David Purley and the LEC Team

Backed by his family's refrigeration firm, David Purley raced a hired March in 1973 and his own LEC car in 1977.

LEC Refrigeration Racing was based at Bognor Regis in West Sussex and took its name from the family company that funded driver David Purley. In 1973 the team hired a March and entered a handful of Grands Prix, finishing ninth in Italy. At the Dutch Grand Prix that year Purley stopped his own car and tried to rescue Roger Williamson from his burning March, an effort that could not save him.

LEC returned in 1977 with a car of its own, the CRP1, designed by Mike Pilbeam and run by Mike Earle. Purley finished thirteenth in Belgium and fourteenth in Sweden before suffering serious injuries in a crash during prequalifying for the British Grand Prix, the team's final entry. He survived, and the LEC team did not race in Formula One again.

Drivers

• David Purley