To mark 50 years since Barry Sheene won his first 500c World Championship, the Two Wheels for Life charity are auctioning off a set of replica leathers at the Silverstone British Grand Prix on Saturday, August 8.
The leathers, which have been built as a one-off by Dainese, will have been worn by Barry’s son Freddie Sheene for four days during the Goodwood Festival of Speed . He will be riding some of his father’s legendary bikes up the famous hill before generously donating the leathers to help raise fund for the charity.
“I’ll be wearing this one-off Custom Works suit, I think worth over £5000, at Goodwood riding one of Dad’s bikes and then will donate it to Two Wheels for Life to help them raise funds to help support the amazing work they do in Africa,” said Sheene.
“It’ll be fitting to hold the auction at Silverstone as I know the circuit played host to some of my fathers’ most memorable races. Let’s hope the suit finds a good new home, for a great bid!”
The leathers were the result of a recent visit by Freddie to Dainese Custom Works in the Colceresa factory; the same factory that made suits for Valentino Rossi, Marco Bezzecchi, Franco Morbidelli and Nicolo Bulega.
“I travelled over to Dainese’s HQ in Italy early April to get measured for the suit. It was so cool to see my father’s old leathers and photos of him everywhere and it was an honour to meet Lino Dainese who my father worked so closely with. It was a very special day!” Freddie said.
The replica suit will feature modern safety technology, to include the D-Air airbag set up so they will be state of the art and fully up to date and it’s hoped they will fetch some great funds for the charity.
Andrea Coleman, CEO of Two Wheels for Life added: “The leathers honour a great rider and whoever wins them at our auction will have a priceless memento of Barry’s life, his courage and his talent. And of course they will also be bringing vital support in helping Riders for Health’s motorcycles to deliver health care to women and children in Africa.
“Thank you Freddie, Dainese, Goodwood , Silverstone and, above all, Barry. On a very personal note, Barry Sheene and I were childhood friends, both junior citizens of the Grand Prix Paddock in those now far-off days. We never stopped fighting. It was fabulous. Thank you, Barry. Miss you.”
Freddie will be attending the auction in hope of encouraging some enthusiastic bidding on the day.
The Custom Works Service in available in the UK at the Dainese flagship London store, and looks to be set to become available in other dealers in the future.
A lovely combination of racing history, nostalgia and feel good factor. It’s always nice to see a motorcycle charity being given a great opportunity to raise money to support more people. In this case it’s also a great opportunity for a collector to acquire a one-off piece of racing memorabilia.