Lewis presentation helmet.

We recently painted a special helmet to celebrate Lewis's F1 championship and I took it down to the McLaren headquarters to present it to him.

The design features one half painted in his 2008 design, and the other painted in the first design his father painted when he started karting. The two halfs were seperated by a gold laurel wreath.

The front was sculpted to look like the old GP4 helmet on the "old" side, with three new vents cut out. We'll have some detailed pictures on the galleries soon.

While I was there Lewis signed an airbrush mural I painted last year which can be seen on the table in one of the shots. The painting was airbrushed onto a sheet of carbon fibre.


It was great to catch up with Lewis and talk about his year, and wish him the best of luck for 2009. I asked him not to leave it till the last lap this time, though - my heart rate couldn't take that again!

Autosport Show 2009

I hadn't been to the Autosport Show for a couple of years as it falls in our busiest time, but the Arai importers had some of our helmets on their stand so I went on the trade day to deliver the helmets. It was great to meet friends and customers that I hadn't seen in a while.

While there, I delivered BTCC driver Andrew Jordan's new helmet to him. He hadn't given us any instructions other than "flames, matt black...just go mad!" So look out for Andy at the BTCC rounds this year - you won't miss his helmet, complete with devil, dancing demons and gold flake!

Happy New Year!

We had the usual hectic run-up to Christmas and it was good to have some time off to recover before the new season starts! The waiting list is already up to the end of Feb so it's once again "full-speed ahead" in the workshop. Three of Lewis's 2009 helmets have arrived with one needed to be painted for the McLaren team launch on Jan 15th. The helmets are carbon versions of the new Arai GP6 and are very light and very cool!

It's been a tough time for the motor industry with the knock-on effects that are going to hit motorsport, so everyone here would like to wish all our customers a Happy New Year with best wishes for a safe and prosperous time over the next 12 months.

Autosport Awards 2008

I recently attended the 2008 Autosport awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane, London. It was a great night and a good opportunity to meet up with a lot of the drivers that we had painted for over the last few years.

Ready painted helmets for sale

We have three pre-painted Arai helmets for sale. They have been used for display purposes and are brand new and the latest Snell specification. Please see the shop page on our website for more details.

New Product - anodised Arai screw sets

We are now stocking anodised screw kits for Arai helmets. They are available in four colours (red, blue, gold, black) with other colours available soon, and cost £23.50 per set. Please call or email to order.

World Speed Record helmets

We recently painted two helmets for an all-British attempt at the land-speed record for a wind-assisted vehicle. The vehicle itself is an amazing piece of engineering and you can find out more at http://www.greenbird.co.uk/.

A film crew from BHP came to the workshop to record some of the painting process involved and the footage will be used in a documentary which is being made of the record attempt. You can view the BHP video at:

http://blog.greenbird.co.uk/2008/08/30/unveiling-the-fab-new-helmets-%e2%80%93-video/