2003 motogp class

The Valentino Rossi 2003 official helmet would become one of his most popular designs, as well as one of his longest running – Rossi wore this design as his primary helmet between 2003 and 2005. Superstitious fans consider this to be his lucky helmet as he won 29 races over two years, on two different bikes (Honda and Yamaha).

It’s a striking and a more grown-up design than Rossi had ever worn previously, gone were the cartoon sun and moon designs from previous years and in their place was a stylish black sun on a yellow background, and a yellow moon on a black background. The front of the helmet simply featured a red chin area with a yellow ‘number 46′ and as a result this helmet model is usually referred to as the ‘VR46′





The final test before the 2003 MotoGP season kicked off was held at the Montmelo circuit at Catalunya with a BMW up for grabs to the fastest rider. This marked the first time that all the competing teams had been together at the same time and in the same place for testing since the 2002 season concluded.

Valentino Rossi came out for testing with a bright rainbow helmet design by Aldo Drudi that contained two messages. The helmet featured all the colours of the rainbow, and had the word ‘PACE’ in large white letters on the back. ‘Pace’ is Italian for ‘Peace’, and the design was used to voice Rossi’s opposition to the invasion on Iraq, a subject that was dominating the news.

The helmet also had the ‘number 7′ on either side as a tribute to Barry Sheene who had died of cancer just before the testing session. All the teams and riders conducted a minute’s silence in memory of the former 500cc World Champion.



Location: Mugello, Italy

Date: 8th June, 2003

Position: 1st



Rossi came to Mugello in 2003 needing to take the battle to Sete Gibernau, who had been the strongest rider in the previous few rounds. Rossi rose to the challenge and put his Honda on pole position for the race. When the race got underway it was Loris Capirossi on his Ducati that powered into the lead and a thrilling battle followed for the bulk of the race involving Gibernau, Biaggi, Capirossi, and Rossi. Rossi eventually got the better of the challengers and took the victory.

As is tradition, Rossi had a new helmet design for the race. He took to the track with a blue helmet that featured the colours of the Italian flag at the front, and featured the word ‘ROSSI’ in bold white tpe across the top, underlined with 5 stars. The shade of blue that was used is also that of the Italian football team and the Savoia Royal Family. The back of the helmet simply featured a huge white number ’46′. This helmet is fairly rare in the fact that the usual imagery of the Sun and the Moon are relegated to being minor features under either side of the visor.




Location: Valencia, Spain

Date: 2nd November, 2003

Position: 1st

The final race of the MotoGP season in 2003 was held in Spain at Valencia, and it was also Rossi’s last ever race as a Honda rider. Rossi would move to Yamaha for the 2004 season, but that was not yet announced. Rossi dominated and won the race ahead of Sete Gibernau and Loris Capirossi, and managed to do it in a unique style with a flower power helmet and bike livery (also referred to as the ‘Austin Powers’ design). The livery was chosen after Repsol ran a competition with Spanish motorcycle magazine, Motociclismo, where readers had to create a design for the bike and rider that also included the Repsol name. Repsol Honda and Valentino Rossi chose the winner from he shortlist.

The helmet design was covered in flowers and featured a small sun and moon under the visor towards the front of the helmet. The left and right sides of the helmet had ‘Valentino’ in 1960′s style text runnig along the base, with the word ‘Rossi’ runing along the top of the helmet. The back featured the number 46. The would be the last helmet that Rossi would wear on a Honda. In line with the 1960′s / flower power theme, Rossi took to the podium wearing a huge afro wig.