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 Points | WDC Pos. | Report |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | Ron Harris / Team Lotus | Lotus-Ford Cosworth | 0 | NC | Report |
| 1967 | Reg Parnell Racing | Lotus-BRM | 0 | NC | Report |
| BRM | |||||
| 1968 | Reg Parnell Racing | BRM | 4 | 19th | Report |
| 1969 | Frank Williams Racing Cars | Brabham-Ford | 16 | 8th | Report |
| 1970 | Frank Williams Racing Cars | De Tomaso-Ford | 0 | NC | Report |
Career Statistics
Template:Statbox
Career Results
| Complete Formula One Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Pts | Pos
Template:1966 Results/13 Template:1967 Results/13 Template:1968 Results/13 Template:1969 Results/13 Template:1970 Results/13 | ||||||||||
| 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 | Scored point(s) for 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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