Tag: safety

Categories
For Sale Racing Ephemera

Ebay Watching: Deadstock Racing Boots


These are amazing. Sure. I guess I like Piloti Racing Shoes as much as the next guy, but their aesthetics are a far cry from the simple honesty of these deadstock 1960’s Les Leston Grand Prix vintage racing boots. Les Leston was a racer himself that started a popular car accessory shop on London’s High Holborn street and outfitted racers with custom steering wheels, fire suits, helmets, and the like. But these boots are just on another level.

I’m sure they’re not fire safe. I’m sure they won’t stand up to much abuse outside of the car. I’m sure they’re gorgeous. Now if only I could find a way to cram my 10½ EE feet into this pair of 7½ boots.
Available on eBay at a price appropriate to their amazingness.
Thanks for alerting us to this one, Paul!

Categories
Vintage Racing Advertising

Thanks for my Life

“Thanks for my life…” says Gordon MacKenzie: leading racing driver.
Gordon MacKenzie tells how his GenTex crash helmet saved his life!
GenTex helmets is still around, but mostly focused on military helmets.

Categories
Event

When Safety Equipment Does its Job

Make no mistake about it, this crash at the VSCDA event at Grattan is very, very scary. One second, your picking your turn in spot and getting ready for your turn. The next, your helmet is millimeters off the tarmac. In many ways, however, this series of photos shot by Mark Whitney (played in quick succession here) represents the best case scenario in on-track incidents. Despite the very real danger here, the driver was able to walk away.
Stand up and walk out to your garage to make sure your rollbar is the right height above your helmet. It’s the difference between the roll bar doing it’s job and your helmet dragging across the pavement and pushing your helmet into a series of neck injuries or worse. I know that the temptation to preserve every period-appropriate bit on your car is very real, but make sure you too will walk away from crashes like this. Get a HANS. Check your rollbar. Build it safe.
Thanks for letting us share these Mark. This decidedly less glamorous end of the vintage racing world is where lives can be saved.
See these photos individually in greater detail at Mark Whitney’s Facebook album and join the conversation on the VSCDA Facebook page.

Categories
Gear

Everoak is Still Producing the Racemaster Helmet

Jim Clark Replica Helmet by Everoak
When I posted a vintage advertisement yesterday for Everoak helmets, I thought I’d simply stumbled upon another wonderful piece of old racing ephemera. It never occurred to me for even a moment that Everoak would still be out there selling the same helmets. Instead of just another piece of throwaway advertising from an old magazine, I instead found something far more exciting: yet another example of the miraculous little surprises that keep me returning to the vintage racing community.
Everoak Racemaster HelmetEveroak is indeed still selling Racemaster and Classic helmets. The grandson of the founder of the company, Bill Vero, was the craftsman who would mold and paint helmets for Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jack Brabham, Barry Sheene, Jo Bonnier, and others throughout the golden age of racing… And Bill Vero still molds and paints the helmets today.
They have even produced the occasional replica of those iconically liveried helmets, like the Jim Clark example above, which sold at Bonhams 2013 Goodwood sale for £1,250.


Sure, they’re slightly more expensive than the prices listed in yesterday’s ad… but they’re doubtless worth every penny. Save it for touring—I’m going to go ahead and assume this isn’t FIA approved.
More information and available for purchase at EveroakHelmets.com.

Categories
Historic Racing Photos

Vintage Safety

Cooper Roll bar

There was a time when this roll hoop passed tech inspection. Eesh.