Piers Courage

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Piers Courage
Nationality  British
Formula One World Championship career
Active years	1967 - 1970
Teams	Lotus, BRM, Brabham, De Tomaso
Races	29 (27 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podium finishes	2
Career points	20
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First race	1967 South African Grand Prix
Last race	1970 Dutch Grand Prix

Piers Raymond Courage (b. 27 May 1942, Colchester, England - d. 21 June 1970, Zandvoort, Netherlands) was a racing driver from England. He participated in 29 World Championship Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on January 2, 1967. He achieved 2 podiums, and scored a total of 20 championship points.

Piers Courage was the eldest son and heir of the Courage brewing dynasty. Educated at Eton College, he began his racing career in his own Lotus 7, although these early efforts were mostly marked by long periods pointing in the wrong direction following spins.

Following a brief stint touring the European F3 racing circuit in 1964 with a Lotus 22, along with Jonathan Williams, good results persuaded him to pursue a full season in 1965. It was in this season, driving a 1.0L F3 Brabham for Charles Lucas, that he first formed an alliance with Frank Williams, at that time Lucas's other driver and sometime mechanic. A string of good results, including four high-profile wins, encouraged Colin Chapman to offer Courage a seat in a Lotus 41 for the 1966 F3 season. This car was inferior to the dominant Brabhams but Courage still managed to outperform them on occasion, earning him a step up to the F2 category for the 1966 German Grand Prix, where he crashed out.

Signed by the BRM works Formula 1 team for 1967, alongside Chris Irwin, his career nearly ended in ignominious failure. Courage's still-wild driving style caused him to crash out more times than was professionally healthy, and his tendency to spin at crucial moments led to the team dropping him after the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix. He completed the remainder of the season concentrating on his alternative drive, as was common in the 1960s, in John Coombs's F2 McLaren M4A, finishing 4th in the unclassified driver's championship. At the end of the season he purchased the car from Coombs. Fortunately a good run in the McLaren during the winter Tasman series, including a fine win at the last race, resulted in Tim Parnell offering a drive in his works-supported Reg Parnell Racing BRM team for 1968. In addition to a good run in F1 in 1968 - including points-scoring finishes in France and Italy - Courage also drove for old friend Frank Williams's F2 team. When Frank Williams Racing Cars decided to make the step up to F1 in 1969, Courage was the automatic choice as driver.

In Courage's hands, Williams's dark-blue liveried Brabham BT26 was more than a match for many of the works teams. He finished second in both the Monaco Grand Prix and the US Grand Prix, at Watkins Glen. Perhaps his finest drive of the season though was during the 1969 Italian Grand Prix at the high-speed Monza circuit. Despite an older car, and a power deficit, he managed to stay with the leading pack for the majority of the race. Only fuel starvation caused his pace to slow near the end, and he finally finished in fifth. A second fifth place, in the British Grand Prix, saw Courage finish the season on 18 points in 8th place in the drivers' championship.

Following a business arrangement with Alessandro de Tomaso, Williams switched to a newly-designed De Tomaso chassis for the 1970 Formula One season. Unfortunately the De Tomaso proved to be overweight and unreliable, and only a third place in the non-championship International Trophy alleviated a poor string of results in the early season. The Dutch Grand Prix seemed to be going slightly better, with Courage qualifying in 9th place around the Zandvoort circuit. Running in the middle of the field Courage inexplicably slid wide on a bend, rode up an embankment and rolled upside-down, bursting into flames. To lighten the De Tomaso magnesium was used in its chassis and bodywork. The magnesium burned so intensely that nearby trees were set alight. Investigations revealed that Courage probably died before the flames started; his helmet was found at the point of impact with a large smear of rubber on the front, most likely from a wheel detached on impact. Just three years later Roger Williamson crashed fatally at the same corner. Courage was survived by his wife, Lady Sarah Curzon, and his two sons.

[edit] Complete World Championship Formula One results

(key)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	WDC	Points
1967	Owen Racing Organisation	Lotus 25	BRM	RSA Ret													-	0
		BRM P261	BRM		MON Ret	NED	BEL	FRA	GBR DNS	GER	CAN	ITA	USA	MEX
1968	Reg Parnell Racing	BRM P126	BRM	RSA	ESP Ret	MON Ret	BEL Ret	NED Ret	FRA 6	GBR 8	GER 8	ITA 4	CAN Ret	USA Ret	MEX Ret		19th	4
1969	Frank Williams Racing Cars	Brabham BT26A	Ford	RSA	ESP Ret	MON 2	NED Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 5	GER Ret	ITA 5	CAN Ret	USA 2	MEX 10			8th	18
1970	Frank Williams Racing Cars	De Tomaso 505	Ford	RSA Ret	ESP DNS	MON NC	BEL Ret	NED Ret									-	0

[edit] Further reading

• Cooper, A. 2003. Piers Courage: Last of the Gentleman Racers. Haynes Group. 224pp. ISBN 1-85960-663-6

[edit] External links

• Career synopsis at gpracing.net
• Career synopsis at sportnetwork.net

Preceded by Gerhard Mitter

Formula One fatal accidents June 7, 1970

Succeeded by Jochen Rindt

• Video Tribute to Piers Courage