Celebrating 20 Years of World Championship Domination with New Pista GP R Helmet for Living Legend Valentino Rossi
On August 18, 1996, a 17-year-old Italian rookie named Valentino Rossi won his first world stage at the Czech GP, beating Jorge Martinez in the 125cc race before proceeding to dominate the 1997 season, winning 11 of the 15 races of the 125cc World Championship. 20 years later, he has nine Grand Prix World Championships to his name, seven of which are in the premier class, and is the owner of the Sky Racing Team by VR46.
He is no longer just a (very) successful professional road racer. He is now an Italian icon.
(Rossi in 1996)
Image: Motogp.com
Rossi, internationally known as ‘The Doctor’, is celebrating “20 Years of Success through an Iconic Graphic”. In collaboration with famously beloved Aldo Drudi, AGV developed a special helmet graphic that resembles the one Rossi wore when he secured his first victory.
Image: Motogp.com
(New Pista GP R helmet)
Images: (AGV.com)
The Pista GP R carbon helmet includes the symbiotic ‘Soleluna’ motif – the sun and moon symbol that became a fundamental requirement to much of Rossi’s helmets in the future – to reflect the two different sides of his personality; also, it features an updated colour scheme of neon yellow instead of just boring ol’ yellow, the Japanese characters of ‘Go Rossifumi’’ (‘Rossifumi’ being the Italian’s early nickname inspired by his childhood hero Norigumi Abe), and an updated logo for the 20th anniversary of his historic victory.
The replica of his winning helmet will be made available starting Feb. 2018 as a Pista GP R model and is a limited edition of only 2500 pieces.