David Leslie (racing driver)
Encyclopedia
David Leslie was a 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
.
title in 1978. He later moved to the British Formula Three Championship
from 1981 to 1984, becoming involved with the Ecurie Ecosse
team. With Ecosse, he 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. 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 maintained his links with Ecosse when the team moved to the British Touring Car Championship
in 1990. Leslie 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, and earned a total of six pole position
s over those two 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, although he continued to occasionally participate in the Britcar
series.
For the past 3 years, he had been lecturing Motorsports Management, part-time at Swansea Metropolitan University.
Allan McNish
credited the start he, David Coulthard
, and Dario Franchitti
were given at the start of their careers as largely to Leslie and his father David senior.
into a housing estate in Farnborough
, Kent
. More details of the accident can be seen on the AAIB website. 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
.
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
driver. He was most associated with the British Touring Car Championship
British Touring Car Championship
The British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom. The Championship was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and has run to various rules over the years – "production cars", then FIA Group 1 or 2 in the late 1960s...
, in which he was runner-up in 1999
1999 British Touring Car Championship season
The 1999 Auto Trader RAC British Touring Car Championship season was won by Laurent Aïello in his debut season driving for the Nissan works team, with team mate David Leslie in second place....
. He was particularly noted for his development skill, helping both Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
and Nissan become BTCC race winners. He was born in Dumfries
Dumfries
Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth. Dumfries was the county town of the former county of Dumfriesshire. Dumfries is nicknamed Queen of the South...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
Career
He was Scottish karting champion 5 times before switching to cars, winning the Formula FordFormula Ford
Formula Ford is a single seater, open wheel class in motorsport which exists in some form in many countries around the world. It is an entry-level series to motor racing....
title in 1978. He later moved to the British Formula Three Championship
British Formula Three Championship
The British Formula Three Championship is an international motor racing series that takes place primarily in the United Kingdom with a small number of events in mainland Europe. It is a junior-level feeder formula that uses small single seater Formula Three chassis. Its current official title is...
from 1981 to 1984, becoming involved with the Ecurie Ecosse
Ecurie Ecosse
Ecurie Ecosse was a motor racing team from Scotland. The team was founded in 1952 by Edinburgh businessman and racing driver David Murray and mechanic Wilkie Wilkinson, its most notable achievement was winning both the 1956 and 1957 24 Hours of Le Mans. The team also raced in three Formula One races...
team. With Ecosse, he moved to the World Sportscar Championship
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 North America with dozens of gentleman drivers at the grid,...
, driving to multiple C2 class victories and helping the team earn the 1986 championship
1986 World Sportscar Championship season
The 1986 World Sports-Prototype Championship season was the 34th FIA World Sportscar Championship season. It was a series running under the Group C formula, running cars in two classes known as C1 and C2. An invitational GTP class was also run for IMSA-spec cars...
. Leslie himself would earn second place in the Drivers Championship in 1987
1987 World Sportscar Championship season
The 1987 World Sportscar Championship season was the 35th season of FIA World Sportscar Championship racing. It featured the World Sports-Prototype Championship which was a series which ran from March 22, 1987 to September 27, 1987 and was composed of ten races. The series was open to cars running...
alongside teammate Ray Mallock. Ecosse eventually took over the Aston Martin
Aston Martin
Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
sports car program before Leslie departed in 1990 to become part of Tom Walkinshaw
Tom Walkinshaw
Tom Walkinshaw was a Scottish racing car driver and the founder of the racing team Tom Walkinshaw Racing...
's Jaguar team.
Leslie maintained his links with Ecosse when the team moved to the British Touring Car Championship
British Touring Car Championship
The British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom. The Championship was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and has run to various rules over the years – "production cars", then FIA Group 1 or 2 in the late 1960s...
in 1990. Leslie competed on a partial schedule for the first two seasons before becoming a full-time driver for Vauxhall
Vauxhall Motors
Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...
in 1992. He took his first win a year later, and earned a total of six pole position
Pole position
The term "pole position", as used in motorsports, comes from the horse racing term where the number one starter starts on the inside next to the inside pole. The term made its way, along with several other customs, to auto racing. In circuit motorsports, a driver has pole position when he or she...
s over those two years, both of which ended in top 10 championship placements.
1994 was an unsuccessful season in a Mazda
Mazda
is a Japanese automotive manufacturer based in Fuchū, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.In 2007, Mazda produced almost 1.3 million vehicles for global sales...
, but for 1995 he joined Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
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
British Grand Prix
The British Grand Prix is a race in the calendar of the FIA Formula One World Championship. It is currently held at the Silverstone Circuit near the village of Silverstone in Northamptonshire...
support meeting kick-started a strong 2nd half of the season, allowing him to snatch 4th overall at the final round of the season.
