Photos: The Dean Lester Collection - Part 1

[Oldfart]

The Historic meeting at Donington is holding a minute's silence at the exact moment 50 years after Jimmy's death after a lament by a piper. Nice touch, and a good number of cars with which he was associated will be present.

[khyndart in CA]

Motorsport Magazine has some nice write ups about Jimmy's career. Here is one about Jim Clark in America.

https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/history/f1/jim-america

(Ken H )

[Steve Holmes]

Dan Gurney, collecting some bits from his rental car. Note the brand new Camaro parked next door.

[Steve Holmes]

The one and only, A.J. Foyt.

[Steve Holmes]

Foyt only ever started one Can-Am race; Riverside 1966, in this Lola T70.

[Steve Holmes]

John Surtees; inaugural Can-Am champion.

[Steve Holmes]

I love these pit photos.

[Steve Holmes]

Forget the race cars. How cool is that Country Squire!

[Steve Holmes]

This is Peter Revson chatting with actor James Garner. Garner starred in the film Grand Prix from 1966, and this instilled in him a passion for motor racing. He was involved in a newly established race team called American International Racers (AIR) which ran a variety of vehicles, including Corvettes in GT competition, plus a pair of Lola T70 MkIII coupes in 1968 and '69. He did some driving himself, and was a keen off-road racer. He raced a wild Oldsmobile Cutlass bodied off-roader called the Banshee which was featured on Jay Leno's Garage

[Steve Holmes]

Leno and James Garner's Banshee:

[video=youtube;UmfdNrolRDg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmfdNrolRDg[/video]

[Ray Bell]

Maybe he should have stuck to living on jacks and queens?

Garner was, in fact, very good value. That he supported the sport made him even better.

[Steve Holmes]

Maybe he should have stuck to living on jacks and queens?

Garner was, in fact, very good value. That he supported the sport made him even better.

I agree.

[Steve Holmes]

Another shot of the ex-Hulme 1968 Can-Am winning McLaren M8A-2, which later ended up in New Zealand.

[Steve Holmes]

Riverside pits. That kid looks a little distracted.

[Steve Holmes]

Graham Hill. Yep, he did contest a Can-Am race; Riverside 1966. Aboard a Lola T70, he started 5th and finished 3rd.

[Ray Bell]

A harness in '66?

That's a bit of a surprise. I don't recall Hill being part of the movement towards harnesses.

[Steve Holmes]

A harness in '66?

That's a bit of a surprise. I don't recall Hill being part of the movement towards harnesses.

Well spotted Ray. But yes, Hill did indeed wear a harness. He drove a second car in the Surtees team. Below photo from Tam's Old Race Cars site.

[khyndart in CA]

Sadly Graham Hill had this incident during the 1969 US grand Prix at Watkins Glen. As described in "grandprix.com".
" Hill was running in sixth place in the mid-race in his Lotus Cosworth 49 B.
He had a spin and had to push-start his car.
As a result he was unable to do up with seat belts and on lap 91 he spun again.
This time the car overturned and Hill was thrown out, breaking both his legs."

Although some say if he had stayed strapped in the car his injuries could have been much worse, perhaps fatal.

I came across this sadly prophetic letter that Jochen Rindt wrote to Colin Chapman regarding how he felt about driving the Lotus 49 B during the 1969 Formula 1 season after his monstrous crash in Barcelona during the Spanish Grand Prix. Note that he mentions Levin.

(Ken H.)

[Ray Bell]

Yes, Ken, soon after Niel Allen's crash at Lakeside (July 1968) the fitment and use of harnesses was mandated all around the world...

Hence Hill had them in the 49 at Watkins Glen in '69. Mind you, I don't accept anyone's rash statements that 'such-and-such would have been killed if he'd had belts on' because I have seen so many 'unsurviveable accidents from which the driver has stepped out and shaken his head before examining the bits of wreckage around him.

Mind you, I did see the Niel Allen crash and we did expect that he was at least badly injured, but though he was unconscious he only suffered injury to one finger.

So while I have seen many crashes in which the belt has saved the driver, and I know it can't always do so, I've seen very few in which the driver died with his belts on.

Thanks for that letter from Jochen Rindt, by the way, very telling. And it's also widely believed (and confirmed?) that he didn't have his crotch straps done up. Whether he would have survived or not is a question for other times and places, but it's also possible he could have bled to death anyway after the brake shaft ripped through his leg.

[Steve Holmes]

Jackie Stewart.