By Matt Lamprell

The following is the transcript of an interview with David Leslie carried out for BTCCPages.com at Brands Hatch on May 4 2003. Click here for the the feature article relating to this interview.

ML: Is the weekend going to plan so far?

DL: No, the weekend isn't quite going to plan at the moment. We've discovered some understeer that we didn't have the last time we were here, so we're trying to cure that at this moment in time.

ML: What are your aims for the weekend?

DL: To try and get as good a result as possible. We struggled a little bit in practice on Saturday so the target now is just to get the best that we can out of the car for the weekend. Unfortunately we don't have all the bits and pieces on the car that we had hoped to have by this weekend so we've got to make as good a job as we can with what we have and we feel we are doing well with that at the moment. Hopefully we will start to improve as the season goes on.

ML: Are you pleased with the progress that you've made with the team since the start of the project?

DL: Yes. The team has come a long way since the start. When we first started and the car was delivered to the team, we found one or two problems at the beginning of last year and the team have worked very well together to try and iron out those bits & pieces and move forward. You can see that from the results we obtained last year. They were very good results. We were very pleased with the podium finishes, and it probably would have been another podium had we not been in the barrier at Brands last year, as the car was going very well at the time. It's a testament to the boys and the effort they put in last year.

ML: Is development still ongoing with the car?

DL: It never stops. You can never stop developing a race car, because if you do that, other people will carry on developing and you'll go backwards.

ML: You've got a new technical director this year in Mike Carroll, what has he brought to the team?

DL: He's got a lot of experience from touring cars in South Africa. He knows half the team already, before he got here. It's working very well. He's got a lot of enthusiasm going and the team is working very well.

ML: What are the team's aims in 2003?

DL: The team's aims are to do the best we can basically. I'd like to see us improving on what we had last year. Hopefully we can improve on the four podiums we had last year - that's the team's target, and that would be ideal. You have to improve year upon year. You can't just say 'we had a fantastic first year', which we did, coming in as late as we did, to get those podium positions. That exceeded all our expectations so that's moved our expectations as team on. Team PSP, as a team, now want to do better than that. That's our target for this year.

ML: What do you think it will take to make that next step and take the first win?

DL: Hard work. It's always hard work, and hard work from everybody within the team - technical director, mechanics, drivers, engineers - everyone in the team. It's a good team though that works very closely and very well together, and all those people putting that effort in, then I'm sure we will improve dramatically from where we are now as the season goes on.

ML: Do you think you can be challenging for championship honours come the end of the season?

DL: Not at this moment in time. From where started, I think is too far down to try and win a championship at the end of the season, although we had a very good first race at Mondello and scored some good points. I think the weather flattered us a little bit there, and I think Phil was very unlucky because he did nothing wrong all weekend, was having a fantastic weekend, and then through no fault of his own, it was turned around and that really finished his weekend for him. So, while we have no expectations of going out and winning the Teams championship, we do have expectations of finishing on the top step of the podium.

ML: Is BTCC champion still something that you hold in your sights, to go one better than in 1999?

DL: Very much so. But I'm realistic about it. I tend to join teams at the very beginning when they start and then do the development work, and work our way through until we become champions. Some other people are very lucky and always get in to the very best teams at the very best times and therefore go out and score lots of championship points and be in with a chance of the championship. That doesn't worry me. I enjoy what I do - developing cars, moving forwards and getting the best out of them. And yes, a lot of people would like to do what I do. I am very happy with it and working with this team is really good. They all have the same ideas and want to move forward and do a good job.

ML: How does the Impian compare with other cars that you've driven?

DL: I've never driven another touring car of these regulations. Super Touring was very different. They had more power and more grip, and an awful lot more money spent on them, so there's no real comparison.

ML: Are you a fan of the new regulations? Do you think they were good for the championship?

DL: Without doubt. Without those new regulations, we wouldn't have a championship, because, the way they were before, the regulations were great when you had a lot of manufacturers with a lot of money, but unfortunately the world doesn't have that amount of money any more and manufacturers started to pull out. The one I was driving for at the time, Nissan, they pulled out after they won the championship, because it was costing millions of pounds to do a national championship and ok, that might be ok when you're doing an international championship, but not for a national one. Regulations had to change for touring cars to survive. I think they've done a very good job and I think we've seen some very good, close racing out there, so therefore I think the regulations are a success.

ML: You mention the BTCC being a national championship - are you disappointed not to have a race in Scotland in front of your home crowd this year?

DL: Very disappointed. I love going to Knockhill and I'd very much like to be going up there this year, but that's just one of those things that happens. There are certain commercial rules involved with running a championship and I think it's very unfortunate that Knockhill is not part of the BTCC. I think it's very unfortunate that we don't have one in Wales at Pembrey as well, but there are certain criteria to be met in order to get this lot in to a paddock and to run the meetings in the professional manner which they do run, so unfortunately we can't always have everything that we want.

ML: Outside of touring cars, do you have any other motorsport activities lined up in 2003?

DL: Not at this moment in time. I had hoped to do some historic racing but unfortunately the touring cars are clashing with Goodwood, both the hillclimb and the circuit racing, so I can't do either of those. Someone asked me to get involved with an Aston Martin which is a support race for the Toca package but unfortunately I feel that it clashes a lot with what we do, either in testing or in the races, and if the race is before or in between the two touring car races, then I feel that it's wrong for me to do that. My focus is very much on doing well for Team PSP.

ML: Having driven a lot of touring and sports cars. Given the choice between the two categories, which do you prefer?

DL: I would go back to long distance racing. I enjoy the longer races, so it suits me this year that we've got two longer races with pitstops. I think that's a good thing, and I find it better than having a quick sprint race where you don't have so much time to do anything. Endurance racing, or longer racing is what I love.

ML: How did you first come to be involved with the Team PSP project?

DL: I got a phone call one day, when I was somewhere else, at another team basically, and I was asked if I would like to come and meet David Wong the following day, and I said yes. So the next day, I went and met him, and we had a chat about various things - what his expectations were, what he wanted and everything else. We both wanted to win and what he told me was very good and very interesting. We did a deal there and then, that day and that was me part of the team.

ML: Do you feel it was a disadvantage setting the team up from scratch?

DL: I don't think it's so much of a disadvantage setting up from scratch. It is expensive to start from scratch though. You have to buy your own trucks and equipment, rather than just paying a team however much to rent their trucks. We've had to set a workshop up; we've had to equip the workshop and everything else. But all that equipment is there now and whatever projects they want to use it for in the future. It was a long-term commitment. It was a three-year commitment at the very beginning. So I believe that what they have done is good for Team PSP and will be good for the future.

ML: The team comes across as a very enthusiastic set-up - does that make for a good working environment?

DL: Very much so. Everyone is trying hard to do their best. Everyone is putting a lot of effort in to moving forward and getting the right results and it's a very good close-knit team. We don't have a lot of people - we don't have the budget for a lot of people. But we have a budget to do the job, but with no wastage. Therefore the team gets on very well, works very well together and I think it fantastic that we can take so many people, although we don't have nearly as many people as some of the bigger teams, and work so well together. We manage to pool the resources to get the best out of everything.

ML: Do you get on with Phil, as a team-mate?

DL: He's a very good team-mate and I get on very well with him.

ML: In your time in touring cars, who would you say is the best team-mate you've ever worked with?

DL: I get on very well with all my team-mates. I make a point of trying to do that. I don't have any team-mates that I've hated, and I don't have any team-mates where I can say, "well he's better than the other one". I've had a lot of different team-mates over the years and I like to say I still stay friends with all of them. Maybe some people within the championship have problems with team-mates, but I've never had a problem. My team-mate now, Phil, fantastic guy, he's very cheery, full of life, really bubbly. Sometimes when you have a bad day and he's there, he cheers you up no-end and we move on. And sometimes when he's had a bad day, he runs off and leaves us!!

ML: How do the resources of Team PSP compare to the likes of Vauxhall, Honda and MG?

DL: I obviously don't know the budgets that other people have - everyone says their budgets are tight, and everyone says they have trouble getting the budgets together. Vauxhall say it, Honda say it, we say it - you don't actually hear MG saying it to be perfectly honest, so I don't think anyone has an enormous budget. We all have restrictions with their budgets. We know we have certain restrictions, but I don't know everyone else's.

ML: What's a typical programme for you between race meetings?

