Valentino Rossi ‘Huichol’ Art Helmet Unveiled | Always a Cool Story

Valentino Rossi Winter Test AGV

Valentino Rossi is the rock star of MotoGP. Even when the “Doctor” finishes off outside the top 10 he typically gets more press than his compatriots.

One of his yearly media highlights is the unveiling of a new Aldo Drudi-designed helmet design the Saturday morning of his home MotoGP at Mugello. One of our favorites is the donkey design which Rossi unveiled at a venue other than Mugello.

Rossi donned the lid with the face of the donkey from the movie “Shrek” at Misano MotoGP 2009. The reason? He was mocking himself for crashing out of the Indy MotoGP the week before.

Rossi’s latest design is set for winter MotoGP testing, which begins with a private Yamaha test at Sepang. It takes inspiration from Mexican Huichol art.

The Huichol people, indigenous to the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico, are known for the bright colours and designs from which the rider from Tavullia has taken inspiration – and the results are spectacular.

“Huichol art immediately intrigued me, because it uses many of my symbols, like the sun and moon or the turtle,” Valentino Rossi says. “We have tried to recreate the effect of the beads that the Mexicans use to bring color and shape to these objects, but to do so with a Valentino Rossi twist.

“The helmet looks really good, Aldo Drudi did a great job, as did Davide in particular – he created the beads with a brush, one by one. We might say that the helmet has become a work of art, something we’ve never seen before.”

Davide is Davide Degli Innocenti, graphics and coloring manager at Drudi Performance, who has made the limited edition helmets into true artisan originals.