Staff shocked after Formula 1 driver's suit donated to Kenilworth charity shop

A Kenilworth charity shop received a surprise when a former Formula 1 driver's racing suit was donated to them.
Ralf Schumacher's Formula 1Ralf Schumacher's Formula 1
Ralf Schumacher's Formula 1

Staff at the Scope charity shop in Talisman square opened a bag of donations and were shocked to find six-time Grand Prix winner Ralf Schumacher’s racing suit when he drove for the Williams team.

After the initial surprise, the shop's manager Amanda Tucker tired to clarify whether the donation was legitimate.

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After sending images to the Williams team they established that the suit was worn by Schumacher in the 1999 season.

The staff at Scope do not know who donated Schumacher's suitThe staff at Scope do not know who donated Schumacher's suit
The staff at Scope do not know who donated Schumacher's suit

The shop will now auction off the suit to raise money for Scope.

When verifying the racing suit, Jonathan Williams, managing director of Williams Heritage, said: “The Williams F1 logo is in place of the usual Winfield logo, which indicates this overall was for races where tobacco advertising was prohibited.

“The white section on the lower torso is without a logo here. It would usually have been occupied by the Veltins beer logo.

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“Only France during this time prohibited both alcohol and tobacco advertising, so these overalls are French Grand Prix and testing specification."

Amanda said she did not know who had donated the precious piece of sporting memorabilia.

She said: “I had to do a double take when I first saw the suit coming out of the bag.

“Donations like this don’t come into the shop every day and we are truly thankful to our kind, mystery donor. I felt like we’d passed the chequered flag.

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“Donations are the lifeline of charity shops and this should fetch a swift price when we put it into auction. The funds raised will help Scope support the 13.9 million disabled people and their families in the county.

“If anyone has unwanted items at home, Scope charity shops can sell them – they don’t need to have belonged to a racing legend – although we’d be very happy to have those items too.”