James Thompson (racing driver)
James Thompson is a British auto racing driver and commentator for Eurosport's motorsport coverage. He has twice been champion of the British Touring Car Championship , and was third in the 2007 World Touring Car Championship.-Racing career:He started racing in the BTCC in a privately-entered...
and Gabriele Tarquini
Gabriele Tarquini
Gabriele Tarquini is a racing driver from Italy. He participated in 78 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on May 3, 1987. He scored 1 championship point, and holds the record for the most failed attempts to qualify...
raced the Hondas and Leslie switched to Nissan
Nissan Motors
, usually shortened to Nissan , is a multinational automaker headquartered in Japan. It was a core member of the Nissan Group, but has become more independent after its restructuring under Carlos Ghosn ....
alongside Anthony Reid
Anthony Reid
Anthony Reid is a British auto racing driver, born on 17 May 1957 in Glasgow, Scotland. Although Scottish he now lives in England.-Formula cars:...
. 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
Laurent Aïello
Laurent Aïello is a race car driver.In 1990 he won the Monaco Grand Prix Formula Three support race. His two seasons in International Formula 3000 were not successful however, and though he won the French Formula Three Championship. 2005 was his final competitive season...
in 1999. The company pulled out after that, and Leslie did only occasional races in 2000, and contest the Speedvision Challenge
SPEED World Challenge
The Pirelli World Challenge is a North American auto racing series that is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America . Founded in 1985, it consists of four classes: grand touring, touring car, a "GTS" class since 2010, and a "touring car B-spec" since 2012...
in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 2001. He joined Proton
Proton
The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
in the BTCC for the 2002 and 2003 seasons, but the project was not a great success, and thereafter Leslie provided commentary for Eurosport
Eurosport
Eurosport is a pan-European television sport network operated by French broadcaster TF1 Group. The network of channels are available in 59 countries, in 20 different languages providing viewers with European and international sporting events...
on the World Touring Car Championship
World Touring Car Championship
For the video game, known as World Touring Car Championship in Japan, see TOCA World Touring CarsThe FIA World Touring Car Championship is an international Touring Car championship sanctioned by the FIA.-History:...
series, although he continued to occasionally participate in the Britcar
Britcar
Britcar is an Endurance Motor Racing series formed in 1997, as a result of a discussion in a Nürburgring bar between Willie Moore and James Tucker. Folklore has it that James Tucker and John Veness formed the organizing European Endurance & Racing Club with a £10 note found on the ground...
series.
For the past 3 years, he had been lecturing Motorsports Management, part-time at Swansea Metropolitan University.
Allan McNish
Allan McNish
Allan McNish is a Scottish racing driver. He is a two-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2008, and two-time American Le Mans Series champion.- Early life :...
credited the start he, David Coulthard
David Coulthard
David Marshall Coulthard, MBE, , sometimes known as DC, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland.Coulthard, who was born in Dumfries and raised nearby in Twynholm, made his Formula One debut in 1994 and won 13 Grands Prix in a career spanning 15 seasons...
, and Dario Franchitti
Dario Franchitti
George Dario Marino Franchitti is a Scottish racing driver. He formerly competed in the CART series before switching to the IndyCar Series where he was 2007 champion, and won the rain-shortened 2007 Indianapolis 500. Franchitti is also a former NASCAR driver for Chip Ganassi Racing, competing...
were given at the start of their careers as largely to Leslie and his father David senior.
Death
Leslie died on 30 March 2008, when the private jet he was travelling in crashed2008 Farnborough plane crash
At 14:38 on 30 March 2008, a Cessna Citation 501 with five people on board crashed into a house at Farnborough in the London Borough of Bromley, shortly after take off from Biggin Hill. There were no survivors among the five people on board...
into a housing estate in Farnborough
Farnborough, London
Farnborough is a settlement in the London Borough of Bromley. It is a suburban development located 13.4 miles southeast of Charing Cross.-History:...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. More details of the accident can be seen on the AAIB website. He was flying with fellow racing driver and team owner Richard Lloyd
Richard Lloyd (racing driver)
Richard Lloyd was a British racing car driver and founder of multiple sports car and touring car teams...
and data engineer Chris Allarton. They were travelling to the Nogaro Circuit
Circuit Paul Armagnac
Circuit Paul Armagnac is a motorsport race track near Nogaro in southwestern France. The track was built in 1960. The venue hosted the French round of the Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world championship in 1978 and 1982, as well as the 2003 round of the FIA Sportscar Championship. It also...
in France to test for Lloyd's Apex Motorsport in preparation for the FIA GT3 European Championship
FIA GT3 European Championship
The FIA GT3 European Championship is a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . It is a championship derived from the international FIA GT1 World Championship, but meant to provide competition for more...
.