Richard Burns

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For the Canadian politician, see Richard Ronald Burns. For the European poet and editor, see Richard Berengarten.

Richard Burns
Rally Catalunya

Richard Alexander Burns (17 January 1971 – 25 November 2005) was an English

Robert Reid. He is the only Englishman to have won the World Rally Championship as a driver.[1]

Career

Pre-WRC

Richard Burns was born in Reading, Berkshire, and grew up in

Talbot Sunbeam, but the car was too basic and slow to make much of an impression, so in 1989 he borrowed other competitors' machines to progress. To this end he rallied the stages of Panaround, Bagshot, Mid-Wales, Millbrook, Severn Valley, Kayel Graphics, and the Cambrian Rally[2] as these were all rallies which included stages used on more prestigious events.[3]

In 1990 he joined the Peugeot Challenge after David Williams bought Burns a Peugeot 205 GTI. Upon winning that series, Richard's prize was a chance to drive a World Rally Championship event in Great Britain that same year. Then in 1991 Burns met Robert Reid, the man who was to become his co-driver for the rest of his career, finishing 16th in their first WRC rally together. For 1992 Williams purchased a Group N Subaru Legacy for Burns; with support from Prodrive, they won the National Championship. This year also saw Burns help Colin McRae with his gravel notes[4] as Prodrive viewed Richard as a promising talent for the future. Burns won that year's Severn Valley Rally outright despite being in a slower car.[5]

In 1993 he joined the

Asia Pacific Rally Championship, which included rallies in New Zealand and Australia, but it also allowed him chances at his home event.[citation needed] At the end of 1995, Burns scored an impressive third place in the RAC Rally behind his Subaru teammates fighting for the overall championship, with Carlos Sainz (already a double world champion) finishing second, and Colin McRae winning his first and only WRC title.[5]

WRC

1996–1998: Mitsubishi

1996 saw an opening with

Tommi Makinen had, Group A Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution III, IV, V; however it was re-badged as Carisma GT. His results continued to improve in 1997, from the 8 rallies he participated in, he finished in 4th place five separate times, and was 2nd at the Safari Rally
, placing him seventh overall in the championship.

Come 1998, he had won his maiden World Rally Championship event on the Safari, which was known as the most challenging and difficult rally. He then added a second career victory on his swansong outing for Mitsubishi on that year's

Tommi Makinen
(who retired early in the event), as well as confirming the constructors' accolade for Mitsubishi.

1999–2001: Return to Subaru

Burns driving a Subaru Impreza WRC at the 2001 Rally Finland.

Burns returned to the

Rally of Great Britain
kept the Burns name well entrenched within public consciousness.

Burns at the 2001 Rally Finland.

The 2001 rally season began inauspiciously for Burns – neither of the season curtain raisers, the

Swedish Rally, yielded points scores, placing in peril before it had begun, the Englishman's title bid. Fourth place in a rain-drenched Portugal kicked his campaign into action prior to second-place finishes on the gravel rallies of Argentina and Cyprus, on both occasions to Ford's Colin McRae. Nonetheless, both the Scotsman and Monte Carlo victor Tommi Mäkinen were later to hit upon snags of their own, while Burns's own consistent points scoring culminated in a first and only individual rally victory of the season in New Zealand, with McRae beaten into second. Burns then finished second on the Rally Australia to close within two points of new standalone series leader McRae, although the Scotsman and Mäkinen were to struggle to fifth and sixth respectively on this event (and the last of the drivers' points-scoring positions) amid controversy over McRae arriving to time control too late at the end of the first leg of the event to be able to choose a favourable running order on the ball-bearing gravel for day two. Meanwhile, the Finn, for his part, continued to struggle with a newly homologated version of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution World Rally Car he had been entrusted with, which had only been introduced by his team a few rounds earlier in San Remo
. A four-way title decider, also including nine-point adrift outsider, Ford driver Carlos Sainz, thus beckoned on the final round of the series in Great Britain.

There, all three of Burns's rivals were to have suffered retirement from the event by the end of the second leg proceedings on Saturday. On Sunday, 25 November 2001, therefore, Burns's third-place finish behind Peugeot duo Gronholm and

RB5[1][2]
. A messy legal battle ensued for the Englishman's services for the following 2002 season, from which fresh suitors, 2000 and 2001 manufacturers' champions Peugeot emerged victorious.

