David Leslie

David William Leslie (9 November 1953 – 30 March 2008) was a British racing driver. He was most associated with the British Touring Car Championship, in which he was runner-up in 1999. He was particularly noted for his development skill, helping both Honda and Nissan become BTCC race winners. He was born in Dumfries, Scotland.

Career Leslie (Mazda Xedos 6) chased by Joachim Winkelhock (BMW 318i) at Brands Hatch during the 1994 BTCC season. Leslie driving for Honda at Brands Hatch in the 1996 BTCC season.

Karting and junior formulas

Leslie was a five-time Scottish karting champion before switching to cars, winning the Formula Ford title in 1978. In 1980, he raced a Ralt RT4 in Formula Atlantic for Hope Scott Garage in Currie, Midlothian. He later moved to the British Formula Three Championship from 1981 to 1984, becoming involved with the Ecurie Ecosse team.

Sportscar racing

With Ecosse, Leslie moved to the World Sportscar Championship, driving to multiple C2 class victories and helping the team earn the 1986 championship. Leslie himself would earn second place in the Drivers Championship in 1987 alongside teammate Ray Mallock. Leslie and the team also finished second in the C2 class and eighth overall in the 1987 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Ecosse eventually took over the Aston Martin sports car program before Leslie departed in 1990 to become part of Tom Walkinshaw's Jaguar team. Leslie competed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans a total of ten times, including driving the works Jaguar XJ220 in 1993 alongside Win Percy and Armin Hahne, only to retire with engine failure while in contention for the lead of the GT class.

One-make racing

In 1985, Ecosse ran Leslie in the ESSO MG Metro Challenge.

Leslie raced in the Honda CR-X Challenge in 1988 and 1989.

Touring car racing and GTs

Leslie maintained his links with Ecosse when the team moved to the British Touring Car Championship in 1990. He competed on a partial schedule for the first two seasons before becoming a full-time driver for Vauxhall in 1992. He took his first win a year later, In 1999, he finished a close runner up in the championship standings to teammate Laurent Aïello, with three race wins and 10 podiums.

The company pulled out after that, and Leslie did only occasional races in 2000. Notably, for the works Honda team in one round of the 2000 European Super Touring Cup and one round of the 2000 British Touring Car Championship. He also did two further BTCC rounds that season in the private PRO Motorsport Nissan Primera and competed in the final round of the 2000 Swedish Touring Car Championship. He competed at the Spa 24 Hours that same year, sharing a Honda Accord with James Kaye and Mark Lemmer, but retired with engine failure. He also drove for Marcos in the 2000 British GT Championship for a select number of rounds, finishing on the podium at Croft. He contested the Speedvision Challenge in the US during 2001 in addition to another outing in the British GT Championship (Knockhill), once again in a Marcos and finishing on the class podium. Leslie driving for Proton at Brands Hatch during the 2003 British Touring Car Championship season. Leslie joined Proton in the BTCC for the 2002 and 2003 seasons, but the project was not a great success. He did, however, manage to secure two third-place results and was the best-placed Proton in both seasons. Thereafter Leslie provided commentary for Eurosport on the World Touring Car Championship series, although he continued to occasionally participate in the Britcar series.

Death

Leslie died on 30 March 2008, when the private jet he was travelling in crashed into a housing estate in Farnborough. He was flying with fellow racing driver and team owner Richard Lloyd and data engineer Chris Allarton. They were travelling to the Nogaro Circuit in France to test for Lloyd's Apex Motorsport in preparation for the FIA GT3 European Championship.

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 Formula One Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Chassis Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Pts 1979 Graham Eden Racing Chevron B41 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ZOL OUL BRH MAL SNE THR ZAN DON OUL NOG MAL BRH THR SNE SIL =17th 3

Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded – 1996–2002 all races, 2003 just in first race) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded – 2000–2003 all races) signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap (1 point awarded – 1998–2002 just for feature race, 2003 all races)

‡ Endurance driver (Ineligible for points in 1990)

Complete Swedish Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Complete European Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1984 Ecurie Ecosse David Duffield Mike Wilds Ecosse C284-Ford Cosworth C2 36 DNF DNF 1985 Ecurie Ecosse Ray Mallock Mike Wilds Ecosse C285-Ford Cosworth C2 45 DNF DNF 1986 Ecurie Ecosse Ray Mallock Mike Wilds Ecosse C286-Austin-Rover C2 181 DSQ DSQ 1987 Ecurie Ecosse Marc Duez Ray Mallock Ecosse C286-Ford Cosworth C2 308 8th 2nd 1988 Mazdaspeed Co. Ltd. Marc Duez Yoshimi Katayama Mazda 767 GTP 330 17th 2nd 1989 Aston Martin Ecurie Ecosse Ray Mallock David Sears Aston Martin AMR1 C1 153 DNF DNF 1990 Silk Cut Jaguar Tom Walkinshaw Racing Martin Brundle Alain Ferté Jaguar XJR-12 C1 220 DNF DNF 1991 TWR Suntec Jaguar Jeff Krosnoff Mauro Martini Jaguar XJR-12 C2 183 DNF DNF 1993 TWR Jaguar Racing Armin Hahne Win Percy Jaguar XJ220 GT 6 DNF DNF 1995 Team Marcos Chris Marsh François Migault Marcos LM600 LMGT2 184 NC NC

24 Hours of Spa results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1993 Ecurie Ecosse Vauxhall Philippe Adams Bernard de Dryver Vauxhall Cavalier GSi Pro 2L 101/engine DNF DNF 1998 Belgacom Nissan T.U.R.B.O Team Dirk Schoysman Grégoire de Mévius Nissan Primera SP 471 7th 7th 2000 ELR & Barwell Motorsport James Kaye Mark Lemmer Honda AccordSP?/engineDNFDNF

Complete British GT Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos Points 2000 NCK Motorsport Marcos LM600 GT THR1 CRO1 OUL1 DON1 SIL1 BRH1 DON1 CRO1 SIL1 SNE1 SPA1 SIL1 14th 39

Britcar 24 Hour results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2007 GTS Motorsport Joe Macari Rob Wilson Stuart Wright BMW M3 E46 GTR 26 GTC 553 6th3rd