1988 Mika Salo Signed Race Used Brands Hatch Formula Ford Festival GPA Helmet
Very rare GPA helmet race used by Salo in his early career racing in Finland. The helmet has the SA1980 Snell sticker still attached and tech sticker from the Brands Hatch Formula Ford Festival. The exterior shows signs of the original COLT sponsor which was a tobacco company and has been hand signed by Salo.
Salo started his long successful racing career in Formula Ford. Racing both in Finland and in the UK at the famous Festival held at the Brands Hatch Circuit. In 1989 he moved up to the competitive British F3 Championship. In 1990 he finished 2nd behind fellow Finn, Mika Hakkinen in the final drivers standings.
After a four year stint in the Japanese Formula 3000 Championship, Salo would enter the world of Formula 1 racing with Lotus in 1994. His first full season in F1 came in 1995 with Tyrrell, where he would remain until the end of the 1997 season. In 1998 he was signed with Arrows and in 1999 subbed in for the injured Ricardo Zonta at BAR. However a greater opportunity arose when Michael Schumacher broke his leg in a crash at the 1999 British Grand Prix and Salo was picked to replace him for two races. In the second race with Ferrari at the 1999 German Grand Prix, Salo led the race and would have scored his first GP win but team orders demanded that he give the lead to teammate Eddie Irvine, who at the time was fighting for the championship.
Salo would end his F1 career with stints at Sauber and Toyota teams but would go onto greater success in many international Sportscar events. His relationship with Ferrari remained strong as he secured numerous victories including two at the 12 Hours of Sebring and the 24 Hours of Lemans plus the 2007 American Le Mans Series Championship. He was also a race winner at at the famous Bathurst circuit in both the 12 hour Endurance and Gold Coast 600 V8 Supercar races.
GPA Helmets are highly collectable and very few opportunities come up to own an original one from a famous driver like Salo.
This item comes complete with a Hall of Fame Collection Certificate of Authenticity.
Don't miss this rare opportunity to own something unique from Mika Salo's impressive career.