of Edgcote from the 1920's till 2005Courage was the eldest son of Richard Courage (1915–1994),
Lord of the Manor of
Edgcote, whose aunt, Dorothy Courage (1877–1972, later De Zoete) is referenced in ''
Burke's Landed Gentry'' having married another well-known sportsman, cricketer
Herman de Zoete in July 1903. Piers was the heir to the
Courage brewing dynasty of which his father was chairman. Educated at
Eton College, Piers began his racing career in his own
Lotus 7. Following a brief stint touring the European
F3 racing circuit in 1964 with a
Lotus 22, along with
Jonathan Williams, good results persuaded him to pursue a full season in 1965. It was in this season, driving a 1.0L F3
Brabham for Charles Lucas, that he first formed an alliance with
Frank Williams, at that time Lucas's other driver and sometime mechanic. A string of good results, including four high-profile wins, encouraged
Colin Chapman to offer Courage a seat in a
Lotus 41 for the 1966 F3 season. This car was inferior to the dominant Brabhams but Courage still managed to outperform them on occasion, earning him a step up to the
F2 category for the
1966 German Grand Prix, where he crashed out.
Brabham BT26A at the
1969 British Grand Prix Signed by the
BRM works
Formula 1 team for 1967, alongside
Chris Irwin, his wild driving style caused him to repeatedly crash out of races and his tendency to spin at crucial moments led to the team dropping him after the
1967 Monaco Grand Prix. He completed the remainder of the season concentrating on his alternative drive, as was common in the 1960s, in
John Coombs's F2
McLaren M4A, finishing fourth in the unclassified drivers' championship. At the end of the season he purchased the car from Coombs. A good run in the
McLaren during the winter
Tasman Series, including a win at the last race, resulted in
Tim Parnell offering a drive in his works-supported
Reg Parnell Racing BRM team for 1968. In addition to a good run in F1 in 1968 – including points-scoring finishes in
France and
Italy – Courage also drove for old friend Frank Williams's F2 team. When
Frank Williams Racing Cars decided to make the step up to F1 in 1969, Courage was their first choice as driver. In Courage's hands, Williams's dark-blue liveried
Brabham BT26 was more than a match for many of the works teams. He finished second in both the
Monaco Grand Prix and the
US Grand Prix, at
Watkins Glen. Perhaps his finest drive of the season, though, was during the
1969 Italian Grand Prix at the high-speed
Monza circuit. Despite an older car, and a power deficit, he managed to stay with the leading pack for the majority of the race. Only fuel starvation caused his pace to slow near the end, and he finally finished in fifth. A second fifth place, in the
British Grand Prix, saw Courage finish the season on sixteen points in eighth place in the drivers' championship. ==Accident and death==