Drop bars/ lever positioning

Having issues with the old set up of my drops.. Old dura ace group and brakeset. Obviously too weak to brake from the hoods and the angulation of the levers themselves away from the bar meant that if my hands were in the drops its would be a real stretch to reach them (I don't have small hands/sausage fingers by the way!) This causes soreness in the wrists/back of hands.

Bought some new eBay dia compe jobs thinking they'd do the trick but it looks like they are a complete vintage replica and copy the same angles as the 1982 dura ace.

Looking at the photo below (which hopefully attaches) it looks like it's the angle at which the lever plus hood is set to come away from the bars which allows it to be positioned for both braking from hoods and drops. Any advice of levers to look for. Preferably white hood, preferably sympathetic to classic build.

Alternatively would a change in the bar itself help? The bontragers have been mentioned previously.

I know this is all pretty basic to most but I pretty stuck and don't want to order more duds.

Cheers!!

Currently have this (obviously brake just positioned to for show not the position I was trying to ride in!)

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Want this ..

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Use a shorter stem and move the levers further forward on the bar? That will reduce the gap from the lever to the drops and still allow you to reach the hoods.

If this is any help I alternate between Shimano levers on modern drops and SRAM levers on classic drops, and I find the SRAM levers both easier to operate from the hoods, and less of a reach when in the drops. Also a good transition even on classic drops. And I know they've done Force with white hoods because I nearly bought them.

Here's how they look on a pair of Cinelli Campione Del Mondo:

The only issue is the bike top tube comes up quite short already so I think the stem length helps with that. And with these levers/hoods if I moved them further down the bar the hoods would be a way below the tops of the bars. Especially compared with the second picture where the hoods sit almost as an extension of the bar itself - which is what i'm ideally after.

Currently have this (obviously brake just positioned to for show not the position I was trying to ride in!)

Yes, looking at this pic I could definitely recommend SRAM levers because even attached quite high up on the bar, they still allow a flat transition, with the levers vertical, where your hoods are sticking up in the air and levers angling away from the bars.

That's a great help cheers, ill look into them