O WNER PR OFILE – D A VID RICHARDS
SINCE 1974 WHEN HE TOOK HIS FIRST NATIONAL RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP WIN AS CO-DRIVER TO TONY DRUMMOND, HIS CAREER HAS BEEN NOTHING SHORT OF STRATOSPHERIC.
It should come as no surprise that David Richards was awarded the CBE for services to motorsport in 2005. Since 1974 when he took his fi rst national rally championship win as co-driver to Tony Drummond, his career has been nothing short of stratospheric. As an accomplished aviator, twice F1 team boss and current chairman of both Prodrive and Aston Martin, perhaps the biggest problem he faces today is running out of challenges.
David has owned an Oyster LD43 motor yacht for just over a year now. Prior to that he learned to sail in a 27ſt Sunbeam he commissioned especially to race near the family’s summer retreat in Cornwall. It was an ambitious choice for a beginner, he laughs, “what I know about sailing you could write on the back of a postage stamp. I was brought up in North Wales and we were about as far away from the sea as you can get. Now, our home in Warwickshire is almost in the centre of England so sailing is pretty alien to my background, but I’m learning fast.”
Indeed, quick thinking is something David has a reputation for. Growing up in Ruthin, North Wales, he soon embraced the sport of rallying, demonstrating the skill and nerve to function coolly while been driven at high speed along forest stages. Having leſt comprehensive school at 17 to study for his articles as a chartered accountant, David found the accuracy,
management and technical abilities co-drivers needed to succeed in the hostile and oſt en dangerous environment of a rally car, were second nature to him. He was also quick to recognise the importance of media relations and gained a reputation for holding impromptu press conferences mid-way through important events.
David married Karen in 1976 and in the same year joined the British Leyland factory team, partnering the legendary British rally driver, Tony Pond. He later moved to Fiat and then the works Ford team in 1979, co-driving Ari Vatanen to win the British and Scandinavian Championships, then the World Rally Championship in 1981. A world champion at 29, he had achieved his goals as a competitor and retired from international co-driving to concentrate on a fl ourishing motorsport consultancy business started “on the dining room table.” He formed Prodrive (now based in Banbury, Oxfordshire) at the age of 32 and success soon followed, Prodrive winning the Middle East Championship for the Porsche Rothmans Rally Team three years in a row, three British Touring Car Championships for BMW and a number of European rally championships. Later Prodrive would also add Ford, Alfa Romeo and Honda to the list of success stories.
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