RICHARD LLOYDRichard Lloyd, who died aged 63 when the private jet he was travelling in crashed on 30 March, 2008, was a British racing driver who later founded his own successful racing teams.During his driving career he raced in numerous disciplines, including the Le Mans in which he was a runner-up in 1985.His most recent company, Apex Motorsport, raced Audis in the British Touring Car Championship, Jaguars in the GT3 European Championship and a Bentley which won Le Mans.As a child Richard Lloyd collected vintage model cars, a hobby that would be translated into restoring and racing classic cars in his later life.His first job was with Decca Records but after he began racing in a Triumph TR4A in 1967, his future in motor racing was set.In 1971, he used his PR skills from his previous job to found Motor Race Relations and split his time between his business interests and competing in the British Saloon Car Championship (which would soon become the BTCC), finishing second in the 1978 championship.The same year he founded GTi Engineering which ran Golfs and Audis in the Saloon Car Championship. In 1985, this became Richard Lloyd Racing and he branched out into Sportscar Championship with Porsches under the sponsorship of Canon, their first involvement in motor racing.During the 1980s he also drove in many of the classic endurance races, sharing his team’s seat with Jonathan Palmer and James Weaver to finish second by just three laps in a Porsche 956 GTi in the 1985 Le Mans 24-hour race.His team disbanded in 1990 but Mr Lloyd continued to race, taking part in the Porsche 924 Championship. In 1995, now retired from professional driving, he established a new team, Audi Sport UK, to compete in the BTCC and he also ran two cars at Le Mans in 1999.After signing a deal with Bentley in 2001, he renamed the team Apex Motorsport and ran their new Bentley EXP Speed 8 car which won the Le Mans race in 2003. Apex then moved to the GT3 European Championship as the official development team of the Jaguar XKR. From 2006 Mr Lloyd shared responsibility with Harry Handkammer, the former Britcar racer.His association with Mr Handkammer led him into contact with the former Touring Car driver and Mr Handkammer’s Britcar co-driver David Leslie, a fellow passenger on the private jet which crashed into a pair of houses in Farnborough, Kent, shortly after take-off. The houses were empty at the time but Mr Lloyd, Mr Leslie, Apex employee Christopher Allarton and pilots Mike Roberts and Michael Chapman were killed. They were on their way to a testing session in France at the time.Former Formula One World Champion Damon Hill paid tribute to the two racers, saying: "I knew them both and I raced for Richard Lloyd at Le Mans. They were both lovely guys. You wouldn’t find anyone with anything bad to say about them."Colin Hilton, chief executive of the Motor Sports Association, said: “Having been a successful driver, it was as a team manager and owner that Richard really made his name, working with some of the best drivers in the world and winning numerous titles. But the pinnacle of his achievements surely came with the Le Mans-winning Bentley team in 2003, which was a great success for British motor sport.”
Keep me informed of updates
