Gene Hackman: A Group of Racing Material Comprising one full-body one piece Valvoline racing suit inscribed Gene Hackman, and two wood mounted ceramic plaques from the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, each certifying the completion of driving courses in 1970 and 1977. (3) suit overall 69in Footnotes: Provenance The Estate of Gene Hackman Gene Hackman's famous car chase scene in The French Connection was a harbinger of a deep love and talent for racing cars. After attending the Bondurant school, he would spend much of the late 1970's and early 1980's racing and winning races at Long Beach, Watkins Glen and Riverside. Gene Hackman described racing in a 1988 interview: 'You can learn some of the skills of racing, you can learn all the mechanical things, but there's a certain part of it that really no one can teach you--that killer instinct. You have to be very competitive. You need to have that edge about you. The good ones all have that...You must be extremely careful. You have to think in a very orderly fashion. What you do is you try to slow everything down instead of getting yourself all excited and expending a lot of energy. Instead, you try to slow it all down so you can go quicker.' (Finke, Nikki. PLEASURES OF THE ROAD : TRACK STARS : Paul Newman, Gene Hackman, Perry King and Lorenzo Lamas rap on racing, Los Angeles Times, 13 March 1988). Lot to be sold without reserve. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ¤ ¤ Unless indicated by the ¤ symbol next to the lot number (or bearing an explicit statement such as 'No Reserve' or 'Without Reserve'), which denotes no reserve, all lots in the catalog are subject to a reserve. The reserve is the minimum hammer price that the seller is willing to accept for a lot. This amount is confidential and does not exceed the low estimate value. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing