45 replies to this topic

[d.emerson]

Hello everybody,

I am Denis, from Belgium.

I want to buy a helmet, a simpson bandit and paint it as Emerson Fittipaldi's one at the end of seventies ....

Does anyone have any pictures of emerson's simpson helmet ?

Thanks a lot.

Denis

[AAA-Eagle]

Maybe I can help you, but I don't know when Emo used a simpson bandit helmet...

[Twin Window]

Here's one I took at Brands Hatch in 1980...



Any use to you?

[Muzza]

What takes me back that to that haunting question that I always forget to ask Emerson... When exactly did he replace black of his helmet by blue?

Worth noting that Emerson's helmet depicted above was considered "outlandish" at the time due to the then-revolutionary techniques used in its livery, many of them created and developed by Sid Mosca.

[Twin Window]

Well, I'm not sure it was ever black! I always thought it was a very dark blue in his earlier days...

[Muzza]

Twinny, I think Emerson raced with a black and red helmet in the early stages of his career, and that the black has become blue (in many different shades, and with all types of patterns imprinted on it) along the years.

Brazilian racing magazines of the late 1960s and early 1970s seem to indicate that his helmet was black and red, but we all know (too well) that printed material can mislead us (badly) on this regard.

[AAA-Eagle]

I have a photo from Watkins Glen 1978; but it is not a simpson bandit helmet, is it?

[Gary C]

..............and one thing I've always wanted to know is why did he choose that design and colours ??

[Twin Window]

Originally posted by AAA-Eagle

I have a photo from Watkins Glen 1978; but it is not a simpson bandit helmet, is it?

No - IMHO it's way nicer...!

[MoMurray]

I have a Bell Fuelin (Square backed indy type helmet) in emmos' colors that is signed by the two time world champion. I might be persuaded to sell it...

[Twin Window]

Then place an ad here!

[theunions]

Originally posted by MoMurray
I have a Bell Fuelin (Square backed indy type helmet) in emmos' colors that is signed by the two time world champion.

Wasn't the Feuling (note spelling) brand introduced only around 2000 - well after Emmo retired from CART?

[jorism]

Well, I'm not sure it was ever black! I always thought it was a very dark blue in his earlier days...

Pictures of Emmo's replica Bell helmet from the early 70's, from Goodwood this year....compare it to the T72, I think it's definetely black.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Originally posted by theunions


Wasn't the Feuling (note spelling) brand introduced only around 2000 - well after Emmo retired from CART?

Taken from the excellent and extensive indyphoto.com

http://www.indyphoto....asp?Record=366

iirc that was the first year for the Series 1 Bell flat back helmet.

[theunions]

Originally posted by Ross Stonefeld
Taken from the excellent and extensive indyphoto.com

http://www.indyphoto....asp?Record=366

iirc that was the first year for the Series 1 Bell flat back helmet.

But does that make it a Feuling? I honestly don't recall seeing that name appearing on a Bell prior to late 2000-early 2001.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Im pretty sure it does, thats fueling 1 I think, fueling 2 had some minor mods and appeared somewhere 99/00

[speedmaster]

Go directly to the source of the artist...

sidmosca

[Backing-kick]

The Feuling was definitely introduced, bearing the name, in the mid nineties.

[Twin Window]

I think Eliseo used one in '94 when he drove for the MOMO Ferrari team, but I can't be certain until I lay my hands on the pics I took at Phoenix...

[d.emerson]

Originally posted by Twin Window
Here's one I took at Brands Hatch in 1980...



Any use to you?

That's exactly what I am searching ! Many thanks.

I have a craft helemt RX 8, very similar to the simpson .... sonn painted as Emo's.

Emo's helemet was always very very very very dark ... blue, but never black ....

It's the same for Jacky Ickx's one .... not black, but ardk blue.

I am on the point to buy an old Bell helmet F1 oh the seventies with a very small eye port ..... and it will recieve Niki Lauda's colours .... Brabham in 1978 ...

Sorry for my poor english

[Muzza]

Originally posted by d.emerson


[...]
Emo's helemet was always very very very very dark ... blue, but never black ....

