Richard Burns photographed at his final rally event.
Richard Alexander Burns was a British racing driver. He had worked for Top Gear for the purpose of taking the diesel-powered Peugeot RC Concept around the Top Gear test track, when Peugeot disallowed the then-current trio of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and Jason Dawe from doing so.
Appearances and Work on Top Gear[]
Burns appeared in Series 1, Episode 7 of the reboot, taking the aforementioned Peugeot for a lap around the track. He also appeared in a segment where rally racing was compared to Formula 1, with Burns espousing the benefits of the former.
Tragically, Burns would pass away on 25th November 2005 from brain tumour-related complications that came about as a result of a blackout sustained at the 2003 Catalunya Rally. On Series 7, Episode 4, which aired on 4th December that year featured a tribute segment dedicated to Burns, whose death was felt as "overshadowed" by the death of Northern Irish footballer George Best, which occured on the same day.