2002–2003: Return to Peugeot

Burns with a Peugeot 206 WRC at the 2002 Rallye Deutschland

Burns returned to the

2003 season – a feat which did not convince him to remain at the wheel of the 206 WRC
.

In the

blackout while driving with Ford driver Markko Märtin to the rally. He was withdrawn from the event, and thus the title fight, and was later diagnosed with an astrocytoma, a type of malignant brain tumour.[6] Treatment during 2004 was followed by surgery in April 2005 that was described as "very successful".[7] But the diagnosis, that this type of brain tumor was malignant, was only soon realised. In August 2005 a fan day was made in which Burns's supporters were invited to see his private car collection, but he was unable to drive so his co-driver Robert Reid
took the seat on his private cars.

WRC victories

 #  Event Season Co-driver Car
1 Kenya Safari Rally
1998
Robert Reid
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IV
2
Rally of Great Britain
 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V
3 Greece Acropolis Rally
1999
 Subaru Impreza WRC 99
4 Australia Rally Australia
5
Rally of Great Britain
6 Kenya Safari Rally
2000
7
Rallye de Portugal
 Subaru Impreza WRC 00
8 Argentina Rally Argentina
9
Rally of Great Britain
10 New Zealand Rally New Zealand
2001
 Subaru Impreza WRC 2001

Complete WRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points
1990
 Peugeot Talbot Sport Peugeot 309 GTI MON POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN AUS ITA IVO GBR
28 		– 0
1991
 Peugeot Talbot Sport Peugeot 309 GTI MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN AUS ITA IVO ESP GBR
16 		– 0
1992
 Richard Burns Peugeot 309 GTI MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN AUS ITA IVO ESP GBR
Ret 		– 0
1993
 555 Subaru World Rally Team
Subaru Legacy RS
 MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE ARG
NZL
 FIN AUS ITA ESP GBR
7 		43rd 4
1994
 SMSG / N. Koseki
Subaru Impreza WRX
 MON POR KEN
5 		FRA GRE ARG 20th 8
555 Subaru World Rally Team
Subaru Impreza 555
 NZL
Ret 		FIN ITA GBR
Ret
1995
 555 Subaru World Rally Team
Subaru Impreza 555
 MON SWE POR
7 		FRA NZL
Ret 		AUS ESP GBR
3 		9th 16
1996
 Mitsubishi Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III SWE KEN INA
Ret 		GRE ARG
4 		FIN AUS
5 		ITA ESP
Ret 		9th 18
1997
 Mitsubishi Ralliart
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
 MON SWE KEN
2 		POR
Ret 		ESP FRA ARG
Ret 		GRE
4
NZL

4 		FIN INA
4 		ITA AUS
4 		GBR
4 		7th 21
1998
 Mitsubishi Ralliart
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV
 MON
5 		SWE
15 		KEN
1 		POR
4 		6th 33
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V
 ESP
4 		FRA
Ret 		ARG
4 		GRE
Ret
NZL

9 		FIN
5 		ITA
7 		AUS
Ret 		GBR
1
1999
 Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC99 MON
8 		SWE
5 		KEN
Ret 		POR
4 		ESP
5 		FRA
7 		ARG
2 		GRE
1
NZL

Ret 		FIN
2 		CHN
2 		ITA
Ret 		AUS
1 		GBR
1 		2nd 55
2000
 Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC99 MON
Ret 		SWE
5 		KEN
1 		2nd 60
Subaru Impreza WRC2000
POR

1
ESP

2 		ARG
1 		GRE
Ret 		NZL
Ret 		FIN
Ret 		CYP
4 		FRA
4 		ITA
Ret 		AUS
2 		GBR
1
2001
 Subaru World Rally Team Subaru Impreza WRC2001 MON
Ret 		SWE
16
POR

4 		ESP
7 		ARG
2 		CYP
2 		GRE
Ret 		KEN
Ret 		FIN
2 		NZL
1 		ITA
Ret 		FRA
4 		AUS
2 		GBR
3 		1st 44
2002
 Peugeot Total Peugeot 206 WRC MON
8 		SWE
4 		FRA
3 		ESP
2 		CYP
2 		ARG
DSQ 		GRE
Ret 		KEN
Ret 		FIN
2
GER

