Les Leston

Les Leston began racing in 1949 and became a regular victor in various track classes. After turning to F3 in 1950, he won the British Championship in 1954, the British Saloon Car Championship in 1958 and the British GT Championship in 1961. He competed in three Grands Prix, was also a works driver for Ford America in 1961, raced at Le Mans five times, competed in the Monte Carlo Rally five times and the RAC Rally four times. He has also driven for the works Standard Triumph and Austin Healey teams and competed in the Alpine Rally four times but perhaps his greatest contribution to motor racing came through his pioneering of flameproof equipment and state of the art helmets for drivers.

He was born Alfred Lazarus Fingleston at Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, on December 16th 1920. His father, a coal merchant and general trader, moved the family to London in the mid-1920s and later changed the family name to Leston, becoming Harry Leston while his son became Les. During his teens, he taught himself the drums and at 17 was playing with several successful big bands and also played with The Clay Pigeons, a band led by Belgian trumpeter and race driver Johnny Claes. His showbusiness career was cut short by the War, where he served as a mid-turret gunner in Lancasters and rose to the rank of Sergeant and after the War he and his father established a successful aeronautical accessories business, Aero Spares, trading in aeroplane spare parts.

After briefly racing a Jaguar SS100 in 1949 he turned to single seaters the following year with a Keift in F3 while in 1951 with a JBS he finished on the podium several times in the heats and was tenth overall for the year. Highlights were a second, ahead of John Cooper, in the all-comers race at the Commander Yorke meeting in August and a win in the second 100 mile race, giving him second on aggregate to Alan Brown.

For 1952, he often used his Leston Special, which was originally his JBS, and ran with distinctive whitewall tyres though also ran a Cooper Mk VI which was sometimes entered as the Leston Special. He set lap records at Brands Hatch, Silverstone, Porrentruy, Rouen and Namur and his seven victories saw him finish second to Don Parker in the National F3 Championship. He won the British F3 hill climb Championship and the Seaman Trophy plus won the Grand Prix at Luxembourg in May (a race containing Stirling Moss and Peter Collins) and Autosport had a green cover to honour his international win. There were two Money Stable Lester T51 drives, where he won at Goodwood and was tenth at the Goodwood 9 Hours with Tommy Line.

More success followed the next year, taking another seven wins, with nearly all in his Leston Special, which earned him the Light Car Trophy and he finished second in the championship. In other drives he was fifth in a Leonard at Castle Combe and ninth in the Goodwood 9 Hours with Cliff Davis in a Tojeiro.

1954 would be be a competitive season, with five drivers fighting for the podium. No one driver established a clear advantage but Les netted eight major wins with his Cooper, plus numerous podiums and heat wins. The title was only decided at the final race on Boxing Day at Brands Hatch, where he used the brand new Cooper Mk IX and though beaten by Ivor and Stuart he stayed ahead of Don Parker to clinch the title. Results through the year saw victory in Goodwood’s Earl of March Trophy plus further victories at Snetterton, Ibsley, Brands Hatch, Prescott, Shelsley Walsh, Charterhall, Oulton Park, Stapleford Tawny and in late November he won a Brands Hatch’s Sporting Owners Sprint (plus took fastest time of the day). He was second at Silverstone, Orleans, Bo’ness, Castle Combe, Rest and be Thankful and Brands Hatch and had third place results at Porrentruy (Switzerland), Shelsley Walsh, Castle Combe, Snetterton, Aintree and Brands Hatch’s Whitsun invitation and Christmas Trophy plus fourth at Castle Combe and sixth at Nurburgring, Goodwood and Crystal Palace.

As well as running his own Cooper sports car in 1955 he raced Connaughts and was ninth in a Connaught B in a non-championship GP at Syracuse. Outings in an Connaught ALSR saw victories at Goodwood, Ibsley, Brands Hatch, Charterhall and Silverstone, podiums at Brands Hatch (twice), Crystal Palace, the Aintree International and Snetterton (twice). He was fourth and fifth at Silverstone and Castle Combe though retired at the British GP meeting at Aintree plus was sixth in a shared drive with Archie Scott-Brown in the Goodwood 9 Hours.

