Round 14, Thruxton, Sunday 30th August 1993, Winner If the 1993 BTCC had been decided on a performance per pound spent ratio then David Leslie, brilliant engineer Ray Mallock, their Dunlop tyres and the slick Ecurie Ecosse back up team would have won their debut BTCC season. They operated with a fraction of the factory teams’ budgets yet Leslie was often quicker than the ‘official’ Cavaliers and claimed four pole positions, more than any other driver. However, bad luck dogged them; Leslie was pushed off whilst leading at Brands Hatch, then robbed of victory again at Pembrey when, after he’d built a comfortable lead, the Cavalier’s throttle cable snapped. Their only win of the season was a dominant performance at Thruxton.
Did you know? Born in Dumfries in 1953, David Leslie raced in the BTCC for 13 years winning 9 races and finishing second in the 1999 Championship. His father, David Leslie senior, was a well known figure in Scottish motorsport and David jnr followed in his footsteps winning the Scottish Karting Championship five times as a youngster before graduating to Formula Ford 1600 where he was again successful. A spell in British F3 was followed by racing in the C2 class of the World Sportscar Championship for the well-known Scottish Ecurie Ecosse team, which yielded a second overall in the 1987 Championship for Leslie and partner Ray Mallock. Tragically, Leslie was killed in March 2008, along with his friend and fellow racer Richard Lloyd, when the light plane in which they were travelling crashed in Farnborough, Kent.