealt with it by thinking the cancer was just an obstacle before I could get back on my bike.

"We're not here forever. You only get one shot in life and if I give up what am I going to do? Sit and watch the box? I don't think so."

Pete believes he is the oldest person to have achieved a speed of 203.1mph over a mile.

He said: "To put it into perspective, it is as fast as a Formula One car, it is virtually three times the motorway speed limit and 20mph faster than a jumbo jet's take off speed.

"It will silence a few knockers who say I'm over the hill. At least I've got to the top of the hill!

"I reckon I could add five or 10mph on top of my record and I'm currently working on a jet engine in my garage."

Pete wanted to thank staff at Culcheth Medical Centre, Warrington Hospital and Clatterbridge Cancer Centre for helping him with his battle against cancer.