1952 Stirling Moss

To me Stirling Moss and his Herbert Johnson crash helmet are almost indivisible. I love the fact that he has signed it with more than his usual care – most of his signatures were little more than a quick scrawl – and that the patina of all those years and work is so clear to see. I love too that this helmet, or at least its design, meant so much to him that he continued to use it while racing historics into his eighties. Whether he had special dispensation to wear a helmet that would have passed no modern safety test, or whether organisers simply looked the other way, I cannot say. But the fact it was so important to him, and formed so much of his identity as a racing driver, cannot be doubted.

Andrew Frankel

1976 Niki Lauda

Flicking through this brilliant book is an amazing walk down memory lane for fans of the history of the sport. Seeing Niki Lauda’s helmet from his 1976 crash at the Nürburgring, and the scars from the fire from which he miraculously recovered, is probably the obvious standout. But I particularly love the story around the helmet used by José Froilán González, the first F1 World Championship race winner for Ferrari, and that he extraordinarily wore the same one for 10 years! Contrast that to someone like Lewis Hamilton today, who will probably go through 40 helmets this season alone. It’s incredible to think that they just drilled some holes in it for ventilation. Different times indeed.

Karun Chandhok

1963 Jackie Stewart

The Jackie Stewart tartan helmet was instantly recognisable to anyone of infant school age in the early 1970s to be growing an obsession with motor sport. But, of course, that was the newfangled full-face job, the pattern spray-painted on. What is remarkable about this primitive peaked open-face lid from 1963 is the DIY ethos, the Royal Stewart tartan applied via a silk ribbon apparently stuck on by wife Helen. Extraordinary to think that this was just a decade before he retired as a three-time world champion, a stark and sobering illustration of the dangers Stewart campaigned so vociferously to negate from a sport that cost him so many friends.

Marcus Simmons

1979 Gilles Villeneuve

My choice is the Gilles Villeneuve Simpson RX-1 from 1979. This Star Wars-style helmet subsequently became quite popular but I was not aware of Villeneuve ever having used one. The book tells us that he tried it during testing at Fiorano in ’79 at the instigation of Bill Simpson but he decided to stick with Bell subsequently. Villeneuve was my last hero as a fan, just a totally inspirational character, almost like he’d been invented as the epitome of everything admirable in the genus of racing driver, with talent beyond calibration and a refusal to accept mediocrity.

Mark Hughes

1974 Jody Scheckter

I was sitting in the Clark Curve grandstand at Brands Hatch in 1974 when Jody Scheckter’s helmet first fixed itself in my imagination. He won that British Grand Prix, the first I had ever attended, and it struck me even then as graphically iconic, its papaya and white echoing the McLaren of his F1 debut yet complementing the blue of the Tyrrell that he was manhandling to victory before my rapt 11-year-old eyes. Its design clarity made the identity of its wearer instantly clear: no frills, no fripperies, just purity and purpose. Thus began my lifelong love affair with F1’s speed, beauty and danger, all distilled in one unforgettable crash hat, forever bright in my memory.

Matt Bishop

1930s Tazio Nuvolari

As a kid I spent much time devouring books of motor racing history. They left me with tremendous regard for the diminutive Italian champion of the 1930s, Tazio Nuvolari. Ill health forced him out of racing by the time hard-shelled crash helmets became mandatory in 1952, but through the later years of his long career he had favoured this soft red-leather racing cap tailored for him by Fumagalli of Milan. Author Joe Twyman reminds us that their slogan was ‘A man with class wears Fumagalli’. No racing driver displayed more class – more courage – than ‘Nivola’, ‘Il Mantovano Volante’. He drove his heart out in almost anything on four wheels to win the the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio and the RAC TT twice each. He also won Le Mans, the Vanderbilt Cup, the 1938 Donington GP, plus myriad more trophies. To view his favoured leather helmet, to touch it, is for some an almost religious experience. Count me among the faithful.

Doug Nye

1985 Martin Brundle

My choice is obvious, but so is the helmet. Absolutely every helmet my father or I have ever used has stemmed from this design. I love it because it’s basic but also reflects the realities of racing. The colours are based on the cheapest and most abundant available at the paint shop of the Kings Lynn auto dealership. The white top is intended to keep the driver cool by reflecting the sun in hotter climates. Still looks as great in 2026 as it did then!

Alex Brundle

2020 Lewis Hamilton

I tend to associate Hamilton with his yellow helmet – specifically the one he used in his McLaren days when I first interviewed him. People assumed it was in homage to his hero Senna but in fact he said it came about because his father Anthony wanted a colour that was easy to spot on the karting track. But this later helmet owned by Mercedes is drenched in significance: it is the one he wore at Abu Dhabi, the final race of his 2020 championship winning season in which he equalled Schumacher’s seven world titles. I thought an eighth was inevitable: he’d won 11 of the 17 grands prix that year. But it wasn’t to be in 2021 and we all know why. And now it looks like those seven stars, specially painted on this helmet after his world title was clinched three races earlier, are as much a lament for what really should have been as a celebration.

Joe Dunn

The Art of Racing Curated by Joe Twyman with Ronald Stern Click here for more details