2 		ITA
4 		NZL
Ret 		AUS
Ret 		GBR
Ret 		5th 34
2003
 Marlboro Peugeot Total Peugeot 206 WRC MON
5 		SWE
3 		TUR
2 		NZL
2 		ARG
3 		GRE
4 		CYP
Ret
GER

3 		FIN
3 		AUS
3 		ITA
7 		FRA
8 		ESP
Ret
GBR
 4th 58

APRC results

Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 APRC Points
1993 Richard Burns Subaru Legacy 4WD Turbo IDN
NZL
 MYS AUS THA
2 		? ?
1994 555 Subaru World Rally Team
Subaru Impreza 555
 IDN
Ret 		NZL
Ret 		MYS
2 		AUS
5 		HKG
2 		THA
2 		3rd 45
1995 555 Subaru World Rally Team
Subaru Impreza 555
 IDN NZL
Ret 		MYS AUS HKG
3 		THA
3 		? ?
1996 Petronas Mitsubishi Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III THA
Ret 		IDN
Ret 		MYS
2 		NZL
1 		AUS
5 		HKG
2 		2nd 58
1997 Mitsubishi Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III THA CHN
NZL

4 		MYS IDN
4 		AUS
4 		6th 30

Death

Late on Friday, 25 November 2005, four years to the day after winning the

brain tumour.[9] A memorial service was held at St Luke's Church, Chelsea on Thursday 22 December 2005,[10] with readings from BBC TV's Jeremy Clarkson and Steve Rider, and a tribute paid by one of his closest friends, photographer Colin McMaster.[11] He was buried at St Peter and St Paul, Checkendon
.

British television show Top Gear aired a tribute to Burns. The host, Jeremy Clarkson, said that "the news has been completely dominated, as far as we're concerned, by the sad death of Richard Burns." No other motoring news was announced in that episode. Burns had previously appeared on Top Gear twice, once touting rallying as more interesting and influential than Formula One, and then test-driving the Peugeot RC.

Subaru paid tribute to Burns at

RB320 – in memory of Burns. It features a 320 bhp (240 kW) Prodrive Performance Pack, Prodrive developed suspension, sports spring kit and is available only in obsidian black colour. Proceeds went to the RB Foundation.[12][13]

During the 2006

Michael Park Fund, which deals with improving safety in motorsport events. British band Travis dedicated their album The Boy with No Name (2007) to Burns's memory.[15]

Richard Burns Trophy

In 2006, the young driver's award in the Wales Rally GB was renamed the Richard Burns Trophy in his honour.[16] It is awarded to the highest placed, non-priority driver who is 25 years old or younger.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Richard Burns, the rally champion who came from nowhere". The Racing Spot. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  2. ^ Burns, R: Driving Ambition, page 201. Hodder and Stoughton, 2002.
  3. ^ Burns, R: Driving Ambition, page 53. Hodder and Stoughton, 2002.
  4. ^ Burns, R: Driving Ambition, page 72. Hodder and Stoughton, 2002.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Evans, David (25 November 2021). "Ranking lost WRC legend Richard Burns' 10 best rallies". Autosport. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  6. bbc.co.uk
    . 17 November 2003. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
  7. bbc.co.uk
    . 26 April 2005. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
  8. ^ "Former world champion Burns dies at 34".
  9. bbc.co.uk
    . 26 November 2005. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
  10. ^ "Date set for Burns memorial service". crash.net. 2 December 2005. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  11. ^ McMaster, Colin (25 November 2021). "Remembering Richard Burns: by the man who knew him best". Autocar. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  12. Autoblog
    . 22 November 2006. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  13. ^ "2007 Subaru Impreza WRX STI RB320". rsportscars.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  14. ^ "Richard Burns". bebo.com. Retrieved 25 February 2008.
  15. ^ "The Boy With No Name". travisonline.com. Archived from the original on 25 November 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  16. ^ "Grapevine: Wales Rally GB to honour Burns, Park".
  17. ^ http://www.autosport.cz/zavody/soubor.php?f=10384 [bare URL PDF]

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Burns.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Autosport
National Rally Driver of the Year
1993 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Autosport
International Rally Driver Award
2000–2001 		Succeeded by
Sporting positions
Preceded by
2001
 Succeeded by
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