The Isetta was a very smart dark blue, with gold pinstripe finish! There's a picture of it in Adam Cooper's book, along with great tales of Piers, Frank Williams, Jonathan Williams, Charles Lucas etc. Which reminds me, I do miss Loti and her TNF posts.
Piers Courage (merged)
#101
Posted 23 June 2020 - 10:19
Advertisement
#102
Posted 24 June 2020 - 10:46
The Dutch driver Toine Hezemans was no slouch as a racing driver. With this in mind I was impressed when, at the 1970 Monza 1,000Kms - in which he shared a works Alfa T33 with Masten Gregory - he spoke in sober awe of team-mate Courage's pace in a sister car, being co-driven by Andrea de Adamich. Toine and Piers had gone out together in practice to give each other a slipstreaming tow but once Piers moved ahead he just drew away into the distance.
Toine remarked "He was taking the Curve Grande flat.
"But then...", he admitted, "He's a Formula 1 driver...".
DCN
That is a very poignant post. I have noticed that Toine (who regularly writers articles in the Dutch magazine RTL GP) is probably the only ex-driver I know who did not make F1 and at the same time acknowledges that F1-drivers were just that smitten faster than him, as a rule. All other ex-drivers who just missed out on F1 I have met, known or read about usually moan about 'bad luck', 'politics', 'money'...
#103
Posted 30 June 2020 - 13:50
Surprise! I am still lurking, although mainly to keep up with who died.....
I was asked the other day where I was when Piers died, i was in the Westminster Hospital having just had Alexander..... yes, 50 last week! and so the nightmare went on.
Piers and Sal came to see me on route for Zandvoort, I think I may have been the last one to see him in London.
His memory goes on a thoroughly nice guy.
Charles [brother] sent me a reminder that there was a nice article in the Daily Express on June 20th.
Loti
#104
Posted 30 June 2020 - 14:00
I have just mentioned this sad anniversary to a old racer friend who responded by recalling that the last time he met and spoke with Piers was in Cheval Place, London - just across the road from the Harrods department store, "...a few weeks before he was killed - he was driving an Isetta bubble car - complete with BRDC badge of course. He was a very nice man...".
DCN
They were both very nice, Sally Courage was not above making cups of tea for we plebs mechanicing for friends of a week-end.
#105
Posted 30 June 2020 - 15:16
Surprise! I am still lurking, although mainly to keep up with who died.....
Great to see you again Loti. I hope you and yours are keeping well.
#106
Posted 30 June 2020 - 18:59
What he said. Great to hear from you again Loti!
#107
Posted 30 June 2020 - 20:32
Thirded.
Hi Loti - may you keep safe - and keep well...
DCN
#108
Posted 30 June 2020 - 21:09
A reminder of his starring role...
#109
Posted 30 June 2020 - 23:13
Btw, I still enjoy your recipe book.
Roger Lund
#110
Posted 01 July 2020 - 08:20
Lovely to see you posting again, Loti. Your presence, and recollections, are firmly amongst those that have enriched TNF.
#111
Posted 01 July 2020 - 10:17
Thank you all for kind thoughts. Four years ago I accepted an offer on my house in Chichester with a view to downsizing. I couln't find what I wanted and then, when i did, it hadn't been built [!] A year of homelessness was an interesting experience, living out of a storage unit, [no I wasn't in the unit but all my stuff was]. Now I have my little flat in Kew which is a good place to live and all sorts of new and interesting things to do. I volunteer at the National Archive deciphering old and weird hand writing, something their super brilliant computers can't do! Kew Gardens is, of course, wonderful and someone else does the digging, Marks and Spencer keeps me fed and the crematorium is just down the road..... how organised is that?
How lucky we are to have Adam Cooper's book on Piers. I fear a lot of people have gone with just a mention on here. I am trying to get Charles [brother] to write more but he doesn't seem very motivated. He wrote a nice piece for the beautiful [and very expensive] coffee table book about Maserati. His old 250F was very special.
Snow [daughter ] is getting married in September, not the party as originally planned but nothing to be done about that. She is an event organiser and lives just down the road. Alexander lives in the French Alps and works in I T. skiing is in the DNA as Chris trained with the Austrian national team but decided that a career in motor racing was longer then as a downhill racer..... not sure he got that right! I also raced in a very minor way..... far to scarey for my taste.
Charles lives in Yorkshire and seems OK, his three live in London.
Keep up the good work here.
Loti
#112
Posted 01 July 2020 - 14:07
Thank you all for kind thoughts. Four years ago I accepted an offer on my house in Chichester with a view to downsizing. I couln't find what I wanted and then, when i did, it hadn't been built [!] A year of homelessness was an interesting experience, living out of a storage unit, [no I wasn't in the unit but all my stuff was]. Now I have my little flat in Kew which is a good place to live and all sorts of new and interesting things to do. I volunteer at the National Archive deciphering old and weird hand writing, something their super brilliant computers can't do! Kew Gardens is, of course, wonderful and someone else does the digging, Marks and Spencer keeps me fed and the crematorium is just down the road..... how organised is that?
