The word ‘legend’ is so often used either in jest or incorrectly but apply it to David Price and few would disagree that it is absolutely spot on.
His loss earlier this week after a long battle with heart problems leaves a substantial void.
‘Pricey’ was, and will remain, a beloved figure in the minds of more or less everyone that encountered him in a career spanning over half a century.
Pricey was, according to those that knew him best, always a ‘character’ – from his start in the racing business as a mechanic, a brief but spectacular spell as a rally driver (in the 1970 World Cup Rally) and onto the programmes that he is now better known for in single seaters, his F3 teams welcoming an array of talent including Nigel Mansell, Martin Brundle and Andrea de Cesaris. F3000, GP2 (winning races with Olivier Pla) and A1GP were also graced by his presence, plus a spell in Formula One managing the Brabham team in 1991.
Here at DSC it is, of course, his sportscar racing efforts that have secured his place as one of the brightest stars in our galaxy.
GTi Engineering with the Porsche 962 GTi, The Sauber Mercedes Group C squad, Nissan’s World Championship Group C effort, all saw significant input from Pricey.
Into the GT1 era and David Price Racing were right in the vanguard handling the now iconic McLaren F1 GTR efforts with Harrods and West backing.
After the introduction of the new Porsche 911 GT1 and the transition of the BPR into the FIA GT Championship, Pricey took a brief step back before re-emerging at the helm of the new Panoz operation, this a result in part of his successful carbon fibre business having strong links to Reynard who designed and built the Esperante GTRs.
That link with Don Panoz continued for two decades, through the racing debut of the first modern Hybrid (the Panoz Q9 ‘Sparky), into and through the LMP900 era and onto the DeltaWing programme.
In the midst of all that there was time for a short programme with ex-McLaren customer Thomas Bscher and his BMW LMP car in 1999. Pricey was anything other than idle!!
The latter years of his hands-on career saw spells with Gulf Racing Middle East in the WEC, and finally at Bullitt Racing, assisting the team in their transition into GT4 racing and onwards to GT3 before stepping back.
Pricey was generous with his time, his words (including the colourful ones) and his sentiment.
This writer feels privileged to have had the opportunity to share time with him. I can only imagine the sense of loss with those, and there are very, very, many, are feeling today.
My deepest condolences to them all, his family and his huge number of friends in the sport and beyond.
If you would like to read more about Pricey’s incredible career DSC will be re-running Michael Cotton’s ‘Sportscar heroes’ interview with his this morning.
