Rossi’s Misano “Clock / Time To Wake Up” Helmet 2010
Location: Misano, Italy
Date: Sunday, 5th September, 2010
Race position: 3rd
Valentino Rossi Misano “Clock / Time To Wake Up” Helmet 2010
Valentino Rossi always has a special helmet designed for all the races that take place in Italy, and Misano holds an extra- special place in Rossi’s MotoGP calendar as it is only a short distance from his home town of Tavullia. True to form, Rossi got Aldo Drudi to come up with a unique helmet design for the race.
The helmet featured a giant alarm clock with the word “DRRR!” (signifying the sound of the alarm) written down the side in cartoon lettering.
The design was said to have two meanings, one was to signify that it was time for Rossi to wake up and start winning races again and banking some points – Valentino had already missed four races with a broken leg, and had just come to Misano off the back of a poor performance in Indianapolis.
The alarm clock also signified Rossi’s terrible timekeeping. Rossi actually stated:
“The helmet is a joke about my timekeeping. We have put a big clock on the top of it with a different helmet showing the right time for each session so I make sure that I arrive on time!”
The hands of the clock and the date featured on it were transfers and were updated throughout the weekend. The hands of the clock were set to mark the time at five minutes before each session started, with the hour due to be updated before every session.
The rear of the helmet featured the Italian flag, the crest of his home town Tavullia, and his two bulldogs. The sun and moon featured around the sides also.
The race itself was overshadowed by tragic death of Shoya Tomizawa who crashed in the Moto2 race.
Valentino Rossi said:
“This was a great result for us, more than just for the podium but for the way that the result arrived. I was very fast at the end of the race and this shows how much we’re improving because I was able to keep pushing right to the end. I think we did a good job this weekend. But when something so sad like this happens everything else goes to zero and the result doesn’t matter. I’m so sorry for Shoya because he was a strong rider but above all he was very ‘sympatico.’ He was very funny, always smiling and he always had nice things to say to everyone. He was also very young with a great career ahead of him so we are all very sad.”
Image Gallery of Rossi’s Misano “Clock / Time To Wake Up” Helmet 2010:
