Piers Courage
Piers Raymond Courage ( born May 27, 1942 in Colchester, † June 21, 1970 in Zandvoort ) was a British racing driver.
From 1966 to 1970 he was in F1 as a driver for Lotus, BRM and latest activity for Williams.
Career
Piers Courage drove 28 Grand Prix races and achieved in 1968 and 1969 a total of 20 world championship points. On June 21, 1970 he was killed at the age of 28 years during the Grand Prix of the Netherlands fatal. His De - Tomaso Ford caught fire after an accident when he crashed into a fence and crashed his car there. He could not be freed from it in time, because the fire was too slow and arrived too late at the scene. Not the gasoline ignited the fire, but the chassis and bodywork. The chassis and the body of the car composed of magnesium. Magnesium is a lightweight metal that is burning in certain circumstances. The designers had used it to make the car lighter. The fire of the vehicle was so intense that lying nearby trees also caught fire. As can be seen on a video, it was not just a small car fire, but a kind of large-area inferno. Magnesium can not use water you. The firefighters of the racetrack waited several hours until the fire had reduced that they could delete the remaining fire with water. It was also used a little earth to completely clear the car. Magnesium was Courage undoing as already Jo Schlesser two years earlier at the French Grand Prix in 1968 in Rouen. Later, it was assumed that Courage died before the fire. Exactly three years later, at the Grand Prix of the Netherlands in 1973, Roger Williamson died at almost the same place.
Piers Courage was considered a close friend of Frank Williams and Jochen Rindt, who later died in an accident a few weeks. Frank Williams named his son after Piers Courage.
Courage was married to Lady Sarah Curzon, daughter of Francis Curzon, 5th Earl Howe, the winner of the 24 - hour race at Le Mans in 1931, and had two sons.