Piers Raymond Courage (born 27 May 1942 – died 21 June 1970) was a British racing driver who was killed during the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix.
Helmet Design[]
Piers Courage's helmet.
Courage wore a simple blue helmet. There was a white dashed line going through the middle of the helmet.
Like most of the helmets at the time, the helmet had no visor. It resembled the layout of a baseball cap.
Formula One Career[]
1966[]
Courage raced his first Formula One race driving a Formula Two car. He had entered into the 1966 German Grand Prix, which was a mixed race between Formula One and Formula Two drivers and cars.
Courage was unable to complete the race after being involved in an accident on the 3rd lap of the race.
1967[]
For the 1967 season Courage was signed with BRM to play teammate to Chris Irwin. Because of his "wild" driving style, he crashed more than the average driver and would do so at important moments. After only his second race with the team, BRM decided to drop Courage because of this.
He focused the rest of his season on Formula Two. He did manage to qualify for the British Grand Prix with BRM, but was unable to start the race. Although unsuccessful in Formula One, he would become great in Formula Two.
1968[]
After losing most of his "wild" driving traits in Formula Two, BRM decided to give Courage a second change for the 1968 season. He still proved to be unsuccessful in Formula One after only finishing 4 of his 11 races.
It was announced at the end of the season, that BRM would again be releasing Courage.
1969[]
Piers Courage in the 1969 British Grand Prix.
While racing Formula Two, Courage spent most of is times with a Formula Two team owned by Frank Williams. For the 1969 season, Williams had decided to create a Formula One team and that Courage would be one of the drivers.
The Williams car was quite competitive and Courage managed to finish runner-up in both the Monaco Grand Prix and the United States Grand Prix, these being his highest finishes of his career in Formula One.
Perhaps the greatest race of the season was the Italian Grand Prix where Courage had managed to keep pace with the leading pack for the majority of the race, despite having an older car. He eventually finished 5th in the event when a fuel shortage forced him to lose pace on the other cars.
1970[]
Following a business agreement with Alejandro de Tomaso, Williams switched to racing the new De Tomaso chassis for the season. This chassis was overweight and unreliable causing Courage to retire for all of his 1970 events.
He would be unable to complete the season after an accident in the Dutch Grand Prix took his life.
Death[]
Because of the severity of the accident, it is unknown what failed in the car and exactly how Courage died.
While racing in the Dutch Grand Prix, Courage's car suffered either a suspension or steering failure at the Tunnel Oost that caused the car to fly off of the high speed turn. The car flew over an embankment and disintegrated.
A tire disconnected from the car and struck Courage in the head forcing his helmet off, inflicting fatal neck and head injuries. The engine of the car flew off and caught fire. The burning magnesium allowed the fire to spread to many surrounding trees and bushes.
Formula One Statistical Overview[]
Formula One Record[]
| Year | Entrant | Team | WDC Pts. | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 |  Bob Gerard Racing
|
Cooper-Ford | Non-championship only | ||
| 1966 | Team Lotus
|
Lotus-Ford Cosworth* | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1967 | Reg Parnell Racing
|
Lotus-BRM | 0 | NC | Report |
| BRM | |||||
| Charles Lucas Engineering
|
Lotus-Martin | ||||
| 1968 | Reg Parnell Racing
|
BRM | 4 | 19th | Report |
| 1969 | Frank Williams Racing Cars
|
Brabham-Ford Cosworth | 16 | 8th | Report |
| 1970 | Frank Williams Racing Cars
|
De Tomaso-Ford Cosworth | 0 | NC | Report |
- Italic donates as entrants used in non-championship races.
- * Classified as a Formula Two entrant.
Career Statistics[]
| Entries | 30 |
| Starts | 27 |
| Pole Positions | 0 |
| Race Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 2 |
| Fastest Laps | 0 |
| Points | 20 |
| Laps Raced | 1189 |
| Distance Raced | 5,684 km (3,532 mi) |
| Races Led | 1 |
| Laps Led | 2 |
| Distance Led | 12 km (7.5 mi) |
Career Results[]
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pts | Pos | ||||||||||
| 1966 | 
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0 | NC | ||||||||||||||
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| 1967 | 
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0 | NC | ||||||||||||
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| 1968 |
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4 | 19th | |||||||||||
| Ret | Ret | Ret | Ret | 6th | 8th | 8th | 4th | Ret | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||||
| 1969 |
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16 | 8th | ||||||||||||
| Ret | 2nd | Ret | Ret | 5th | Ret | 5th | Ret | 2nd | 10th | ||||||||||||||||
| 1970 |
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0 | NC | ||||||||||
| Ret | DNS | NC | Ret | Ret | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Key | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning | Symbol | Meaning | ||
| 1st | Winner | Ret | Retired | ||
| 2nd | Podium finish | DSQ | Disqualified | ||
| 3rd | DNQ | Did not qualify | |||
| 5th | Points finish | DNPQ | Did not pre-qualify | ||
| 14th | Non-points finish | TD | Test driver | ||
| Italics | Fastest Lap | DNS | Did not start | ||
| 18th† | Classified finish (retired with >90% race distance) | NC | Non-classified finish (<90% race distance) | ||
| 4thP | Qualified for pole position | [+] More Symbols | |||
External links[]
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