Piers Courage: Last of the Gentleman Racers [Hardcover]

Adam Cooper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2003

Piers Courage, a rising motor racing star in the 1960s, was the first man to drive for Frank Williams in Formula 1, and tragically died in a Williams-run car at the 1970 Dutch Grand Prix. This enthralling biography, written with his family's cooperation, chronicles the full racing history of the charismatic old Etonian, including the wild Formula 3 days when he and friends roamed Europe surviving on their wits. Recalling a more relaxed era in motorsport, the book features dozens of people who knew Piers including Frank Williams, Bernie Ecclestone, Jackie Stewart, Bette Hill, Nina Rindt and, of course, his wife Lady Sarah, daughter of pre-war racer Earl Howe.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Haynes Publishing (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859606636
• ISBN-13: 978-1859606636
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 9.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,649,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An accurate and colorful tale of the times, February 21, 2006

By 

JRV "(Club driver since the '60s)" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Piers Courage: Last of the Gentleman Racers (Hardcover)

For those of you who followed Grand Prix and sports car racing in the 1960s this is a great tale. Drivers, team owners, hangers-on were all basically children at this time. Now the Knighted Brits who are the masters of the GP universe ($$$$) probably would not tell you that they bought a case of cokes to sell by the bottle in the pits to make a bit of money (very true). Alexander Hesketh was a teenager who loaned his helicopter to a team to beat the traffic at Sliverstone(this was very '90s in the '60s!).

This is a marvelous biography of Mr. Courage and many of his friends and the times themselves, and not a burdensome pile of race reports. I did not want it to finish. I will reread it a number of times!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ""spellbound"", July 26, 2007

By 

Mrs. S. J. Benton (hertfordshire england) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Piers Courage: Last of the Gentleman Racers (Hardcover)

a beautiful book, well worth the wait...arrived safe and sound and not damaged. my partner loved it..very informative, lovely photo,s

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving, January 17, 2008

By 

Mark Vanoppen (Belgium) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Piers Courage: Last of the Gentleman Racers (Hardcover)

A very moving book. Brings back the sixties, I must say! An evocation of an era lost forever. One can only say that things really where better in the good old days.
It's wonderful to see them come all come (back) alive: Piers himself, but also Jochen Rindt, Frank Williams (the way he was, before he became an ***hole...)and so many household names of the time when I was young.
Wonderful book. Very well written. Excellent photography.