Jock's Jottings - People who will be sadly missed at Le Mans 2008

Jock's Jottings - People who will be sadly missed at Le Mans this year..

The tragic air crash at Biggin Hill on March 30th March took the lives of two famous international racing drivers, Richard Lloyd and David Leslie. By coincidence the pilot, Mike Roberts, was an enthusiastic ex club racer himselfback in the 1960s and 70s. Sadly Data Engineer Chris Allarton and co-pilot Michael Chapman also lost their lives.

Richard Lloyd started racing in the 1970’s and enjoyed a successful career winning the British Saloon Car Championship three years on the trot. Then he began to combine his racing activities with team management. In1976 he set up GTi Engineering and raced Audis with Sir Stirling Moss in the British Saloon Car Championship.

In the early 1980s he changed the name of GTi engineering to Richard Lloyd Racing, and at the same time moved from touring cars to endurance racing. Richard was also responsible for bringing Canon sponsorship into motor racing. He campaigned the unusual Porsches 924 GT and 924 Carrera GT at Le Mans in 1981/2 without a great lot of success. In 1983 he bought one of the first Porsche 956s and by 1985 he was heading up a race-winning team in the World Sportscar Championship. The high spot was in 1985 when Lloyd, James Weaver and Jonathan Palmer brought his Canon Porsche 956 home in 2nd place. In recent years Lloyd became best known for his team management of Audis in touring cars and sportscars, and of course Bentley Motors’ triumphant return to endurance racing at Le Mans in 2003.

Richard was rated in the top twenty most successful British touring car drivers of all time. David Leslie was also a regular competitor at Le Mans between 1984 and 1995. He was a hugely versatile driver and drove a remarkable variety of cars ranging from the Ecurie Ecosse C2 cars through the Aston Martin AMR1 to Jaguar XJR 12 and XJ 220C. His last outing at Le Mans was in 1995 when he drove the Marcos LM600. In his ten attempts he only finished twice, being plagued mostly by mechanical problems. When David retired from serious racing he became a popular commentator for Motors TV bringing a wealth of ‘hands on’ knowledge to television.

He will probably be best remembered for his time in Touring Cars. In 1990 Ray Mallock, David Leslie and Ecurie Ecosse moved into the The British Touring Car Championship and this saw David behind the wheel of a Vauxhall. After two years of ‘occasional’ racing he began to race the Vauxhall full time in1992. His career then carried on with drives for Mazda, Honda and Nissan.

On March 30th Richard and David were on their way to Pau to test the Apex Racing Jaguar XJR prior to the 2008 FIA GT3 Championship.

The sport has been robbed of two of the ‘nice guys’, and indeed. all five who were on board will be sadly missed.

Ecosse C 284    N° 77    Wilds, Dudfield, Leslie     more détails

1985    Retirement    Ecosse C 285    N° 79    Wilds, Mallock, Leslie     more détails

1986    Retirement    Ecosse C 286    N° 79    Wilds, Leslie, Mallock     more détails

1987    8th    Ecosse C 287    N° 102    Leslie, Duez, Mallock     more détails

1988    17th    Mazda 767    N° 201    Leslie, Katayama, Duez     more détails

1989    Retirement    Aston Martin AMR 1    N° 19    Mallock, Leslie, Sears     more détails

1990    Retirement    Jaguar XJR 12    N° 1    Ferté, Leslie, Brundle     more détails

1991    Retirement    Jaguar XJR 12    N° 36    Leslie, Krosnoff, Martini     more détails

1993    Retirement    Jaguar XJ 220 C    N° 51    Leslie, Hahne, Percy     more détails

1995    Non classified    Marcos LM 600    N° 71    Migault, Leslie, Marsh     more détails