10 replies to this topic

[Ross Stonefeld]

Helmets and their design, in my view, have changed since the introduction of sponsorship. At first it was just some logos here and there, but more and more the helmets are being filled with logos and in my opinion its crap. The helmet is perhaps the only distinguishing feature among drivers these days and it makes me a little jumpy with all the concessions they make. When Sarah Fisher tested the Mclaren at Indy, she wore a white helmet with all the required Mclaren ads, and it was so filled it actually almost had a design in and of itself. To me thats too far.


To me there are 3 main categories (apologies for how small the pictures are)


Helmets who's basic design is not interrupted by the addition of required sponsor logos either in design or colors used


interrupted or 'ruined' helmets where the introduction of sponsors either drastically changes the flow of the design or in some cases (like Kimi Raikkonen's new Mclaren lid) require a new design entirely


and


The driver who designed his helmet to include sponsor logos to begin with. Granted in this case Panis modified his helmet, but the en vogue thing amonst young drivers currently is to include the white horizontal band around the top of the helmet in the hopes that when they're in F1 it will be filled with something important.



So do you guys know when this shift really started? My own helmet design isnt sponsor inclined, but when I drew it out I kept conversion in mind. Ie if I get to a point where I need to carry logos in certain areas, it wont disrupt it, and it doesnt look weird without them either. Took me a long time to come up with a compromise I understand and appreciate the realities of the corporate racing world, and if Ferrari say to me "look you need to carry Vodafone, Shell, and Marlboro on your lid" id gladly do it, but at the same time id want to put the logos on the helmet as I see fit as so as to be a Ross Stonefeld helmet with ferrari included instead of a Ferrari helmet with a touch of Ross Stonefeld

I notice in general that road racing helmets tend to be very geometric and solid both in color and in design, compared to say bike racing. There's also, I feel, a tendency in helmet design depending on where you are from. Japanese drivers tend to lean more towards the bike crowd with different colors, lots of shading, and blending. Italian karters often have really elaborate multi-layered curved lines and neon colors.



Discuss amongst yourselves.

[Flying Panda]

huh?
I thought your helemt was plain purple, Ross .

My planned helemt design, If I can even afford to get it doen, is siilar to Luciano Burti's in a way. It the helmet design my father used to race with, two colors - orange and black.

But if sponsoorship ever made my helmet look as disgusting as Burti's, I wouldnt hesitate in resesigning it.

[Lotus23]

This is not directly related to this discussion, but how many here remember when a high-tech helmet was the one made by Cromwell? I remember first holding one around '47 when I put 50 cents in it as it was passed around the grandstand to collect money for some poor driver who'd been badly injured. Is it true they were originally designed for polo players and were made out of pressed cardboard?

It was not unusual then to find an occasional low-budget driver wearing a football helmet: it probably offered just as much protection, but didn't look nearly so classy!

I bought a Bell 500TX open-face helmet in '60; IIRC, it cost $30. I can still remember how it smelled -- wonderful!

[ensign14]

I blame Jochen Rindt, when he used a full face helmet for the first time in 1969 he had written on it 'This $pace For Hire'.

The white band design seems to have been influenced by Michael Schumacher; how many drivers adopted the blue circle on top with a national flag or other design on the side? Jenson Button amongst others (Polo Villaamil, Andre Pavicevic &c). Marlboro used to have their name as a rectangular sticker above the visor on many helmets.

Gerhard Berger in 1986 was about the only F1 driver I can remember who changed his design entirely to accommodate sponsors (Benetton; he had the blue design with 3 paint strokes) - Teo Fabi modified his Revsonesque design that year to have the paint strokes as well. Of course in CART drivers such as Mears or Unser never had a design of their own but just used sponsor colours - someone like Rutherford, whose helmet was white with the Texan flag in the 'Schumi circle', was unusual (and even he made his helmet yellow when sponsored by Pennzoil).

[Mac Lark]

Roberto Guerroro is another driver who's helmet colours were changed although the original design was retained - originally dark/dark blue to black with the yellow hoops, it had become green with white hoops when he drove a Quacker State sponsored IndyCar.

This sort of proceedure seems common in the States.

In F1 - I always have this impression that Emmo's helmet went from black with orange when he was in a black JPS Lotus, but then reverted to blue with orangey red when he left.

And the 'black or dark blue' stripe on the side of de Angelis's hat - often looks more black, particularly in the JPS days, and more blue in the Essex/Brabham days.

[TODave2]

Originally posted by ensign14
Gerhard Berger in 1986 was about the only F1 driver I can remember who changed his design entirely to accommodate sponsors (Benetton; he had the blue design with 3 paint strokes)

Oh yes, well remembered, although I have to say I actually preferred his 'Benetton style' one over his normal one

I always used to like the design of Piquets, but even he (IIRC) made the red teardrop on the side all yellow for Camel one year.

[ensign14]

Originally posted by Mac Lark
Roberto Guerroro is another driver who's helmet colours were changed although the original design was retained - originally dark/dark blue to black with the yellow hoops, it had become green with white hoops when he drove a Quacker State sponsored IndyCar.

This sort of proceedure seems common in the States.

Yes, Jim Crawford's black with white-edged red stripe became green with white-edged white stripe when sponsored by Quaker State. Roberto also used white hoops in the States for a while - perhaps when he was applying for US citizenship? Look less Colombian?

[deangelis86]

Originally posted by Mac Lark
And the 'black or dark blue' stripe on the side of de Angelis's hat - often looks more black, particularly in the JPS days, and more blue in the Essex/Brabham days.

Good point. Elio was quite good at keeping his crash hat 'sponsor' friendly, and indeed his original blue stripe was changed to black during the 1985 season, before finally moving back to blue and filling around the previously unpainted white front piece to match BMW colours.

[Mac Lark]

John Watson's design changed slightly in 1982.

I always wondered if Marlboro drove that...

[byrkus]

Originally posted by Flying Panda
My planned helemt design, If I can even afford to get it doen, is siilar to Luciano Burti's in a way. It the helmet design my father used to race with, two colors - orange and black.

I din't know Gilles Villeneuve was your father...

Sorry, couldn't resist...;)

[cheesy poofs]

Gilles Villeneuve's colors were orange and dark blue
I couldn't resist either...