Longtime Corvette Racing driver Oliver Gavin had his home broken into Thursday, with the thieves taking numerous personal racing items from the 43-year old Briton.
Gavin, who resides in Yardley Hastings, Northamptonshire, UK, tweeted out Friday morning that he had “suffered a home break-in,” but that he and his family were unhurt. The perpetrators took one of Gavin’s racing helmets that he used in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship with Corvette Racing and also in the Australian Supercars championship.
Everyone ok but suffered a home break-in. Many personal racing items stolen, this helmet used in @IMSA & @supercars pic.twitter.com/Fm841EBZ9O
— Oliver Gavin (@olivergavin) August 5, 2016
Additionally, Gavin also had six 24 Hours of Le Mans memorabilia coins taken from him. Coins from the 2002, 2003, 2005, 2013, 2014 and 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans were taken and Gavin is asking the racing community to keep an eye out for the coins for sale on eBay or other online marketplaces.
As well as 6 of these @24heuresdumans coins from 02,03,05,13,14&15. Please be on lookout on eBay, etc Thank you. pic.twitter.com/Oz88Visxco
— Oliver Gavin (@olivergavin) August 5, 2016
Gavin has been with Corvette Racing since 2002 and has five Le Mans wins to his name. He also has five 12 Hours of Sebring wins, a win at the 24 Hours of Daytona and five ALMS championships. He is currently first in IMSA’s GTLM driver’s championship with co-driver Tommy Milner and is looking to extend his lead at Road America this weekend.
Comment
Very unfortunate. Sounds like the perpetrator knew what he wanted and had cased the place to realize there was either no security or minimal at best. After having worked in the security industry, I can tell you there is no excuse for not having a quality home/business security system when you have this level of collectible/valuable possessions. They have shown time and time again how security systems will primarily deter (those stickers you see on windows and doors )and ultimately defeat a theft event, especially with today’s multiple forms of wireless communications. This is obviously a hard lesson learned, my condolences and let’s hope these valuables are recovered and the perp apprehended.