Robert Anthony Maxwell Reid (born 17 May 1957) is a British racing driver, originally from Glasgow, Scotland. He was educated at Loretto School in Edinburgh. He lives in England.
Formula cars Reid spent many years in Formula Three and other junior single-seater championships, winning the Japanese Formula Three Championship in 1992 and winning Japanese GT championship races, but his success has mostly been with a roof over his head, firstly in sportscars and later in Touring car racing.
Reid received an offer to join the Jordan F1 Team in 1991, but was unable to raise the required £2.5 million sponsorship money after his sponsor, a Japanese property company, went under due to an economic downturn in Japan. The Jordan F1 team instead signed Bertrand Gachot, who in turn after being sentenced to six months in prison was replaced with Michael Schumacher. He still keeps the letter of acceptance in a frame on his wall in his toilet.
Le Mans
In the 1990 24 Hours of Le Mans, Reid competed for Porsche, driving the Alpha Racing 962C in Group C1. He came third overall and won in the nonworks car. Again in 1991, he drove the 962C but with Konrad motorsport.
Later in his career, Reid drove the Lister Storm at the 1996 24 Hours of Le Mans (he also drove for the team at the 1997 Daytona 24 Hours and the Spa round of the 1998 British GT Championship). Racing in the MG Lola in 2001 and 2002, the team achieved pole position in their class however the car was retired due to gearbox problems. In 2005, Reid drove the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari. In qualifying, he completed three laps with a best time of 4:13.237 which became the team's best time. The car eventually retired at the hands of Reid's team mate due to a delaminated tyre, leaving the car stranded on the circuit.
Touring Cars
Reid enjoyed a successful stint in Japanese touring cars between 1992 and 1996, driving an ex BTCC Vauxhall Cavalier for Team HKS, winning multiple races. He took forth place overall in 1994 against the likes of Tom Kristensen, Steve Soper and Joachim Winkelhock. This led to him joining BMS Scuderia Italia, who were running the works Nissan team in Europe. After a promising 1996 season, Reid was picked up by RML who had won the works contract from Nissan to race in 1997 in the British Touring Car Championship alongside David Leslie. The Primera was brand new and needed development, but the speed he showed in this season was translated into consistent results in 1998, when he fought for the title up to the final round, losing out to Sweden's Rickard Rydell. In 1999, he joined Prodrive who had the works Ford contract, to help develop their Mondeo. Again he struggled in his first season while setting up the car. The closest Reid would come to winning the title was in 2000. A collision in the very last round of the season cost him the championship by two points to team-mate Alain Menu.
For 2001, Reid joined West Surrey Racing (WSR) as they developed an MG ZS, not racing until the end of the season but still finding time to win the final race of the season, although the team was not eligible for points. He drove for the team for the next three seasons, although for 2004 MG pulled out and WSR ran the car privately, only finding the funds to run Reid (whose contract was owned by MG rather than WSR) alongside the better-funded Colin Turkington a few days before the season opened. Against all odds this season was the closest he came to winning the title in this car, also winning the Independent's cup ahead of Matt Neal. For 2005 WSR was unable to find the funds for him to race, and his planned racing with MG in Germany was scrapped when the company folded.
Reid later turned to the Argentinian TC2000 series, helping Honda Petrobras to develop their Honda Civic for competition as well as racing it. He won the 200 km de Buenos Aires in 2008 racing with José María 'Pechito' López.
Reid has also participated in the Goodwood Festival of Speed, setting the fastest time of the shootout in 2007 and 2012.
Reid returned to the BTCC for the final three rounds of the 2009 season for WSR, entered under the Team RAC banner. He was entered in a third car alongside regular drivers Turkington and Stephen Jelley in an attempt to bolster Turkington's championship chances.
Reid drove a Chevron GR8 at racing events in the British GT Championship and also Britcar MSA British Endurance championship in 2012 and 2013.
Since 2016, Reid has competed in the FunCup UK Championship with Iron Maiden sponsored Team Trooper.
Top Gear appearances
Reid had appeared in Top Gear series 10 episode 6 driving a nimble Toyota motorhome. In series 12 episode 5, he raced a single tier bus against other touring car drivers. He won both races.
Reid was involved in an attempt to speed up airport transport on Top Gear, driving a catering truck against other various Touring Car colleagues. The race culminated with Reid being the only racing driver left against Hammond, however the vehicle became unbalanced (after Reid ejected his crockery to lose some weight). The truck listed to one side and eventually fell over, allowing Hammond to win.
Reid appeared again in Series 20, Episode 2 when he drove a Lincoln Town Car stretch limousine in a taxi race. The race ended with the limousine being split in half.
