David Leslie (racing driver)

David Leslie
Leslie in 2003
Nationality	British
Born	(1953-11-09)9 November 1953 Annan, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
Died	30 March 2008(2008-03-30) (aged 54) Farnborough, Kent, UK
BTCC record
Teams	BMW, Vauxhall, Mazda, Honda, Nissan, Proton
Drivers championships	0
Wins	9
Podium finishes	35
Poles	16
Fastest laps	17
Debut season	1990
First win	1993
Best championship position	2nd (1999)
Final season (2003) position	11th (28 points)
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	1984 – 1991, 1993, 1995
Teams	Ecurie Ecosse, Mazdaspeed, Aston Martin, Silk Cut Jaguar, TWR Jaguar, Team Marcos
Best finish	8th (1987)
Class wins	0

David Leslie (9 November 1953 – 30 March 2008) 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.

Career

Leslie driving for Honda at Brands Hatch in the 1996 BTCC season.

Leslie was Scottish karting champion 5 times before switching to cars, winning the Formula Ford 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.^[1] 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. 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,^[1] and earned a total of six pole positions 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 was 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.

Leslie's Primera in the 1999 BTCC.

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 US 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.^[1]

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 late father David senior.^[2]

Death

Leslie died on 30 March 2008, when the private jet he was travelling in crashed into a housing estate in Farnborough, Kent. He was flying with fellow racing driver and team owner Richard Lloyd and data engineer Chris Allarton.^[3] They were travelling to the Nogaro Circuit in France to test for Lloyd's Apex Motorsport in preparation for the FIA GT3 European Championship.^[4]

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 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)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to David Leslie.

• BTCC pages profile
• David Leslie Online Memorial