One of Graham Hill's 1969 Gold Leaf Team Lotus Formula 1 race suits, his name embroidered in red silk above the right-hand breast zip-pocket, a Ford e

One of Graham Hill's 1969 Gold Leaf Team Lotus Formula 1 race suits, his name embroidered in red silk above the right-hand breast zip-pocket, a Ford embroidered logo patch below, Firestone and Team Lotus logo patches similarly adorning the left breast, a large Firestone logo embroidered across the back, the leggings and sleeves enhanced by red piping, a Shell logo patch on the right shoulder, an STP one on the left, a Gold Leaf Team Lotus embroidered sponsor's patch later stitched to the right breast, a one-piece cream suit with elasticated cuffs, body-length zip, Velcro belt and collar, tailor made in Nomex by Hinchman of Indianapolis, maker's label This item was offered as a tombola prize by Club Lotus over 40 years ago. Photographic evidence suggests that it was one of two similar suits worn by the reigning F1 World Champion during the 1969 season, the only difference between them being the transposition of the Shell and STP shoulder logos. After surviving a violent 150 mph crash at the Spanish GP, when one of his Lotus 49B rear wing struts collapsed, it seems that the suit then went on to finish 7th in both the Dutch and British GPs. It is unlikely that the other suit survived Hill's dreadful crash in the US GP that resulted in six months recuperation, before his remarkable comeback at the 1970 South African GP when he had to be lifted into his car. By this time he had left Team Lotus and this particular suit probably remained unclaimed. Hinchman race suits were worn by many past F1 and Indianapolis champions, including Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt. One worn by actor Steve McQueen during his 1971 movie 'Le Mans' sold at auction in Los Angeles for $984,000 in December 2011.