I’m very lucky to have some pretty cool old racing related stuff here in my home office, from photos to models and old programs to personally signed limited edition prints. One of the coolest lives in with the models: this Les Leston GP Crash Helmet.
Like much of my stuff, this lid came to my through our good friend Sarj Ranta. This helmet was originally worn by a gent named Brian Jones (if I have that right) when he raced his MGA twincam which explains the logo. While the paint has been rubbed off in spots, the leather, canvas, visor and even the interior cork are all in mint condition.
Les Leston is a now retired racing driver in Britain. He began racing in the early Fifties and by ‘54 had become a Cooper Works driver, winning the national Formula 3 championship that year. He raced in 3 Grand Prix events, winning the 1952 Luxembourg Grand Prix. Badly burnt in a racing crash, Leston created a new driving suit from fireproof theater curtains and then went on to develop and sell other safety equipment such as helmets and gloves. At one time, Les Leston gloves were the choice of most Grand Prix drivers. Les Leston steering wheels apparently also became quite popular and he even built his own car, the Leston Special. Sounds like he would be a great guy to share a pint with!
Sources:
Morris Minor Conversions
Old Racing Cars
Wikipedia
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Now, that just pushes all my buttons … it is beautiful!
It’s not unlike the helmets that Phil Hill and Mike Hawthorn used to wear in the late ’50s.
Any spare ones laying around? …
That is just so cool!!! What a great piece of automotive history to have.
Mind you, you know what’s coming next eh! From now on Gary, you’re not sitting next to me in a car unless you have that lid firmly planted on your head…Safety first remember
In the late 50’s early 60’s most of the helmets used, at least in road racing, in Canada were Les Leston, Cromwell (probably the most common) and Everoak. Mine was an Everoak and probably not as good as todays football helmets. None were. Still I wish I had it today.
In 68 I bought a Buco that was a huge improvement and they with Bell were the most common, with Bell far more common.
Within a couple of years the full face helmets came out and improvements were by leaps and bounds.
Except for Bell the others all disappeared over time.
Believe it or not, this was in the trash bin!
Moms Ranta was fed up with moving the 30 plus years worth of automotive flotsam in the house and started pitching stuff without Sarj noticing! Lord only knows what got tossed out that I didn’t catch. I saved this and I know that Petri & Sarj both caught a couple of other things.
We thought Les Leston was a super cool guy in the ‘60’s. He was the intrepid pilot of a Volvo 444 which always seemed to be on its door handles, and of course won lots of races in his famous Lotus Elite “Dadio”, (license plate DADIO.) I remember looking into his Elite in the paddock at Brands Hatch once and noticing that he had a bottle of champagne in the back ready to celebrate his win in style. “DADIO” was a legendary license plate and there were later so many Lotus Elites around claiming to be the famous ex-Les Leston car that one wag claimed that he was going to have a race exclusively for all DADIO Lotus Elites. Jeremy.
Haha @ Paul Chenard. Yeah, I wish he had a few spare ones laying around. I sure wouldn’t mind one. Not to mention what it’s worth now and in the future. Although, I’d never part with it.
Are there any retro style helmets like Mr Leston’s or Mike Hawthorn’s available in the market and who I can buy one? I live in the U.S. and own a ‘56 TR3 converted to vintage racing but is street legal. I would look great driving my TR and wearing that style helmet. Ken
Ken, keep an eye on e-bay as they seem to pop up there on occasion. I haven’t seen any as nice as mine though
Thanks Gary and I have. I just have to be patient. Wanna sell yours? (wink-wink).
Ya…uh…no!
Hi Guys – used to work for Les back in early 70’s and he bought me my first car – a turquoise Mini Cooper – after I passed my test – aided by driving instruction from Graham Hill.
I was his Girl Friday/Secretary/Dogsbody. He was a complete lunatic to work for but great fun – I remember when we imported the very first Bell helmets into the country, and I used to take his motorised Mercedes van (which opened up into a shop) down to Brands Hatch to sell his goodies. He customised my car with one of his famous deep dish steering wheels – in turquoise of course with a gear stick knob to match.
Only left when I got pregnant and my (ex) husband wouldn’t allow me to work any more. Where was girl power when I needed it.
Those were the days – nice to know he’s still appreciated. He is a great guy
Thanks for visiting Janet, that is a great tale. Indeed a shame you weren’t able to continue.