Richard Lloyd (18 February 1945 – 30 March 2008) was a British racing car driver and founder of multiple

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

and

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

teams. He drove in multiple championships himself, including the British Saloon Car Championship and the World Endurance Championship.

Life and career

Initially Lloyd worked for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

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 Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...

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 The Volkswagen Golf () is a compact car/ small family car ( C-segment) produced by the German automotive manufacturer Volkswagen since 1974, marketed worldwide across eight generations, in various body configurations and under various namepla ...

GTIs and

Audi 80 The Audi 80 is a compact executive car produced by the Audi subdivision of the Volkswagen Group across four generations from 1966 to 1996. It shared its platform with the Volkswagen Passat from 1973 to 1986 and was available as a saloon, and ...

s. This team eventually became '' Richard Lloyd Racing'' in 1985 as Lloyd moved into the

World Sportscar Championship The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992. The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and ...

with

Porsche 956 The Porsche 956 was a Group C sports-prototype racing car designed by Norbert Singer and built by Porsche in 1982 for the FIA World Sportscar Championship. It was later upgraded to the 956B in 1984. In 1983, driven by Stefan Bellof, this car ...

s 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 Apex Motorsport, formerly known as Audi Sport UK, was a British auto racing team founded in 1996 by former racing driver Richard Lloyd in partnership with the Volkswagen Group. Formed to bring Audi into the British Touring Car Championship, the ...

to once again compete in the

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...

, with support from the Audi factory. Lloyd re-entered sports car racing in 1999 with the

Audi R8C The Audi R8C is a Le Mans Prototype racecar that was built by Audi and designed by Peter Elleray to compete in the 1999 24 Hours of Le Mans under the LMGTP category. It was developed alongside the open Audi R8R LMP category spyder, prior to bein ...

program at the

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose w ...

, before being chosen by Audi's fellow

Volkswagen Group Volkswagen AG (), known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. The company designs, manufactures and distributes passenger and commercial ...

subsidiary,

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, Nort ...

, to run the EXP Speed 8 program in 2001. Audi Sport UK was renamed ''Apex Motorsport'' during their Bentley tenure, subsequently became

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the thi ...

's development team for the XKR in the FIA GT3 European Championship. Lloyd stopped racing professionally in the 1990s, but continued to run in historic racing events up until his death.

Death

Lloyd died on 30 March 2008, when a private jet on which he was travelling crashed into a house in

Farnborough, London Farnborough is a village in south-eastern Greater London, England, located in the historic county of Kent. Situated south of Locksbottom, west of Green Street Green, north of Downe and Hazelwood, and east of Keston, it is centred southeast ...

, shortly after take-off from Biggin Hill Airport. All five occupants died upon impact; among them were an Apex Motorsport Data Engineer, Christopher Allarton, and former

driver David Leslie. Both were en route with Lloyd to the Nogaro Circuit in France to prepare Apex Motorsport's Jaguar for the upcoming FIA GT3 season. The investigation into the crash found that a combination of incorrectly identified, non-critical system failures led to the in-flight shut-down of both engines, with the crew unable to restart them in time to avoid the impact.

Racing record

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) † Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

24 Hours of Le Mans results

References

External links

British Racing Drivers' Club
- Richard Lloyd {{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Richard 1945 births 2008 deaths British Touring Car Championship drivers English racing drivers 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers World Sportscar Championship drivers Sports car racing team owners Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in England Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2008 Porsche Motorsports drivers