Racing record
24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1990 Alpha Racing Team Tiff Needell David Sears Porsche 962C C1 352 3rd 3rd 1991 Konrad Motorsport Franz Konrad Pierre-Alain Lombardi Porsche 962C C2 98 DNF DNF 1996 Newcastle United Lister Geoff Lees Tiff Needell Lister Storm GTS GT1 295 19th 11th 2001 MG Sport & Racing Ltd. Warren Hughes Jonny Kane MG-Lola EX257 LMP675 30 DNF DNF 2002 MG Sport & Racing Ltd. Warren Hughes Jonny Kane MG-Lola EX257 LMP675 129 DNF DNF 2005 Scuderia Ecosse Andrew Kirkaldy Nathan Kinch Ferrari 360 Modena GTC GT2 70 DNF DNF
Complete Japanese Formula Three Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant Engine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 DC Pts 1992 Tomei Sports MugenSUZ1TSU1FUJ1SUZ1SEN24AID2MIN7SUG1SUZ6SUZ41st54 1993 Tomei Sports OpelSUZRetTSU9FUJ11SUZ6SEN1AID3MINRetSUG3SUZ1SUZ13rd36
Complete Japanese Formula 3000 results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 DC Points 1993 Super Evolution Racing SUZ FUJ MIN SUZ AUT SUG FUJ FUJRet SUZ14 FUJRet SUZRet NC 0
Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts 1992 Team Taisan BMW M3 Sport EvolutionJTC-2 AID AUT SUG8 SUZ MIN TSU SEN FUJ 20th 20 1993 Asahi Kiko Sport Team BMW M3 Sport EvolutionJTC-2 MIN10 AUT7 SUG9 SUZ16 AID6 TSU8 TOK9 SEN7 FUJ7 3rd 117 1994 Team HKS Vauxhall Cavalier AUT11 AUT21 SUG1Ret SUG2DNS TOK11 TOK23 SUZ112 SUZ25 MIN17 MIN28 AID1Ret AID27 TSU15 TSU2Ret SEN19 SEN2Ret FUJ12 FUJ21 4th 106 1995 HKS Opel Team Japan Opel Vectra GT FUJ12 FUJ23 SUG1Ret SUG216 TOK119 TOK28 SUZ11 SUZ23 MIN18 MIN21 AID15 AID21 SEN1DSQ SEN2DNS FUJ1 FUJ2 4th 87 1996 BMS Scuderia Italia Nissan Primera GTe FUJ1 FUJ2 SUG1 SUG2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 SEN1 SEN2 TOK1 TOK2 FUJ12 FUJ21 13th 27
Complete JGTC results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 DC Pts 1994 Team Taisan Porsche 962C GT1FUJRetFUJ1MIN3 5th 44 Ferrari F40SEN3SUGRet 1995 GT1SUZ11FUJRet 7th 36 Porsche 911SEN3FUJ9SUG1MIN9 1996 GT500SUZ12FUJSENFUJ NC 0 Ferrari F40SUG15 MIN 1998 Dodge Viper GT500SUZFUJSENFUJMOTMINSUG10 21st 1
Complete Super Tourenwagen Cup results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 DC Pts 1996 Nissan Primera Racing Nissan Primera GTe ZOL122 ZOL2Ret ASS117 ASS211 HOC112 HOC2Ret SAC120 SAC217 WUN17 WUN2Ret ZWE114 ZWE2Ret SAL13 SAL23 AVU1 AVU2 NÜR1Ret NÜR29 18th 147
Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded – 1997–2002 all races, 2003–present just for first race) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded – 2000 onwards all races) * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap (1 point awarded – 1998–2002 just in feature races, 2003–present all races)
Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 DC Pts 1997 Vodafone Nissan Racing Nissan Primera GT DON1Ret DON2Ret SIL1Ret SIL2Ret THR18 THR24 BRH15 BRH214 OUL17 OUL2Ret DON111 DON2Ret CRO1Ret CRO28 KNO15 KNO2Ret SNE1Ret SNE210 THR113 THR2Ret BRH1Ret BRH22 SIL12 SIL2Ret 11th 56 1998 Vodafone Nissan Racing Nissan Primera GT THR18 THR213 SIL17 SIL23 DON1Ret DON26 BRH12 BRH23 OUL15 OUL23* DON11 DON2Ret* CRO12 CRO23 SNE11 SNE2NC THR11 THR26 KNO11 KNO27 BRH11 BRH22* OUL12 OUL21* SIL15 SIL21* 2nd 239 1999 Ford Team Mondeo Ford Mondeo DON1Ret DON2Ret SIL17 SIL2DSQ THR18 THR2Ret BRH12 BRH28 OUL14 OUL25 DON111 DON29 CRO1Ret CRO210* SNE1Ret SNE211 THR1Ret THR27* KNO14 KNO2Ret BRH18 BRH212* OUL112 OUL28 SIL14 SIL23 12th 78 2000 Ford Team Mondeo Ford Mondeo BRH1ovr:5cls:5 BRH2ovr:2*cls:2 DON1ovr:3cls:3 DON2ovr:4cls:4 THR1ovr:2cls:2 THR2ovr:4cls:4 KNO1ovr:3cls:3 KNO2ovr:3cls:3 OUL1ovr:5cls:5 OUL2ovr:3cls:3 SIL1ovr:2cls:2 SIL2Ret CRO1ovr:2cls:2 CRO2DSQ SNE1ovr:4cls:4 SNE2ovr:6cls:6 DON1ovr:1cls:1 DON2ovr:3*cls:3 BRH1ovr:8cls:8 BRH2ovr:4cls:4 OUL1ovr:1cls:1 OUL2ovr:2*cls:2 SIL1ovr:7cls:7 SIL2Ret* 2nd 193 2001 MG Sport & Racing MG ZS BRH1 BRH2 THR1 THR2 OUL1 OUL2 SIL1 SIL2 MON1 MON2 DON1 DON2 KNO1 KNO2 SNE1 SNE2 CRO1 CRO2 OUL1 OUL2 SIL1ovr:12cls:6 SIL2ovr:7cls:7 DON1ovr:10cls:4 DON2Ret BRH1ovr:1cls:1 BRH2Ret NC† 0† 2002 MG Sport & Racing MG ZS BRH1ovr:4cls:4 BRH2ovr:3cls:3 OUL1ovr:5cls:5 OUL2Ret THR1ovr:3cls:3 THR2Ret* SIL1DSQ SIL2ovr:2*cls:2 MON1ovr:5cls:5 MON2ovr:4*cls:4 CRO1Ret CRO2ovr:3cls:3 SNE1ovr:4cls:4 SNE2ovr:10cls:10 KNO1ovr:2cls:2 KNO2ovr:6*cls:6 BRH1ovr:1cls:1 BRH2ovr:5*cls:5 DON1ovr:4cls:4 DON2ovr:8cls:8 4th 136 2003 MG Sport & Racing MG ZS MON1Ret MON2Ret BRH1ovr:4cls:4 BRH2ovr:4cls:4 THR1Ret THR2ovr:4*cls:4 SIL1ovr:10cls:10 SIL2ovr:4*cls:4 ROC1ovr:6cls:6 ROC2ovr:2*cls:2 CRO1ovr:5cls:5 CRO2ovr:1*cls:1 SNE1ovr:5cls:5 SNE2ovr:3cls:3 BRH1ovr:7cls:7 BRH2ovr:4cls:4 DON1Ret DON2ovr:9cls:9 OUL1ovr:5cls:5 OUL2ovr:4cls:4 6th 121 2004 West Surrey Racing MG ZS THR14 THR26 THR32 BRH1Ret BRH24 BRH32 SIL16 SIL23 SIL34* OUL110 OUL23 OUL3Ret MON12 MON25 MON39 CRO11* CRO28 CRO36 KNO11* KNO27 KNO31* BRH112 BRH2Ret BRH36 SNE18 SNE22 SNE35 DON15 DON24 DON38 4th 213 2009 Team RAC BMW 320si BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 THR1 THR2 THR3 DON1 DON2 DON3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1Ret SIL214 SIL312 ROC111 ROC212 ROC3Ret BRH110 BRH2Ret BRH37 20th 5 † Not eligible for points
Complete 24 Hours of Spa results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1998 Belgacom Nissan T.U.R.B.O Team Vincent Vosse Anders Olofsson Nissan Primera SP ?/engine DNF DNF
Britcar 24 Hour results Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 2007 RJN Motorsport Alex Buncombe Owen Mildenhall Kurt Thiim Nissan 350Z 40 GTC 50 23rd 8th
Partial British GT results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position in class) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap in class)
Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 DC Pts 2008 Chad Racing Ferrari F430 OUL1 OUL2 KNO1 KNO2 ROC115 ROC28 SNE17 SNE211 THR1 THR2 BRH1 BRH2 SIL DON 45th 3 2011 Chevron Racing Cars Chevron GR8 OUL112 OUL212 SNE19 BRH12 SPA1 SPA2 ROC1 ROC2 DON12 SIL15 1st 100 2012 Chevron Racing Cars Chevron GR8 OUL124 OUL221 NÜR1 NÜR2 ROC14 BRH SNE121 SNE27 SIL23 DON20 NC† 0† † Not eligible for points.
References
External links