Les mainly raced John Willment’s Cooper T39-Climax the following year and was third (twice) at Goodwood, fifth in an F2 race at the Silverstone GP meeting and sixth at Brands Hatch, Goodwood and at Oulton Park’s International Gold Cup. He was twelfth at a non championship sports race at Imola though did not finish with Cooper’s T39 at the Gran Premio di Roma at Catelfussano. He was also still a works Connaught driver and was second at Brands Hatch, third in the Glover Trophy at Goodwood and fourth in a non-championship BRSCC F1 race at Brands Hatch, though retired the B-Type on his World Championship debut at the Italian GP due to suspension problems. Away from the Cooper and Connaught drives, he was fifth in a Beart-Rodger at Brands Hatch though a shared Austin Healey 100S drive at Le Mans with Lance Macklin ended in retirement after thirty laps due to an accident. He and Neil Cunningham-Reid retired their HWM Jaguar at the 12 Hour Reims and he was fourth alongside Eric Brandon in a Halseylec at Brands Hatch.

In 1957 he raced for BRM in the British GP, though after qualifying twelfth he retired the P25 due to engine issues after forty four laps, and was fifth in the non-championship Grand Prix de Pau with a Connaught B-Type. Driving for Aston Martin, he took sixth place in the Nurburgring 1000km alongside Roy Salvadori though they retired at Le Mans after 112 laps. He raced a Cooper T39 in national events but did not qualify for the Monaco GP. Jack Brabham was entered in a Cooper T43 but he was late to the track and had an issue with the brakes, which contributed to a crash in practice so subsequently took over Les’ car and qualified fifteenth. He was running in third place and look set for a podium finish in only his third world championship start when the fuel pump drive failed and his engine stopped. Brabham pushed the Cooper through the tunnel to the chicane, up to Tabac, and along the harbour side to reach the finish, to tumultuous applause, and was classified sixth.

He raced and rallied his own Riley in 1958, winning 16 events, and won the British Saloon Car Championship. He retired a Lotus 11 from the Tour de France and the Tourist Trophy though was third and fifth at Brands Hatch and sixth at Oulton Park. He was lucky to escape from a massive crash at Caen when his Lotus 12 seized, and with the only ambulance being busy he lay injured for fourteen laps. Following this he concentrated on his expanding racewear and auto accessories business. Initially specialising in aftermarket accessories such as steering wheels and gear knobs, he went on to pioneer the marketing of flameproof overalls. He experimented by treating overalls with the substance used to make West End theatre curtains fire-retardant and then promoted new materials, Protex and Nomex. Operating from a shop on High Holborn in London, a lot of drivers were soon wearing Les Leston overalls, with Graham Hill appearing regularly in his adverts. His innovations were promoted by powerful advertising, notably in a campaign supported by Peter Proctor, who had been badly burned in an accident at Goodwood in 1966.

He was still involved in motorsport and continuing with the Riley in 1959, he won eleven events. 1960 saw him back as a works driver, this time for Volvo, winning eight events for them and for Rootes in rallies though retired at Le Mans when teamed with Mike Rothschild in a Triumph TRS. From 1961 to 1963 he raced his red Lotus Elite with the number plate ‘DAD 10’, a nod to the jazzman’s nickname ‘Daddio’. His epic duels with Graham Warner’s Elite (number plate LOV1) entered into legend, and he took the British GT Championship with it in 1961. One of his last outings came in 1963 at the Brands Hatch 6 Hours but he and David Haynes retired their Ford Cortina due to clutch problems.

In the 1960s he worked as a commentator and interviewer for the BBC and during Monaco GP weekend he could be found running a book in the Tip Top Bar, where he set up a blackboard and chalked up the betting odds. He later moved to Hong Kong, where he expanded his merchandising business, sourcing-in from China. He presented a jazz radio programme and owned a large cruiser that he would take out to sea at weekends.

He returned to England in the 1990s, settling in Kent though he passed away after a long illness on May 13th, 2012 and his funeral took place on the 29th May at Eastbourne Crematorium.