Richard Langford, boss of engine specialist Langford Performance Engineering, opens up on a half century in the industry, working in the historic field and his tips to be an ace engineer ✍️ james_newbold explains all:
After over 50 years of working with racing engines, there are few better qualified than Richard ‘Dick’ Langford when it comes to the art of extracting horsepower.
“Everybody used to call us L&P, so we just kept the initials,” says Langford, whose broad motorsport experience has also encompassed winning the 1997 British Rally Championship with Nissan’s Mark Higgins, and touring cars with Honda. Langford describes Cosworth as “one big family” in those days and praises its founders Keith Duckworth and Mike Costin as “excellent bosses”. Moreover, they were “quite supportive in us going on our own,” Langford recalls of L&P’s start.
During his time at Cosworth, Langford hadn’t been able to attend races. But that changed when L&P became a supplier in the nascent F3000 championship in 1985 and he alternated with Peck in providing on-site customer support.The switch from Formula 2 to the new series, so named after the 3000cc engine capacity of the DFV that would form the new series’ backbone, gave L&P its desired foothold onto the international scene as an engine developer.
“We made that decision very early on that we wanted quality, attention to detail, and customers to be happy,” Langford explains. “We were a young company building our reputation and staff and training people. It would have been quite easy to take on lots more work and really fall down on quality and service, then probably lose customers for it. We made decisions that success was initially for us, more [important] than profit.
Langford went to events in a supporting capacity during L&P's peak, but most enjoyed organising spares supplies and servicing schedulesL&P’s final involvement in International F3000 was in 1992 with the Apomatox Lola outfit, taking a Magny-Cours podium with Olivier Panis, as its F1 commitments intensified.
“I most enjoyed the preparation and the ongoing development requirements to make sure the package we were providing was the best we could give at the time,” he says. “There was planning for spares, engines, when engines would be returned and how quickly they had to be turned around – you couldn’t ask for a grand prix to be postponed because you hadn’t got an engine ready.
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