What helmet do you guys use?

In Europe and in Malaysia at least the most popular helmet seems to be Arai.

I use a Bell KF1 Ultra, painted by Bell Racing Europe:


It fits me perfectly and it's light-weight and has good ventilation. The nomex has worn a little on the base of the helmet after a few years, other than that no issues.

One new helmet that looks ok and is light is this HJC:


My previous helmet was a Sparco "Formula"... otherwise it was ok except it doesn't look very good imo and the ventilation was no good.

Before that I had a Bieffe Predator (I think), which was a bike version of their car helmet so non-nomex and cheaper, but still had the 3mm visor. The ventilation was really really good but after a while the helmet fit got a bit too loose (should've bought it tighter-fitting).

Btw for the under-15 drivers soon there will be a bunch of new "youth-helmets" as well. Interesting to see if manufacturers aim to keep them looking as similar to their current models or if they'll come out with a new one.

Any idea if Arai will ever come out with a GP-6? The GP5 has been around for a ages now - but it still looks good.

HJC AR-11. Looks a lot like an Arai. Scuberth makes a helmet exactly the same or they used to. I think HJC bought the design rights to the helmet from Schuberth.





Pretty nice helmet. Its almost half the price of the GP-5k too. Only thing is that its a little warm when you're wearing it.

I heard the schuberths are really good with ventilation usually so they must have something fairly different on the HJC. The Schuberth-look has grown on me, now I quite like them.

Best Value for money helmet must be the OMP-AGV...I use the Formula which is nomex lined and weighs little. Ventilation is ok.

Alex Yoong, I noted is using the latest OMP helmet as well - at least for the first two A1 races this season.


I used a bike spec Shoei helmet before and that weighs heavier compared to my OMP. I have also a Schuberth......one with a flip up front chin piece and that weighs a bit too.....

Arai looks good but is just too common.

Btw, where is HJC made?

I just bought an Arai GP-5 because my hero, Lewis Hamilton, uses it.



I also have a Simpson Speedway Shark. The Arai feels a bit lighter. The HJC looks like a nice helmet as well.



The OMP Grand Prix helmet is priced very competitively and I would have probably bought that helmet if I didn't get the GP-5 first.



The Arai helmet bag is the best helmet bag I've ever owned! I highly recommend getting one even if you don't have an Arai helmet.

I did recall there was a helmet post, quite recent. They were saying something about when it comes to overall ratings the Arai, Bell and Schubert was really good.
They mention that Sparco had some problems initially in trying to homologate for F1....

Now what i'm really interested is why they were not too happy about the Simpsons Super Speedway?
A decade ago it was one helmet i really liked because it looks so cool.
In general i notice it's not a popular helmet in Asia and Europe.
Another funny thing why is the Simpson Bandit series so popular with the drag racing fraternity, but not in general single seater racing. Probably the only joker i've seen pics of him wearing a Simpson Bandit is Elio De Agelis.

But i got to say it really does make the Stig from Tog Gear looks so darth vaderish.

I want a new helmet.

babygodzilla,

you will recall aaron used the simpson as well - the purple n green one....but yes, he is the only one who used this in karting. Somehow its not popular in karting and perhaps this is due to fact that it has poor periphery vision? and hence useful in dragsters only!


Maybe Stig has to speak up now!

The Simpson mentioned about is used quite a bit here in the States. My teammate uses it. It limits your peripheral vision though as mentioned by Jules. I find that drivers with the Simpson helmet tend to cut you off more, which I think is because of the limited vision.

I think my HJC is warm, Mikko, because the top plastic vent fell off during a race so it doesn't have that anymore and that vent probably helped with cooling.

did you get Black Flag?

Nope.

Another helmet I really have come to like is the Suomy F1 helmet.



Too bad its almost impossible to find. I've only seen one person ever wearing it.

The King Dragon helmet is really cool too, but I've never seen anyone with one, I assume they either don't make them anymore or they aren't available in America. Plus didn't KD go out of business?



And finally, the UVEX helmet is awesome. A lot like the OMP but has more aero effects.



There is a wing that goes with it too, but I couldn't find a picture of it.

And here is the Schuberth Q2 which is what my HJC is like.

TJ,

I never knew KingDragon making helmets when they were around...only suits, boots n glooves if I recall correctly.


Anyway, anyone tried the Stilo SP3 helmet? ( please google for it....my image is not appearing! )

This was used by Frenchman Sebastian Loeb in his Le Mans 24hrs debut last year...." Looks quite nice. One of my mates has the SP2 from Stilo....for his car racing.

Yeah what he wore was the Simpson Speedway, not the Bandit (darth vader look).

The only guys i know that use to wear them in karting was Michael and Ferhan Ali.
I guess it was heavy, and ergonomics so so.

I recall there was a CRG works driver that use to wear that too. I can't remember the name.

I wonder why Shoei stopped making Helmets for car racing. Looked pretty cool for its time but it was heavy.

Come to think of it the only kid in the block that's wearing the Simpson Bandit helmet is Aaron Lim's protege - winner of the Rotax Max Junior for this year hehehe.

I want a new helmet.

KingDragon was a really cool brand. I didn't remember that they had a helmet either, but having seen the picture I vaguely remember seeing it in a catalogue.

I think KingDragon sponsored Barrichello at Ferrari (suit). ... maybe that's where all their money went and they shut down.

Uvex helmets are really nice looking - I've only ever seen them in European touring car championships though. Never seen one in a store anywhere.

Stilo helmets seem to be really popular in the rally scene.

I thought Akhil (now racing Formula BMW Asia) and Bryan Metha wears a Uvex helmet with Rotax Max livery hehehehe.