Richard Lloyd

18/2/1945 - 30/3/2008

Record updated 31-Mar-08

Richard Lloyd
Entered his first competitive event at Brands in a TR4A in 1967. in 1968 he switched to a Triumph Spitfire but crashed it heavily at Brands. Tried to glue it back together but was never the same so got in touch with Messrs Cox and Clarke to build a proper one which was the start of the Gold Seal Cars Spitfire team with many class wins and one overall win - Crystal Palace.

First overseas events Mugello 1969 in a Stapleton Morgan and 1970 with the Spitfire with Messrs Marshall, Britten and Cox.

1971-1974: Established PR business - Motor Race Relations represented Mike Hailwood, Peter Gethin, Chris Craft etc and launched Formula Super Vee for VW GB.

1973-1976: Drove Chevrolet Camaros and Opel Commodore (1976) winning many British Saloon Car Championship events. Won sponsorship from Simoniz, Mobil and Vladivar Vodka, AJ Rivers etc.

1977-1979: Drove VW Golf GTi to a hat-trick of British Saloon Car Championship class wins and second overall in 1978. Sponsors - VW GB and Akai. Established GTi Engineering. BRDC Silver Star (1978).

1980: Developed and ran two Audi 80s in British Saloon Car Championship for Stirling Moss and Richard Lloyd. Sponsors -Audi and Akai.

1981-1982: Introduced Canon to motor racing sponsoring Porsche 924 GTR in World Sportscar Championship. Contested all the classic long distance events. Drivers Jonathan Palmer, Tony Dron, Andy Rouse and Richard Lloyd.

1983-1990: Established Richard Lloyd Racing bought one of the first customer Porsche 956s and quickly became the leading private team in WSC scoring four victories and finished second at Le Mans in 1985. Commissioned design and build of six special RLR chassis. Sponsors - Canon, Liqui Moly, Rothmans, Porsche Cars GB, Italya Sports etc.

1991-1995: Motor industry sonsultancies. Helped major US automotive interior trim component manufacturer establish European business. Raced in the Porsche 924 Championship winning five races and securing the overall title after fifteen year lay-off.

1996-1999: Established Audi Sport UK Ltd to contest BTCC for Audi UK. Champions in 1996, Runner-up in 1997. Ran Audi R8C's at Le Mans in 1999 on behalf of Audi AG. Designed, built and developed six speed Audi S4's for Audi North America one of which won the Speedvision GT Championship in 2001.

In 2001 he was 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, and are currently 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, campaigning his old Spitfire in selected HSCC events and at the Goodwood Revival meeting, up until his death. He also had a continued interest in a specialised automotive trim business.

Richard died on 30th March 2008 after a private jet on which he was travelling crashed into a house in Farnborough, London, shortly after take-off from Biggin Hill Airport. It is reported that just before the crash the plane suffered severe engine problems. All five occupants were killed upon impact, which also included former British Touring Car Championship driver David Leslie. Both were en route to the Nogaro Circuit in France to prepare Apex Motorsport's Jaguar for the upcoming FIA GT3 season.



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