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International
Sports Prototypes Tel : +44 (0) 1276 474450 Fax : +44 (0) 1276 451385 |
David
Piper - In fifteen years of motor racing from 1955-1970, David Piper became
one of the most experienced, successful and well known of all sports car
private entrants. His successes included seven outright wins from nine starts
in the classic Nine Hour Endurance Race at Kyalami, South Africa. He also
drove for the Ferrari Factory, for Ford, driving the Gulf GT40 on many occasions,
including Le Mans, and had the further distinction of developing and racing
the awesome Porsche 917's for the factory. During filming for Steve McQueen's
movie 'Le Mans' in 1970, an accident curtailed David's professional racing
career.Today, David is a member and the English Representative of the Elite Club International Des Anciens Pilotes de Formule 1. He races Ferraris and Porsche in International Sports Prototypes Races - the races he pioneered and organises today. Mike Knight is the joint inspiration
with David Piper behind International Sports Prototypes Races, which for
three seasons have caught the imagination of the European public, competitors,
race promoters and sponsors.Mike Knight has been involved in many aspects of motor sport for most of his working life since 1962. A promising career as a driver seemed in prospect , but at the end of 1967 he turned down a full works drive with then powerful Ian Walker Racing Team, to continue as the managing director of the flourishing Winfield Racing School he co-founded with his brother Richard in 1963, now amongst the most famous in the world. Schools where all the current French F1 drivers chose to start their careers : Jacques Laffite (who still carries testimony to his Winfield origns on his crash helmet), Rene Arnoux, Jean Pierre Jarier, Didier Pironi, Alain Prost, Patrick Tambay, as well as Johnny Servoz-Gavin and the very much missed Francois Cevert and Patrick Depailler. In 1980, a Lola T70 he acquired four years previously emerged from restoration, ready to race : as there were no adequate opportunities to race it, together with David Piper, he set about rectifying the situation. The result has been the outstanding success known as the Piper/Knight International Sports Prototypes Car Races. |
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