Motorsport UK is sad to learn of the passing of David Price, one of the most successful characters in both British and International pitlanes over the past 50 years.

Having served an apprenticeship with Ford in Dagenham – and then built Cortinas for marathon rallies such as the London to Sydney – Price came to circuit racing prominence in the late 1970s when running the Unipart-backed F3 team in the British F3 Championship for drivers including Tiff Needell and Nigel Mansell.

Those campaigns were hampered by down-on-power Triumph engines but the relationship with British Leyland then saw his team, David Price Racing, developing a pair of Rover SD1s for Group 1 touring car competition. DPR then enjoyed a rather more successful sojourn back in F3 first with Martin Brundle followed by title-winning season with Johnny Dumfries in 1984.

The next chapters of Price’s impressive career focused mainly on endurance racing with his formidable team leadership skills employed first by Richard Lloyd Racing and thereafter by Sauber, Nissan and Panoz, either side of a brief spell at the helm of Brabham in Formula One. Price also ran the Harrods-backed McLaren F1 GTR at Le Mans in 1995 with Derek Bell teaming up with his son Justin and Andy Wallace to finish a fine third.

In all his roles whether as a Team Owner, Team Manager or engineer ‘Pricey’, as he was lovingly known, earned himself a reputation as a great leader as well as one of the sport’s most passionate and knowledgeable personalities. Motorsport UK sends its condolences to David Price’s family and all his many, many friends.