It's the same for Jacky Ickx's one .... not black, but ardk blue.

[...]

I beg to differ - a friend of mine talked to Émerson a few weeks ago and he confirmed that his helmet was indeed black in the early years of his career.

Unfortunately he forgot to ask Émerson when did it change to dark blue...

About Ickx, no question: it was dark blue, not black.

Regards,


Muzza

[eldougo]

I found this pic of Emmo,.I took at Dijon 1979 it's blue here.

[Muzza]

Originally posted by eldougo


I found this pic of Emmo,.I took at Dijon 1979 it's blue here.

The change from black to dark blue happened in the early 1970s, far before 1979.

Another hint that Émerson's helmet was initially black-and-red: please note on this posting above by jorism that the black and red helmet shown at Goodwood was painted by Sid Mosca (logo closer to the edge of the visor). Sid was the person that painted most (almost all) of Émerson's helmets along his career (Mosca raised to fame together with the Fittipaldi brothers, albeit by his own talent), and I am sure Sid knows it better.

And, as I posted before, the man himself confirmed that his helmet was black and red (again, until somewhere around 1974).

Regards,


Muzza

[conjohn]

Émerson in Sweden June 1974. Looks black to me, at least not metallic blue.

By the way, Muzza, is that the Brazilian spelling of his name, with the É ?

[Muzza]

Originally posted by conjohn
[...]By the way, Muzza, is that the Brazilian spelling of his name, with the É ?

Cheers, conjohn,

The rules about the use of diacritics in Portuguese are quite complex and, without getting into these details, Émerson should have a acute diacritic above the first e. Another rule specifies that words like Nélson (as in Nélson Piquet) should have an acute diacritic above the e.

The problem is... were those rules obeyed when Fittipaldi's and Piquet's name were recorded by the public registrar in their birth certificates? The only way of finding that our is by checking these documents themselves - what so far I've been unable to do. Public registrar erroes are rather common in Brazil (and in other countries). Thus, until I learn what their names really are, I prefer to write Émerson and Nélson as that's how they should be spelled in Portuguese.

Errors in the use of diacritics are quite frequent in Brazil due to the complexity of the rules and to the general low level of academic education. Sometimes these errors are funny, others embarrassing. For example, the captain of the Brazilian soccer squad in the 2002 World Cup played many games with the official yellow shirt spelling "Cafú" on his back - whereas it should be Cafu.

Names of other Brazilian racers that have - or should have - diacritics:

Antônio Pizzonia (note that in Portugal the form António is used)
Luís Pereira Bueno (confirmed: name has diacritic)
Rúbens Barrichello (most likely does not have, but should...)
Mário Haberfeld (most likely has)
José Carlos Pace (confirmed: name has diacritic)
Maurício Gugelmin (likely has)
André Ribeiro (confirmed: name has diacritic)

Regards,


Muzza

[jorism]

Dutch GP 1978...........what's the conclusion now, when did he start using the blue version?

[d.emerson]

I defenetly prefer dark blue ....

Oh Sh... my son's name is Emerson and not E'merson !

[Arjan de Roos]

One small thing I noticed when he came to race in the States, was that his helmets have always been signed "painted by SID" .

Does anybody know who Sid is? He did paint some helmets of F1 drivers as well (I believe Diniz, not sure though).

[Pedro 917]

2 pictures from Zolder 1978 :

[karlcars]

For all Fittipaldi fans may I humbly suggest a look at my biography of Emerson, recently published by Haynes and available at all good bookshops and websites?

I'm pretty sure it has a good color photo of his CART helmet.

[Muzza]

Originally posted by Arjan de Roos
One small thing I noticed when he came to race in the States, was that his helmets have always been signed "painted by SID" .

Does anybody know who Sid is? He did paint some helmets of F1 drivers as well (I believe Diniz, not sure though).

Sid Mosca is one of the world's most renowned helmet (and a few other fast things...) painter. He is actually considered to be the first professional helmet painter, and he developed a number of techniques and processes and that have been universally adopted. He is a true artist.

