The motorsport world was rocked today as two of its sons were taken in a plane crash over Kent.
The Cessna Citation 1 jet experienced engine troubles shortly after takeoff and despite the best efforts of the pilots, the plane came down in a residential suburb. Fortunately, no one was injured on the ground.
The two were in a group of five people traveling to France. The names of the other passengers have not been released. Lloyd and Leslie were traveling to Nogaro in France to test the Jaguar XKR GT3 car run by Apex Motorsport.
Richard Lloyd 1945-2008
Initially Lloyd worked for Decca Records from 1964 to 1970, during which time he became interested in racing after competing in a Triumph TR4A during 1967. He later formed his own public relations business, Motor Race Relations, in 1971, while continuing his own driving duties, during which time he won multiple events in the British Saloon Car Championship. He went on to form GTi Engineering in 1978, running Volkswagen Golf GTIs and Audi 80s. This team eventually became Richard Lloyd Racing in 1985 as Lloyd moved into the World Sportscar Championship with Porsche 956s and 962s.
Following the demise of the team in 1990, Richard Lloyd returned to racing, driving, and winning, in the Porsche 924 Championship. In 1995, he established Audi Sport UK to once again compete in the British Touring Car Championship, with support from the Audi factory. Lloyd re-entered sports car racing in 1999 with the Audi R8C program at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, before being chosen by Audi's fellow Volkswagen Group subsidiary, Bentley, to run the EXP Speed 8 program in 2001.
Audi Sport UK was renamed Apex Motorsport during their Bentley tenure, and are currently Jaguar's development team for the XKR in the FIA GT3 European Championship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lloyd_%28racing_driver%29
David Leslie 1953-2008
He was Scottish karting champion 5 times before switching to cars, winning the Formula Ford title in 1978. He had spells in Formula 3, Sportscars and ThunderSaloons in the 1980s, but found a regular home in the British Touring Car Championship, first competing there in 1990 and doing his first full season in an Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall in 1992, taking his first win a year later, and a total of 6 pole positions over those 2 years, both of which ended in top 10 championship placements.
1994 was an unsuccessful season in a Mazda, but for 1995 he joined Honda as they entered the series for the first time. The car was late getting onto the track in pre-season, and reliability as initially poor, however he finished 10th overall after a strong end to the season. 1996 started badly with several collisions, but a victory in the British Grand Prix support meeting kick-started a strong 2nd half of the season, allowing him to snatch 4th overall at the final round of the season.
For 1997 James Thompson and Gabriele Tarquini raced the Hondas and Leslie switched to Nissan alongside Anthony Reid. Again the car was initially uncompetitive, and much of the credit for its eventual success is widely attributed to Leslie, who finished as runner up to Laurent Aïello in 1999. The company pulled out after that, and Leslie did only occasional races in 2000, and contest the Speedvision Challenge in the U.S. in 2001. He joined Proton in the BTCC for the 2002 and 2003 seasons, but the project was not a great success, and thereafter Leslie provided commentary for Eurosport on the World Touring Car Championship series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Leslie_%28racing_driver%29
We here at FeedMeSportsCars extends our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of all five people involved.