How lucky we are to have Adam Cooper's book on Piers. I fear a lot of people have gone with just a mention on here. I am trying to get Charles [brother] to write more but he doesn't seem very motivated. He wrote a nice piece for the beautiful [and very expensive] coffee table book about Maserati. His old 250F was very special.
Snow [daughter ] is getting married in September, not the party as originally planned but nothing to be done about that. She is an event organiser and lives just down the road. Alexander lives in the French Alps and works in I T. skiing is in the DNA as Chris trained with the Austrian national team but decided that a career in motor racing was longer then as a downhill racer..... not sure he got that right! I also raced in a very minor way..... far to scarey for my taste.
Charles lives in Yorkshire and seems OK, his three live in London.
Keep up the good work here.
Loti
Nice to hear from you again Loti. Did you know what Jim Clark said about Chris? Apologies if you know already.
#113
Posted 01 July 2020 - 14:45
No, I don't think I know what Jim Clark said.
I think the Grit in the Oyster link should go on the Chris Irwin thread rather than here.
Adam wrote the article after talking to me about his researches for the Piers Courage book. he said our paths kept crossing..... he was right!
I just sent Gary Critcher a photograph of Charles and one of his Titan F3 cars at the 50th anniversary party at Huntingdon. I hope he will post it here.... I don't know how to!
[pathetic old thing]
Loti
#115
Posted 01 July 2020 - 18:28
Thank you Gary.
Loti
#116
Posted 02 July 2020 - 12:33
No, I don't think I know what Jim Clark said.
I think the Grit in the Oyster link should go on the Chris Irwin thread rather than here.
Adam wrote the article after talking to me about his researches for the Piers Courage book. he said our paths kept crossing..... he was right!
I just sent Gary Critcher a photograph of Charles and one of his Titan F3 cars at the 50th anniversary party at Huntingdon. I hope he will post it here.... I don't know how to!
[pathetic old thing]
Loti
Thanks for that Loti. I've removed the post.
It was one of the Theme Lotus books. Jim Clark is known for fearing Dan Gurney. He also feared Chris saying: "If Chris gets a good car, I don't fancy my chances."
#117
Posted 02 July 2020 - 13:27
Thanks for that.
Loti
#118
Posted 02 July 2020 - 16:23
It was one of the Theme Lotus books. Jim Clark is known for fearing Dan Gurney. He also feared Chris saying: "If Chris gets a good car, I don't fancy my chances."
Really?
DCN
#119
Posted 02 July 2020 - 16:39
Really?
DCN
+1
"He was the only guy that I really felt I could never beat".
Amon on Clark
Sorry, I was thinking of the other Chris. But I still can't imagine Jim Clark saying that about anyone.
Edited by opplock, 03 July 2020 - 17:13.
Advertisement
#120
Posted 21 June 2022 - 10:52
Today, June 21, marks 52 years since Piers lost his life at Zandvoort. Such potential.
RIP, PC.
#121
Posted 22 June 2022 - 00:01
Unfortunately not particularly sharp, however it shows Piers concentrating as he's about to go through the Longford viaduct during the wet Tasman Championship race. The nimble McLaren suited to the conditions and taking the win - Monday, March 4th, 1968.
Stephen
Edited by cooper997, 22 June 2022 - 03:52.
#122
Posted 22 June 2022 - 06:06
Not mainstream Piers but I am meant to be driving the ex-Piers/Roy Pike 1966 Le Mans GT Category-winning Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 275GTB/C at Goodwood over this coming weekend. If, that is, I can weave my way around irksome race-wear regulations... This would be my first outing since pre-Covid, 2019. The timid beardie one asks meekly, "So, what's it like out there?".
DCN
#123
Posted 22 June 2022 - 07:45
Have fun with that! no inflammable underwear i hope.
Lots of funny stories of their Le Mans adventure...... totally under prepared compared with the present day production!
A couple of weeks ago I went to a lunch to celebrate what would have been Piers's 80th birthday. Hosted by Jason and Amos [his sons] and Charles and Andrew [his brothers] Lots of the Courage clan were there, some I had never met, others I hadn't seen for years. Alexander Hesketh made an excellent speech..... I didn't get home until 5.30! I think I may be getting too old for all this gadding about.
Loti
#124
Posted 22 June 2022 - 08:39
80, crikey, the same age as Sir Paul McCartney reached last weekend. I can still remember how the awful news from Zandvoort filtered through the crowd at a grey and cold Croft , where I was watching a club meeting - and probably dreading school the next day .
#125
Posted 22 June 2022 - 09:31
Not mainstream Piers but I am meant to be driving the ex-Piers/Roy Pike 1966 Le Mans GT Category-winning Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 275GTB/C at Goodwood over this coming weekend. If, that is, I can weave my way around irksome race-wear regulations... This would be my first outing since pre-Covid, 2019. The timid beardie one asks meekly, "So, what's it like out there?".