Sid raised to fame at the same time as the Fittipaldi brothers. One of the most evocative stories I know of him happened in the 1977 Brazilian Grand Prix, when one of the Lotus was damaged by a fire in the pits on the eve of the race. Chapman was very distressed, and Emerson approached saying that "he had a friend that could re-paint the Lotus so well that nobody would notice anything."

Chapman doubted it could be done, but accepted the offer anyway. Sid was given a couple of photographies and had less than twelve hours to finish the job. To make things even more difficult, the pictures were not of good quality, and did not offer hints about the details - and he had to paint the car in the boxes.

Not only Mosca finished the job on time, but its quality was so astonishing that Chapman immediately offered him a position with Lotus in the UK - what Sid declined. I understand that the price asked by Mosca for painting the Lotus also pleased Colin as well...

Along the years Mosca has painted the lids of most of the Brazilian racing elite. Still very active and working together with his son, he is seen as a semi-mythical figure there, and he has trained many other sucessful helmet and car painting professionals.

His website is http://www.sidmosca.com.br.

Regards,


Muzza

[DOHC]

Originally posted by conjohn

Émerson in Sweden June 1974. Looks black to me, at least not metallic blue.

Two years later, in Sweden 1976, it was still black, although the car had changed to Copersucar.

I think that the confusion concerning whether the helmet was "dark" or "very dark" blue instead comes from the fact that the blue sky is reflected in the glossy black to give a dark, blackish blue effect. If you look at photos of Fittipaldi in the Lotus 72 from the heydays in 1972 and 1973, you also see that the car occasionally seems to have a blue lustre. Same effect there.

[Pedro 917]

Emerson's helmets at Goodwood's FOS 2004 :

[Pedro 917]

and the "old" Bell :

[Ross Stonefeld]

That Penske cockpit redefines the term narrow

[Pedro 917]

Emerson Fittipaldi 1980 :


Picture from "Les Grands Prix" - Photothèque Elf / Cyril Isy Schwart

[eldougo]

Originally posted by Muzza


The change from black to dark blue happened in the early 1970s, far before 1979.

And, as I posted before, the man himself confirmed that his helmet was black and red (again, until somewhere around 1974.

This photo comes from Motor Racing Magazine 1976 ,Emmo sitting in his (Silver Bird ).With his BLACK/ RED .AGV on. Memory is a funny thing as we find out a lot here on TNF

[DOHC]

The other day I just put three pix of Emerson Fittipaldi 1973-1976 in the "personal pictures from the track" thread. And the helmet is certainly very black there.

[Dhango]

I know, I know, it's an OLD topic but...I found this picture on the web, It's a helmet signed by "O rato" himself, it's from 1974, the year in wich he grab his second F1 world title and, as you can see, dark blue. No, no, it is not a flash reflection, it's blue, I have seen other pictures of this helmet and its dark blue. I ignore, anyway, when he switched from black to blue, if he did. I have my doubts. Anyhow, I'm trying to find the helmets french manufacturer that gave some of them to Emmo.. something about 2000 but I can't find it, YET.

[E1pix]

I would kill for that helmet. Okay, that's extreme… I would only maim for it. 

 

I think it was always only dark blue. Did you ever paint yours?

[mfd]

Just wondering, who are you asking "Did you ever paint yours?"

[E1pix]

Fair point that, Ha!

Guess I thought the last post was from the OP... Whoops.

[mfd]

Sadly the OP is no longer with us.

[E1pix]

Oh no, sorry to hear that!

Should we remove our posts? (especially mine?)

[Dhango]

I've just watched the movie "Fangio" by Hugh Hudson from 1971. There's footage in it from a few GP from 1970-71 mixed with Fangio's history and races. Well, there are some images of several drivers putting their helmets on, Fittipaldi among them and it's clearly seen that his helmet was dark blue, not black. Ok, the film is old and all that but I'm almost 100% sure that his helmet was dark blue and a reddish orange, at least on the very early days.

[Victor]

I remember someone once asking Emmo if his early helmets were black and he responded that his helmets were always dark blue.