Congratulations are due to our long-time member and friend, David Piper, who celebrated his 95th birthday this week.
David has always been a staunch member of the Grand Prix Drivers Club, and he, with his wife Liz, has regularly participated in the Club events over the years.
He first came to everyone’s notice when he started racing with a Lotus that he modified and renamed the Empire Lotus entered by the Dorchester Service Station. He moved into single seaters, buying one of Colin Chapman’s new Lotus 16 Formula 2 cars and entered his first grand prix buying one of the first of Colin Chapman’s Lotus 16 single seaters. It was with the Lotus that he competed in his first British Grand Prix in 1959 at Aintree, but had to retire when he blew a head gasket. He kept the car for 1960 and despite retiring in the French Grand Prix, was 12th in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
However David is probably best known for his sports car racing and he drove not only for Scuderia Ferrari but JW Engineering in the Mirage Cosworth, Luigi Chinetti’s North American Racing Team and Maranello Concessions but built up his own stable that included a number of Ferrari’s and his Porsche 917 in which he was seriously injured during the filming of the Hollywood production “Le Mans”.
Despite losing a leg, he continued to race with his prosthetic leg and is still as cheerful as ever.
The Grand Prix Drivers Club congratulate him and acknowledges his long-time membership of the club. David has also celebrated seventy years as a member of the British Racing Drivers Club this year.
GG