Next up on Helmet Design Story Time is Matt Griffin, whose design features a mixture Ferrari red, Irish green and finishing touches from his daughter.
Here’s the story:
“Basically, my helmet design has been with me since 1994. I like arrows, I wanted a big arrow on the top of my helmet. It’s changed and evolved over time, but I like arrows, arrows are quick, they’re cool. I went to this helmet painter back then, it was very rudimentary, and we came up with a design and step by step it’s evolved. But I still have more or less the same design, it’s just a bit more swanky.
“The modern way of doing them makes them fantastic to look at and hold. But when you see them from afar, like the F1 drivers’ helmets, you can’t distinguish them really anymore. It’s not like back in the day when you had Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger, they all had iconic, simple designs. Now I’m guilty of making mine a little too detailed.
“My original one compared to now, you can still see it’s the same driver.
“The main differences I guess are the colour and the back of the helmet. It used to be green and blue with a little red, but once I started to race for Ferrari I made it more red.
“I’ve always had a shamrock on the back of it and I carry the Ferrari shield too, which is something that only Ferrari drivers are allowed to do. You have to get a letter from (Luca Cordero) di Montezemolo who gave me the ok to carry the shield. All of the guys who are official Ferrari drivers and AF Corse drivers have it. In theory if you’re at a race and you have that on your helmet and aren’t a Ferrari driver then Ferrari would get you to take it off.
“I also get my daughter to put a design on the back, every year. I started it three or four years ago, she draws a picture and that is copied by the helmet painter. It’s identical, it’s not a fake Mona Lisa, it’s done perfectly. The first one was her with a scooter and some flowers, then it became our family. She still likes to do it.
“The picture changes every year. I’ve got three and the fourth will be done at some point. It’s something I’ll do forever, even when she’s 13 and doesn’t want to!
“Regrettably I have given lots of my helmets away throughout my career. I’ve given them to sponsors, restaurants, that sort of thing. And I’m a bit gutted I didn’t keep them all now, because I’d have like 20 and I could get them nicely arranged.”
