Leslie and Lloyd killed in plane crash

[Plex]

Former British Touring Car racer David Leslie and sportscar team boss Richard Lloyd were among five people killed in a plane crash in Kent this afternoon, according to sources close to Autosport.

Their private Cessna Citation 501 aircraft was headed for the south of France where Leslie was due to drive Lloyd's Apex Motorsport Jaguar XKR in an FIA GT3 equalisation test at Nogaro tomorrow.

The pilot made a mayday call to Biggin Hill Airfield, near Farnborough, reporting severe engine vibrations, but the plane crashed into the corner of a housing estate seconds later. The plane's two pilots and three passengers were killed, but nobody on the ground was injured.

A pilot who was flying a small aircraft just ahead of Leslie and Lloyd's plane told Sky News: "I was on final approach to Biggin Hill and I heard the pilot declare mayday and I could hear alarms in the cockpit.

"The pilot said 'We're going down, we're going down.' The radio stayed live and as I turned off the runway I looked back and saw the plane drop out of the sky. The radio went dead and black smoke came up from over the hill."

Leslie, who was 54, was best known for his wins in the British Touring Car Championship at the height of the super touring formula's popularity in the late 1990s, but he had also enjoyed a long and successful career in single-seaters and sportscars.

Lloyd, who was 63, founded Richard Lloyd Racing, who ran Porsche 956s and 962s in the World Sportscar Championship. He also successfully ran Audis in the BTCC and at Le Mans, and managed Bentley's victorious return to Le Mans in 2003. More recently he developed the Jaguar XKR for the FIA GT3 Championship.

Authorities have not confirmed the identity of plane's occupants.

A statement from the Metropolitan Police read: "We haven't confirmed the identity of any of the victims. Until we know that all of the next of kin have been informed, we can't make any further comment."

Autosport

[Plex]

David Leslie, 1953-2008

David Leslie was best known for his nine wins in the British Touring Car Championship for Vauxhall, Honda and Nissan during the ultra-competitive Super Tourer era in the 1990s, but by the time he arrived in saloons he had already enjoyed a long and successful career in single-seaters and sportscars.

Born in Dumfries in 1953, Leslie won his first Scottish karting title at the age of 16, and would add another four championships before graduating to car racing.

Further title success followed in BARC Formula Ford 1600, and by 1981 he was racing in British Formula 3, where he would spend three seasons.

Leslie also ran the David Leslie Racing team with his father, David Sr, which launched the careers of several Scottish drivers, including David Coulthard, Dario Franchitti, Allan McNish.

In the late 1980s Leslie became a regular in the C2 class of the World Sportscar Championship, taking Ecurie Ecosse to second in the 1987 class championship while co-driving with his future BTCC team boss Ray Mallock.

He would also represent the famous Scottish outfit in the BTCC. Following several near-misses and frustrations, he took his first win in the Ecosse Vauxhall Cavalier at Thruxton in late 1993. His strong form that season earned RML, which ran the Ecurie Ecosse team, a factory Vauxhall deal for 1994.

Leslie spent a single season with Mazda in 1994, before being chosen to lead Honda's assault on the championship in 1995. By 1996 he was regularly winning races in the Accord, but when Honda handed the 1997 programme to Prodrive, Leslie decided to switch to the Mallock-run Nissan team instead.

The Scot played an integral part in reviving Nissan's fortunes after the company's many years of underachievement, and in 1999 the RML Primera became the dominant force in the BTCC. Leslie missed out on the title however, as his new teammate Laurent Aiello swept the championship during his only season in the UK. Leslie meanwhile took a career-best second in the standings.

Nissan withdrew their works team the following year, leaving Leslie to mix occasional privateer outings with sportscar races until he signed up for Proton's debut in 2002. He was unable to win again in the Team Petronas Impian, but he did take the invariably uncompetitive car to the podium.

His two years with Proton proved to be Leslie's BTCC swansong. He subsequently shared a BMW with Apex Motorsport co-owner Harry Handkammer in the Britcar endurance series, and made several appearances in historic and club events in the UK including annual outings at the FF1600 Walter Hayes Trophy.

Leslie also became a highly-respected commentator for Eurosport's coverage of the World Touring Car Championship.

The hugely popular Scot continued to race successfully until his death - taking advantage of adverse weather conditions at Silverstone to take an unexpected Britcar victory, sharing a BMW M3 E46 with Handkammer at Silverstone in his final race on March 22.

Autosport

[Plex]

Richard Lloyd, 1945-2008

Richard Lloyd enjoyed incredible success both as a driver and a team boss during his four decades in motorsport.

He started racing in 1967 in a Triumph TR4 and went on to become a three times class title winner in the British Touring Car Championship as he established himself as one of the leading drivers in the series. In 1977 he expanded his repertoire by creating his own team - GTi Engineering.

The following season was his most successful in the BTCC as a driver, finishing second overall in the championship in a self-developed Volkswagen Golf GTi.

The team continued to run in the BTCC until 1980 - famously running Stirling Moss in an Audi 80 that year - before moving into sportscars in 1981. Lloyd and tin-top legend Andy Rouse claimed a class win in the Brands Hatch 1000kms that year for Porsche, and in 1983 became one of the first privateer teams to run the Porsche 956 Group C car.

The Canon-backed team enjoyed great success with the 956 and its successor, the 962 during the 1980s, famously winning the Brands Hatch 1000kms with Jan Lammers and Jonathan Palmer in 1984.

Now called Richard Lloyd Racing, the team also starred at Le Mans in 1985, finishing second with Lloyd himself driving alongside Palmer and James Weaver. A year later, RLR, now backed by Liqui Moly, claimed their second world championship race win, again at Brands Hatch, with Mauro Baldi and Bob Wollek.

Lloyd's team continued in the World Sportscar Championship until 1990, claiming another victory at the Norisring in 1987, only to have to pull out because of a sponsorship shortfall before the 1991 season.

After dropping out of sportscars, the team returned to lower key projects, with Lloyd winning the British Porsche 924 Championship in 1993, but soon returned to prominence. They ran the factory Audi Sport UK team in the British Touring Car Championship and took the title with Frank Biela and the A4 Quattro in 1996.

When Audi pulled out of the BTCC at the end of 1998, the team turned their attention to sportscars once again, developing and running the Audi R8 Coupe for Le Mans before switching to Volkswagen Audi Group sister brand Bentley for 2001. Lloyd also continued his assocation with Audi, building and developing the Audi S4s which were hugely successful in North American tin-top racing.

After a superb third place on the marque's Le Mans comeback in 2001, Lloyd's team, now named Apex Motorsport, finally won the great race in 2003.

Lloyd continued to appear occasionally as a driver in historic events, but wound down his team prior to it being revived in 2006 to develop and run the factory-blessed Jaguar XKR in the FIA GT3 Championship.

Autosport

[Princess-Kaveshla]

May they rest in peace...
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[MG Man]

Sad
us Vauxhall nuts have had it bad these last few years......most recently was WB Blydenstein, and Saloon car legend Gerry Marshall in 2005...........and Tony Pond a few years back
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