DCN
Remember to take off all your jewellery and remove all your piercings too. Is that beard flammable, by the way?
#126
Posted 22 June 2022 - 15:06
Remember to take off all your jewellery and remove all your piercings too. Is that beard flammable, by the way?
At least Doug's tattoos should be acceptable.
#127
Posted 22 June 2022 - 21:39
Few shots from the Longford 1968 weekend - big one for Piers.
#129
Posted 24 June 2022 - 13:50
Link doesn't seem to work for me Gary
#130
Posted 24 June 2022 - 14:07
There's a scene in the movie Le Mans that I find poignant. It's just as the evening is beginning. You see an Alfa 33 driving in the pits. The driver is de Adamich. It looks like a normal race pitstop. Another driver gets in the car: it's Piers Courage, with that distinctive helmet of his. Another car (Wicky's 910) barely misses him as he exits the pits. Wicky's 910 was not part of the roster of cars rented for the filming, most of which was done after the 1970 race, The way the 910 gets hurridly in its stall leads me to think the scene was filmed duting the actual race.
Which is why every time I see it, I think 'Gee, a week later he's dead...'
#131
Posted 24 June 2022 - 15:30
Few shots from the Longford 1968 weekend - big one for Piers.
That lovely McLaren M4a. I'd been aware of them in US SCCA racing in 67-68 but despite their success it seemed McLaren then focused on producing customer Can-Am and FA/5000 chassis. Understandable I suppose as that's where the money was. Courage seems to have been the highest profile driver to have campaigned one. Did any other F1 drivers ever do a turn in that model?
#132
Posted 24 June 2022 - 16:07
Well, Bruce himself did a few F2 races in one, didn't he?
And the following year Jo Schlesser had a top six finish at the ill-fated Hockenheim race - though that was, of course, before he all-to-briefly became an F1 driver...
#133
Posted 24 June 2022 - 16:22
#134
Posted 24 June 2022 - 16:24
#135
Posted 24 June 2022 - 22:28
Img.www.historicff2000.co.uk/images/Garypic2.jpg/img
Trying to steal my details
#138
Posted 25 June 2022 - 07:20
#139
Posted 25 June 2022 - 07:38
Fair enough, Gary. 10 out of 10 for effort!
Let me explain what is going on here, or trying to go on....
Some time back Doug said that he was driving the Courage/Pike Ferrari up the hill at Goodwood.
I emailed Jason [Courage] to ask him if he knew about this.
He replied with a photograph of the car, with him beside it.
Being utterly clueless and unable to do techy things like posting photographs I sent it to Gary..... who has a history of being very good at stuff like this.
He has made several attempts but the pesky thing doesn't seem to want to play.
So shall we just say..... its a really nice photograph and I am sorry you can't see it.
and do feel free, to delete all the clutter I have caused! It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Loti
Advertisement
#140
Posted 25 June 2022 - 10:14
Loti, happy to volunteer to post the photo for you. I will send you a pm with where to email the photo.
Stephen
#143
Posted 25 June 2022 - 12:53
Thank you so much.
A short story about the meeting with Fangio. Charles had offered Fangio Jnr a drive so they could get to meet the great man. Charles was rather pleased when Fangio kept referring to "my old friend" until he realised he was referring to the Maserati 250F owned by my brother [who claimed is the one not driven by F].
Strange that Chris didn't get in invitation to the party as his grandmother was 1/2 Argentinian and her families money came from Angentinian sugar. There is some super super wobblyscope super 8 home movies which we have unearthed and won't be used in the Doghouse Club film but may see the light of day either on Netflicks or YouTube..... de-wobbling stuff is an expensive and time consuming job!
Thanks again to Stephen.
The man in the photograph is Jason Courage and the photograph was taken with his phone by an unknown hand.
Loti
#144
Posted 25 June 2022 - 13:30
Originally posted by Gary C
Simple...
You shouldn't change the 'string' as you obviously did.
#147
Posted 30 June 2022 - 09:43
There's a scene in the movie Le Mans that I find poignant. It's just as the evening is beginning. You see an Alfa 33 driving in the pits. The driver is de Adamich. It looks like a normal race pitstop. Another driver gets in the car: it's Piers Courage, with that distinctive helmet of his. Another car (Wicky's 910) barely misses him as he exits the pits. Wicky's 910 was not part of the roster of cars rented for the filming, most of which was done after the 1970 race, The way the 910 gets hurridly in its stall leads me to think the scene was filmed duting the actual race.
Which is why every time I see it, I think 'Gee, a week later he's dead...'
Yes - I know the scene you're referring to, and the exact same thought occurred to me the last time I watched the movie.
I agree that that clip was filmed during the real race. Those overcast, evening conditions weren't filmed for the staged footage, nor was the Wicky 910 rented by Solar Productions.