Helmet Livery
Many racing drivers, particularly professional drivers, have their own unique helmet livery. In open top cars such as single-seater and prototype sports racing cars, this helps to identify drivers on the track.
Since 1980 my helmet has been mainly black with white bands. The design has evolved over the years, with red pinstripes being added in 1990 and wings added in around 2004.
My first helmet was painted cornflower blue with my name on both sides in bold white letters with a black drop shadow. Cornflower blue is the background colour of the Cheshire crest and flag, Cheshire being the county where I was born and still live now. It was also the colour used, for the same reason, by a local rugby club I played for, Winnington Park, as a winger for three of their teams.
When another competitor mocked the colour as "baby blue" after I had beaten him in a race at Silverstone, I decided to change to the more aggressive black and white, which the rugby club's main teams also played in. The first incarnation of the black helmet had a wide white band around the base with a white pinstripe just above it. My nickname from school "Arnie" was in bold white itallic letters on the sides. That was the origin of the helmet design I use to this day.
Around 1990 I had a new helmet painted by the best painter in the business, Mike Fairholme, who at the time was the official painter for Arai Helmet in Formula 1 and painted helmets for Nigel Mansell, Mika Hakkinnen and many others. It was Mike who suggested changing the pinstripes to red to create highlights. By then a further white band, a "halo" had been added around the top of the helmet to define different areas to sell to sponsors.
The helmet painted by Mike was sponsored by Mizuno Sports, the new sportswear division of the Japanese golf giant. Part of its design was to have the "flash" from Mizuno's sports shoes (trainers, football boots, etc.) on each side in the black part of my helmet.
When the next new helmet came along the Mizuno sponsorship had gone, but the "flash" gave me an idea. Speed had always been a factor in my life from a young age. I was a fast runner and competed in 100m, 200m, 800m and 1500m races and cross country races for my school. I used to run everywhere. When I rode a bike, a Carlton racing bike, I was flat out all the time. And soon I became interested in racing cars. Speed fascinated me.
"The Flash" is a character created by DC Comics. He can run extremely fast. In his first incarnation, the Jay Garrick Flash, he wore a helmet similar to a WWII army helmet, except it had wings. It was most likely modelled on the helmet worn by Mercury, The Winged Messenger, who was also the Roman God of Speed, which by sheer coincidence is the Roman God linked to my birthsign, Gemini! So it seemed that wings should be added to my helmet. And they're here to stay!
A Special Commemorative Helmet
On 13th February 2018 our family suffered the worst possible thing, we lost our eldest son and brother to Ross and Ashlea, Jamie, he was just 29. Jamie had never raced but wanted to. He had his race licence and he had done several track days. Shortly before he was admitted to hospital and diagnosed as having cancer, the day before his 29th Birthday, he drove a single-seater racing car for the first time, at Anglesey Circuit, and astonished us all by being on the pace immediately. A few years ago Jamie asked me what driver from the past I thought should have been a World Champion in Formula 1 but never achieved it. Without any hesitation I told him, François Cevert, Jamie then went and researched him and became a fan some 40 years after the French driver died in a horrific crash at Watkins Glen. When he got his racing helmet, Jamie decided to base the design of the livery on Cevert's. It's not a copy, it's inspired by Cevert's helmet but with different colours that meant something to Jamie.
Green, yellow and blue on the left for Ayrton Senna, blue for Cevert, dark red for his favourite rugby team, Wigan Warriors, black, white and red for my helmet colours.
Jamie's helmet and mine pictured at the top of the page, were painted by Piers Dowell Paintwork. In 2019 Piers and his assistant Lewis painted a special helmet for me. Before Jamie passed away I discussed the design with him, so he knew this was going to happen. The idea was to combine our two helmet liveries on one helmet. I then decided to add a few other features. It was always going to have the logo of our friend, client and sponsor Colin Lawson's company logo, Equilibrium on it; I also wanted to include the logo of the Beaujolais Run which is owned and run by our friend Rob Bellinger; Jamie had a bar in Lymm, Cheshire, and I decided the logo of "J. M. Lestvelter's" should go on the helmet; I also wanted a sunflower on the helmet - this was because the room Jamie had in St. Rocco's Hospice in Warrington was called "Sunflower" and Jamie requested sunflowers for his funeral; and finally I wanted a picture of Jamie on the back of the helmet. So I purchased a new Arai GP6 and consulted Piers who along with Lewis then painted this very special helmet for me. Here's the result:
The picture of Jamie on the back of the helmet is an awesome hand painted airbrush painting, not a transfer or sticker!
In addition to this very special helmet PDP also painted a 1/2 scale replica of Jamie's helmet for me. This will be mounted on a wooden plinth and covered with a transparent perspex box. It will contain a small portion of Jamie's ashes:
Piers Dowell Paintwork is without doubt one of the best helmet painters in the business, in my opinion THE best! If you're considering getting a helmet painted or are looking for a painter, I would strongly recommend Piers Dowell Paintwork!
