Richard Lloyd

Richard Hugh Lloyd (18 February 1945 – 30 March 2008) was a British racing car driver and founder of multiple sports car and touring car teams. He drove in multiple championships himself, including the British Saloon Car Championship and the World Endurance Championship.

Life and career A Porsche 924 Carrera GTR which Lloyd co-drove with Andy Rouse and Jeff Allam. 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, 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, subsequently became Jaguar'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, 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 British Touring Car Championship 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.) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Pts Class 1973 A.J. Rivers Simoniz Racing Chevrolet Camaro Z28 BRH SIL THR THR SIL ING BRH SIL BRHRet NC 0 NC 1974 A.J. Rivers Simoniz Racing Chevrolet Camaro Z28 MAL2† BRHRet SIL2 OUL2 THR1 SILRet THR1 BRH2 ING4† BRH1† OUL2 SNERet† BRHRet 8th 47 2nd 1975 Think Automotive / Simoniz Racing Chevrolet Camaro Z28 MAL1† BRH4 OUL2 THR1 SIL1 BRH1† THR2 SIL2 MAL2† SNE5 SIL12 ING BRH2† OULRet BRH2 4th 65 2nd 1976 Ottershaw Motors Opel Commodore GS/E BRH SILRet OULRet† THRRet THR5 SIL? BRH18 MAL5† SNERet† BRH 23rd 9 7th 1977 Richard Lloyd Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI SIL? BRHDNS OUL2† THR? SIL? THR? DON7† SIL12 DON3† BRH? THR? BRH8 3rd 40 1st 1978 Richard Lloyd Racing Volkswagen Golf GTI SIL8 OUL1† THR? BRH1† SIL1† DON1† MAL1† BRH11 DONDSQ† BRHDNS THR? OUL1† 2nd 90 1st 1979 The Akai Golf Volkswagen Golf GTI SIL11 OULDSQ† THR11 SIL15 DON? SIL? MAL2† DON10 BRH? THR? SNE11 OUL1† 3rd 82 1st 1980 GTI Engineering Audi 80 GLE MALRet† OUL3† THR10 SIL10 SIL10 BRH? MAL?† BRHDSQ THR9 SIL15 8th 41 3rd 1983 GTI Engineering Volkswagen Golf GTI SIL OUL THR BRH THR SIL DON SIL DON BRH SIL13 25th 3 12th † Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-drivers Car Class Laps 1982 Canon Cameras GTi Engineering Andy Rouse Porsche 924 Carrera GTR IMSAGTO 77 DNF DNF 1983 Canon Racing GTi Engineering Jan Lammers Jonathan Palmer Porsche 956 C 339 8th 8th 1984 GTi Engineering Nick Mason René Metge Porsche 956 C1 139 DSQ DSQ 1985 Richard Lloyd Racing Jonathan Palmer James Weaver Porsche 956 GTi C1 371 2nd 2nd