IMSA: Inside the helmet with Porsche Motorsport's Patrick Long

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While the lore of drivers helmet art is as old as motorsports itself, the advent of transponders for scoring – the electronic method by which both television audiences and race officials can identify who is in the race car – has almost removed the helmet design as the primary method of determining which driver is on the track at the

moment.  In stock car or Indy car racing, this is not an issue, but sports car endurance racing features multiple drivers, so determining who’s in the car is an important part of the sport.

For fans positioned around the track, and for journalists trying to write photo captions after the race, Porsche has revived helmet photos to help identify drivers. Helmet art has become very sophisticated with the latest paints, airbrush techniques, and high-tech reflective materials, so fans have renewed interest in identifying their favorites by helmet design.

Patrick Long, Porsche’s only American factory driver, and well-known for his distinctive helmets, points out that the helmet usually keeps its design even when the driver changes teams and sponsors.  And, by the way, it’s also the driver’s first line of defense for safety.

“A helmet is your most important piece of safety equipment, therefore a lot of emphasis goes into the preparation and maintenance of it. Second to safety, the paint on a helmet is a driver’s brand. His overalls and racecar can change from week to week, but it is tradition for drivers to design their helmets and keep some kind of consistency as a form of identity. Long before electronic driver ID and handheld live timing, a driver was identified by the team and the fans via his helmet design. I’ve always had a bright green helmet since my first race in 1990 (except when Roger Penske told me to change it). I think consistency is something you’ll find with half the drivers. The other half might change for sponsorship reasons.

“If you look back at Ayrton Senna or Emerson Fittipaldi, or any of the Brazilian drivers, they had very bright and memorable helmets. The Formula 1 drivers were more religious about their identity with their helmets than the short track or the GT guys, probably because of the open top car.

“I have always had bright green flames and a shamrock on my helmet. They’re sort of “family heirlooms,” if you will. My uncle drew my helmet up for me as a kid. He’s into hotrods and he grew up with my father watching oval track racing around Los Angeles, and a lot of the drivers had a scalloped or flame designs. Through the years of traveling in Europe, flames and green and shamrocks have come in and out of fashion, but I think it goes back to your identity. You stick with one thing and people will recognize that.

“A couple years ago we went to the 8860 F1 standard helmet at IMSA. That’s the highest-grade helmet on the market. That’s a good thing that we’re wearing a full carbon helmet to the top spec. We spend enough money in racing, there’s no reason driver safety shouldn’t be held to the highest standard.

“We also receive cooling through the helmet. Some drivers run air through the side and into the chin area, some receive air through the top. You can’t put a hole anywhere you want on the helmet – it has to be homologated from the manufacturer. Some drivers run a visor, others run a shield. In the LMP and PC classes they have to run a shield across the top for impact,” says Long.