Piers Courage, last of the gentleman racers

by Adam Cooper
ISBN 1 85960 663 6
Published by Haynes, £30

On pages 216-217 of this excellent book is something that causes a lump to rise in your throat: Sally Courage’s lap chart of the 1970 Dutch GP. It stops on lap 23, after eight cars have flashed by. It’s at this point she realised her husband had not come past… Courage died that day at Zandvoort, and with him died F1’s carefree era.

Cooper has deftly tapped into the warmth Courage engendered among his family and friends to perfectly capture the spirit of the Old Etonian who wanted to be F1 champion – but have fun doing so. Asked by his father what he saw in motorsport, Piers replied, “You had the war…”

Cooper’s efforts are backed up by a good design that makes strong use of ephemera and photo-album pics. PF