1993 Ayrton Senna Race Used German Grand Prix Shoei X4 McLaren Ford F1 Helmet
Race-used Shoei X4 helmet worn by Ayrton Senna in the 1993 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim while driving the Ford V8-powered MP4/8 Marlboro McLaren.
Senna won five races during the 1993 F1 season, finishing second in the Drivers' Championship to perennial rival Alain Prost.
In his karting days, Senna's helmet consisted of a plain white background with notable features absent. He experimented with several designs to satisfy him, such as a white, yellow, and green helmet, before settling on a design by Sid Mosca that included a yellow background with a green stripe surrounding the upper visor and a light metallic blue stripe surrounding the lower visor (both stripes are delineated in the other stripe's color) that was first seen in 1979.
According to Mosca, the blue and green stripes symbolized movement and aggression, while the overall yellow colour symbolized youth; the three colours were also identifiable with the Flag of Brazil. After that, the helmet never had significant changes, apart from sponsorship. One such change was that Senna occasionally altered the stripe from blue to black. The tone of yellow changed a number of times, while usually a rich sunburst yellow, in 1985 and 1986 in some races, he used a fluorescent neon yellow color. In 1994, the helmet was a lighter, paler yellow to complement the blue and white of the Williams car. He used a number of helmet brands throughout his career. From 1977 to 1989, he used Bell (Star – '77 to '82, XFM-1 – '83 to '89), from 1990 to 1991 Honda's own Rheos brand, 1992 to 1993 he used Shoei (X-4) and for 1994 he returned to using Bell (M3 Kevlar).
This helmet was originally gifted to another driver in exchange of a painting in February of 1994. All of the original correspondence letters and fax documents including the McLaren shipping label to the driver were kept as part of the provenance.
This helmet has actually been sold three times by our company since 2013.
The helmet comes with a Hall of Fame Collection Certificate Of Authenticity.
Senna won five races during the 1993 F1 season, finishing second in the Drivers' Championship to perennial rival Alain Prost.
In his karting days, Senna's helmet consisted of a plain white background with notable features absent. He experimented with several designs to satisfy him, such as a white, yellow, and green helmet, before settling on a design by Sid Mosca that included a yellow background with a green stripe surrounding the upper visor and a light metallic blue stripe surrounding the lower visor (both stripes are delineated in the other stripe's color) that was first seen in 1979.
According to Mosca, the blue and green stripes symbolized movement and aggression, while the overall yellow colour symbolized youth; the three colours were also identifiable with the Flag of Brazil. After that, the helmet never had significant changes, apart from sponsorship. One such change was that Senna occasionally altered the stripe from blue to black. The tone of yellow changed a number of times, while usually a rich sunburst yellow, in 1985 and 1986 in some races, he used a fluorescent neon yellow color. In 1994, the helmet was a lighter, paler yellow to complement the blue and white of the Williams car. He used a number of helmet brands throughout his career. From 1977 to 1989, he used Bell (Star – '77 to '82, XFM-1 – '83 to '89), from 1990 to 1991 Honda's own Rheos brand, 1992 to 1993 he used Shoei (X-4) and for 1994 he returned to using Bell (M3 Kevlar).
This helmet was originally gifted to another driver in exchange of a painting in February of 1994. All of the original correspondence letters and fax documents including the McLaren shipping label to the driver were kept as part of the provenance.
This helmet has actually been sold three times by our company since 2013.
The helmet comes with a Hall of Fame Collection Certificate Of Authenticity.