DL: Well, between Mondello Park and here, I haven't stopped! I've had various meetings for different things. There was a working group to do with motorsport, I would normally like to try and play golf, but I haven't been able to do that between Mondello Park and here. I did get to an EGM for the golf club, but that was just one evening and I had to rush there after I had done something else! I've got a trip immediately when I leave here to go to Carlisle, as I've got an interest in a garage there, and I'm going to up to meet with the other two partners. We've got some things that we're doing up there. I've got some other little bits and pieces that I do from home. I've got two kids - one at home and one at school - they keep my wife and I very busy, as a taxi service amongst other things! I really haven't stopped since Mondello. I had a day at Snetterton for example, where I was testing an historic car for somebody, where it had just been delivered to the owner, having taken five years to restore this historic car. I've been to Croft as well, just before I came down here, to help someone with the new Seat Cupra Championship. He wanted a bit of advice with car setup as well as driving advice. He's a single-seater driver and saloon cars are new to him, so I was able to go up there and give him advice on that. All these things are ongoing. When I went to Snetterton, I bumped in to Phil - he was there doing a driver tuition day. Bits and pieces like that. It just goes on and on.

It was very quiet over the winter to be honest, and I have got a few games of golf in and a bit of training and everything else, but just between Mondello and Brands Hatch I've somewhere to go and something to do. I think the only day I had off was Friday when I managed to drive down here quite slowly and get ready for the weekend.

ML: Do you feel that the testing restrictions during the season make it difficult to progress once the season is underway?

DL: It depends very much on the amount of work you get to do during the winter period. For various reasons we were restricted with what we could do during the winter, so, yes those restrictions are hurting us at the moment. Whereas, the likes of MG, Honda and Vauxhall, who were out doing a lot of testing before the season started, got through most of their work before the season. They're now able to do little bits of work and fine-tune what they've got. We are unfortunately having to do the bigger pieces in the two forty-minute sessions at the meetings. So yes, it's probably hurting us a little bit more than anyone else, but that was down to us, because we didn't do as much during the winter as the rest did.

ML: There are a lot of new, younger drivers coming in to the championship now - how do you feel it's different for them compared with when you first started?

DL: I don't think it's any different. All the time we get new drivers in the series. The drivers have to change all the time, we have to move forward. People have to get better. I think it's no good having the same thing all the time. Super Touring for example, was there for a long time, and it got stale for various reasons, so the rules had to be changed to what we have now. It's the same with drivers - they need to rotate on a regular basis. Some of the drivers we had are long gone and there are new drivers coming in all the time. I think it's good for the championship, to have new blood, new drivers, and new ideas.

ML: When you look at these new drivers, are there any that you particularly look at as being a champion of the future?

DL: Actually at the moment, no. That's not condemning any of the people that are there and saying that they're not good drivers. I think that they are good drivers, but none of the young drivers stand out as being fantastic and really switched on saying 'I am here, and I am already beating the established drivers'.

ML: And with the mix of youth and experience in the championship, who do you think will emerge as champion this year?

DL: It will be a Vauxhall driver; I'm convinced of that. I believe they still have the upper hand with their car, although they say they don't. I'm still sceptical of that. So it's a choice between Yvan and James, and as we know last year, it went right down to the line, and I think it will be the same this year. I think those two will be fighting for the championship. I also think Honda will be very good and I think it will be close all year long, but when it comes down to it, at the last meeting, when the points are added up, you will see other manufacturers towards the top of the championship, but at the end of the day it will still be the two Vauxhall drivers trying to win the championship.

ML: And beyond 2003, what are your future plans?

DL: I don't have anything specific at the moment. I would very much like to carry on with Team PSP and I believe there is so much available in the car that we have. I believe there is fantastic potential there and I believe we could do a very good job and start to win races, but PSP don't have a decision on anything for the future after 2003 so that's all for negotiation at the end of the year basically. So I'm hoping to do a very good job this year and I'm hoping that Team PSP will keep me on for the future. At the moment though, it's fantastic. I'm very lucky. I was able to turn what was a hobby in to a way of life. Now that I am paid to do my hobby, that money actually helps me to pay for my mortgage and things like that at home. I feel just so lucky to be part of this team and part of touring cars in general.