Thisbiography of a living personneeds additionalcitations forverification. Please help by addingreliable sources.Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced orpoorly sourcedmust be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentiallylibelous. Find sources: "David Piper" racing driver – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(December 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

David Piper

Piper in 2011
Born	(1930-12-02)2 December 1930 (age 95)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	1959–1960
Teams	non-worksLotus
Entries	3 (2 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Careerpoints	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1959 British Grand Prix
Last entry	1960 British Grand Prix

David Ruff Piper (born 2 December 1930)^[1] is a British formerFormula One andsports car racing driver from England. He participated in 3 Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 18 July 1959.

Piper was born inEdgware,Middlesex^[1] and began his career in the mid-1950s by competing in sprints and hill-climbs, before beginning circuit racing with aLotus Eleven.^[2] He then moved up to aLotus 16 which he used in 1959 and 1960 to compete in bothFormula One andFormula Two,^[2] by means of changing engines as appropriate.^[2] His best result with the car was a second place in theLady Wigram Trophy, in 1960, behindJack Brabham in aCooper.^[2]

In 1961, Piper competed in EuropeanFormula Junior alongsideJo Siffert but drove theGilby F1 car in theGold Cup.^[2] He also competed in non-championship races in 1962, but had become disenchanted with single-seater racing and moved intosports car racing initially with aFerrari 250 GTO.^[2]

Between 1962 and 1970, Piper raced frequently in many locations worldwide using his personally owned Ferraris and, later,Porsches. He was moderately successful and gained a reputation for reliability and consistency.^[2]

Piper's personal sport cars of the period are typically painted in bright green, originally from hisBP sponsor which replacedEsso after theSuez Crisis; eventually Piper liked the color and made it his own, having never liked the classicBritish racing green.^[3]

Piper crashed aPorsche 917 during the 1970 shooting of the filmLe Mans and lost part of one leg.^[4]

Piper later raced his personal, green, Porsche 917 and other cars in historic events.^[2]

(key)

(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap.)

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1963	North American Racing Team	Masten Gregory	Ferrari 250 GTO/LMB	GT 3.0	312	6th	3rd
1964	North American Racing Team	Jochen Rindt	Ferrari 250 LM	P 4.0	0	DNF	DNF
1965	Maranello Concessionaires	Jo Bonnier	Ferrari 365 P2	P 5.0	101	DNF	DNF
1966	Maranello Concessionaires	Richard Attwood	Ferrari 365 P2	P 5.0	33	DNF	DNF
1967	JW Automotive Engineering	Dick Thompson	Mirage M1	P +5.0	59	DNF	DNF
1968	David Piper	Richard Attwood	Ferrari 250 LM	S 5.0	302	7th	2nd
1969	SpAFerrari SEFAC	Pedro Rodriguez	Ferrari 312P Coupé	P 3.0	223	DNF	DNF
1970	AAW Racing Team	Gijs van Lennep	Porsche 917K	S 5.0	112	DNF	DNF

• 
  Piper/Gardner,Porsche 917,1969 ADAC 1000 km Nürburgring.
• 
  One of Piper's distinctive green cars; aLola T70 Mk3B atMallory Park
• 
  Piper's Porsche 917 which he has owned from new.
• 
  Piper's Porsche 917.

• English racing drivers
• English Formula One drivers
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• 12 Hours of Reims drivers
• 24 Hours of Daytona drivers
• Brighton Speed Trials people
• People from Edgware
• Sportspeople from the London Borough of Barnet
• 1930 births
• Living people
• 20th-century English sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• BLP articles lacking sources from December 2025
• All BLP articles lacking sources
• Use dmy dates from May 2015
• Use British English from May 2015
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English