1998 Helemts: 250 cc

1998 History

After winning the 125c World Championship in 1997, Valentino Rossi moved up to the 250cc Class and made an immediate impact on the Aprilia RSV250.

Rossi has stated in the past that he often holds the 1998 250cc season to be one of his toughest seasons as he was rapidly becoming a celebrity and felt under pressure from Aprilia (who were a team with a formidable record) to perform on a bike that he was still trying to learn. Despite this, Rossi finished in second place in the championship, only a mere 3 points behind the 250cc World Champion of that year, Loris Capirossi.

AGV Tricolore (Imola 1998)

Location: Gran Premio Cirio “Citta di Imola”, Imola

Date: Sunday, 6th September, 1998
Race position: 1st

Rossi managed to take the 250cc win at Imola in 1998 with Loris Capirossi coming in second and Stefano Perugini taking third place. 

The race at Imola in 1998 also marked the first special livery that Valentino Rossi would race in . The bike was decked out in a Tricolore design with the helemt matching the green, white and red colour scheme. The Drudi designed helmet was a simple but effective design that was a variation of Rossi’s main Sun and Moon helmet design, except it was decked out in Italian colours. Rossi had also dyed his hair red, white and green for the occasion.

Read more...

1997 Helmets: 125cc

1997 History

Rossi was racing the Aprilia RS125R in 1997 and it was to be the season where he came of age and turned the potential he showed in 1996, into actual results and consistent race winning form. In his 1997 season Rossi became the 125cc World Champion, collecting 4 pole positions and 11 race wins along the way.

AGV Suzuka 1997 Helmet

Location: Grand Prix of Japan, Suzuka, Japan

Date: Round 2, 1997

Race position: DNF

Valentino Rossi has a history of coming out with a new helmet design at certain rounds and tracks, and like Mugello, the Japanese Grand Prix is an event that Rossi has always had a special relationship with (and a special helmet for).

Rossi has a huge fan base in Japan and for a while was even known for the nickname “Rossifumi”. The “Rossifumi” nickname was a tribute to Norifumi Abe, a rider that had a spectacular racing style that Rossi greatly admired. (Sadly Norifumi Abe was killed in a road accident on October 7th 2007 when a truck pulled out in front of him). Rossi often featured a sticker on his helmet or his bike that was written in Japanese script that said “Go Rossifumi”.

In 1997 for the 125cc race, Rossi featured a tribute to Japan by wearing a variation of his usual Sun and Moon helmet. The usual emblems of the sun and the moon on Rossi’s helmet were pushed down to make room for a rising sun design that covered the crown of his helmet. The helmet failed to bring Rossi much luck as he only managed to complete 2 laps before withdrawing from the race – it was his only DNF (did not finish) of the 1997 season.

Read more...

1996 Helmets : 125 cc

1996 History

Valentino Rossi started his Grand Prix racing career in 1996 for Aprilia in the 125cc category on the Aprilia RS125R. Rossi had mixed success in his first season; he suffered numerous crashes and failed to finish five of the season’s races – Rossi crashed out of four races and suffered one mechanical failure. Rossi saw this season as a learning experience and quickly built up his skills and by August 1996 Valentino Rossi secured his first victory at Brno in the Czech Republic. Rossi managed to finish the championship in 9th place with a total of 111 points, collecting two podiums and one pole position during the course of the season. 

The Sun & Moon Helmet

In the 1996 125cc Championship, racing for Aprilia, Rossi firmly established the Sun and Moon motif as his design trademark. The sun and moon would continue to feature in almost all of Rossi’s motorcyle helmets, but this first helmet is where it all began.

Aldo Drudi designed the graphics and the helmet featured a huge red sun on the right hand side with a cartoon face at it’s center. The yellow background on the right of the helmet fades to black at the centre and the night time design then dominates the left hand side of the helmet featuring a huge cresent moon. Rossi’s number 46 is placed in the center of the helmet just above the visor. Rossi has often said that the sun and moon reflect the two sides of his personality.

The back of the helmet featured a cartoon condom and Japanese lettering that translated as “Go Rossifumi”. Rossifumi was one of Valentino’s very first nicknames and was a reference and tribute to fellow rider Norifumi Abe.

Read more...

Valentino Rossi - The Early Years

Valentino Rossi was born in Urbino, then the family moved to Tavullia. Son of Graziano Rossi, a former motorcycle racer, he first began riding at a very young age.

Rossi's first racing love was go-karts. Fuelled by his mother, Stefania's, concern for her son's safety, Graziano purchased a go-kart as substitute for the bike. However, the Rossi family trait of perpetually wanting to go faster prompted a redesign; Graziano replaced the 60cc motor with a 100cc national kart motor for his then 5-year-old son.

Graziano attempted to forge documents in an attempt to get Valentino's junior kart licence one year before he was legally allowed (he was nine at the time), but ultimately failed.

Rossi won the regional kart championship in 1990. After this he took up minimoto and before the end of 1991 had won numerous regional races.

Although minimoto was for fun,[citation needed] Rossi continued to race karts and finished fifth at the national kart championships in Parma. Both Valentino and Graziano had started looking at moving into the Italian 100cc series, as well as the corresponding European series, which most likely would have pushed him into the direction of Formula One. However, the high cost of racing karts led to the decision to race minimoto exclusively. Through 1992 and 1993, Valentino continued to learn the ins and outs of minimoto racing.

As Rossi soon started to outgrow minimoto, a proper motorcycle was required. In 1993, he acquired a Cagiva Mito 125cc motorcycle, which was damaged in a first-corner crash no more than a hundred metres from the pit lane.[citation needed] He finished ninth that race weekend.

Although his first season in the Italian Sport Production Championship was varied, he achieved a pole position in the season's final race at Misano, where he would ultimately finish on the podium. By the second year, Rossi had been provided with a factory Mito by Cagiva team manager Claudio Lusuardi and managed to win the Italian title.

In Rossi's youth one of his heroes was the late former WRC Champion Colin McRae. Rally legend McRae taught Rossi the basics of driving a rally car.[6] The two competed against each other at Monza in 2005, with McRae driving a Skoda Fabia WRC and Rossi winning in a Subaru Impreza WRC.

Read more...

Valentino Rossi - Profile

Valentino Rossi, (born February 16, 1979 in Urbino), is an Italian professional motorcycle racer and multiple MotoGP World Champion. He is one of the most successful motorcycle racers of all time, with 8 Grand Prix World Championships to his name. According to Sports Illustrated, Rossi is one of the highest earning sports personalities in the world, having earned an estimated $34 million in 2007.

Following his father, Graziano Rossi, Rossi started racing in Grand Prix in 1996 for Aprilia in the 125cc category and won his first World Championship the following year. From there, he moved up to the 250cc category with Aprilia and won the World Championship in 1999. He won the 500cc World Championship with Honda in 2001, the MotoGP World Championships (also with Honda) in 2002 and 2003, and continued his streak of back-to-back championships by winning the 2004 and 2005 titles after leaving Honda to join Yamaha, before regaining the title in 2008.

Read more...