Completely random question that came to mind

[Icon_Modeler]

Does anyone know the significance (if any) of the red blue and yellow stripes on James Hunt's Helmet???

[ronnie1972]

Wellington College colors. His alma mater.

[Icon_Modeler]

Wellington College colors. His alma mater.

Thank you!!!

[ronnie1972]

Your welcome! A lot of the iconic helmet colors & designs from back in the day were based around national, school, or club, colors or patterns. Stewart's ancient clan tartan, Hunt's school colors, Graham & Damon Hill's London Rowing Club design, Ronnie Peterson's helmet was from his Swedish Karting club. One of the earliest based on sponsorship was Mario's iconic silver with the red stripe, Mario had always worn a plain silver lid, but when he joined the VPJ Indycar team in 1972, they were sponsored by Viceroy cigarettes, he added the red Viceroy stripe for them, and it stayed. The classic story of helmet color choice is Niki's, he said he chose a day-glow red helmet because he thought if he got thrown into the weeds in a shunt, it would make him easier to find. My favorite from back then was Francois Cevert's, it was so colorful, in keeping with his personality.

[JamesB]

Great info. I’d add Depailler based loosely on elf logo, laffite had Winfield driving school logo, Alboreto based his on Peterson,s colors, as did Alesi with de Angelis, Barbazza (who??) had a turtle cos he loved them as a child, and Tarquini had a spider net because he was a Spider-Man fan...

[SanMarino]

Great question and reply.

Merry Christmas,
Mike

[Icon_Modeler]

Some interesting stories!! I like the Lauda story, makes perfect sense!!!

[ronnie1972]

Some great helmet liveries remembered here, but one last one that sticks in my mind, and is probably the most simple of all is Rene Arnoux's white helmet. I'm fifty-eight, and was a twenty-something during the "turbo generation". There was nothing more evocative during that period than Rene bombing a Renault, or Ferrari turbo through the old Club Corner at Silverstone, or the Bosche Curve at the Osterreichring, on a qualifying lap, black smoke from the turbos indicating full boost, white helmeted head canted forward. The qualifying king that pre-dating Senna. Still gives me goosebumps thinking about those days.