I first went to see Mike at the end of my first season in single-seaters, late in 1991. Up to then I had raced in a plain white helmet.

I am a big fan of Gilles Villeneuve and this was the design and colours that most influenced my choice.

Mike had a small replica Gilles helmet on one of his shelves and I recall getting it down and saying “I would like something like this. ”I liked that it had just two colours (dark blue and red) and the letter V for Villeneuve incorporated in the design. It was simple & instantly recognisable.

In the design that Mike created we changed the dark blue for a pearlescent shade and the red to a bright fluorescent red. Over the years I retained the original design, because I felt so strongly about keeping my helmet recognisable.