Piers Courage, heir to the Courage Brewery family, seen here at the wheel of a Brabham BT21-Ford during the 1967 Motor Show 200 F3 race at Brands Hatch. This was CourageÕs first drive for team owner Frank Williams, which proved to be an immensely successful, though ultimately tragic partnership. Courage won this first round heat race, but was unable to start the final due to mechanical troubles. Photo: Nick Loudon

Piers Courage

One of my favorite motor racing personalities was Piers Courage, a talented young gentleman racer, as well as a member of a famous British brewing family. A public schoolboy with an upper-class English accent, Piers was a charming person, completely devoid of the airs of the super rich—and very much a Formula One champion in the making when I met and worked with him.

At the time, I was busy establishing a then-fledgling project—the Pirelli calendar—which eventually went on to become a world-famous status symbol. One of the key ingredients to the calendar’s eventual success was holding annual press launches of each calendar’s 13 or so new pictures of gorgeous models on faraway beaches.

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