Better Than the Christmas Card Competition
It’s been around for a while, but when Jenson revamped his website, a new feature appeared. The Design-a-Helmet section. The idea is you get to play around with a helmet designer, submit your fabulous piece of art, and then a winner will be chosen. The winning design will be on JB’s helmet for Silverstone.
I absolutely adore this idea, and I checked it out when Lou first talked about it in the comments, and promptly forgot. Now, I’ve just discovered it again, and thought it worthy of a mention.
Looks Okay In My Head
I’m not an artist. I always find I can picture things in my head but they never come out. Therefore, when I play with the helmet designer, it appears as horrible splotches of colour. Some of the people, however, are really doing an amazing job.
Wow.
I blame the tools, of course. It’s a primitive paint style program. You can use a pencil or a spray can, you can choose from hundreds of different colours, and you can pick the width of your implement. That’s pretty much it, and I struggle.
Oh, who am I kidding. It’s not the tools. This is the best I can come up with:
Shameless Self Promotion
Naturally, this is the perfect opportunity for some self-promotion. Jense driving with a Sidepodcast helmet is something I’d love to see. Probably not going to happen if it looks like this though:
Brings Out the Child in Me
So, clearly, I’m not going to win this competition, and therefore, it brings out the child in me. I’m in the playground at school again, graffiti on my mind.
Why not take a few minutes, have a go, and share your designs with us. You can leave them on Sidepodcast’s drop.io site so we can all have a good laugh!
May 15th, 2008 at 2:40 pmme said:
you big cyber-bully!
can’t wait to hear her response to this one
May 15th, 2008 at 2:50 pmmy FA fantasy said:
Yeah, I tried to come up with something decent but my design looked a bit like the Stars and Stripes, not sure why, I must admit I generally suck at painting. But a funny feature I agree.
I thought Force India referrals were fun too, I think other teams don’t offer them, although I never really checked it.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:36 pmLynch said:
I just had a quick go, and uploaded it (twice i think!), it is difficult to do with a track pad! I might try and do another one later….
May 15th, 2008 at 5:35 pmAlenyaa said:
Uploaded mine as well ( just once
)
Would love to see some other designs!
May 15th, 2008 at 5:48 pmChristine said:
Wow, they’re both excellent! Much better than mine, although that’s not saying much, I guess
May 15th, 2008 at 6:04 pmme said:
with a trackpad? sheesh, that is cool.
cheers, have added your name to the title just so we know who’s is who’s.
will have a go later, still haven’t mastered the pen / tablet so i think i might have a go with that!
May 15th, 2008 at 6:58 pmmy FA fantasy said:
Not sure if it’s the right place to post this story but it’s been generated by JB’s boss.
I fear to post links - it’s all on itv f1 website.
Honda Racing CEO Nick Fry believes Formula 1 should concentrate on enticing more car manufacturers into the sport rather than filling up the grid with independent teams.
“The first question to answer is, ‘Is F1 any place for a not-very-well funded privateer team?’” he told Autosport magazine.
“In this sport, there is a history of teams working at the margins that invariably fall off the bottom, and I think it will ever be so.
“The real mission for F1 is to attract a Volkswagen, an Audi or another big consumer business into the sport and not attempt to bring in more privateers, who may end up in the same position as teams like Arrows and Prost.
“Privateer teams enter on the basis that they can afford the first season – but invariably can’t generate the revenue to continue into their second or third years.
“If you can’t afford to compete, you shouldn’t be here.”
I beg your pardon but who supported the creation of Super Aguri? Audi is racing in Le Mans and DTM (although when Opel left it became a bit dull), the costs are lower and the crowds are reasonable so they can sell cars. I noticed the grandstands in Turkey, Bahrain and Malaysia were kinda empty, even Spanish crowd was not as big as the previous years. I’d rather have more privateer teams with strong budgets than car manufacturers pretending F1’s eco-friendly just because their cars are painted green and their staff wear monstrous green pants and the aforementioned driver whose helmet we can now paint suddenly starts telling us not to watch TV at night because it causes global warming.
Bring Arrows back.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:17 pmme said:
i’d also add that in DTM the cars look roughly like something you could drive off the forecourt.
kinda empty? desolate would be closer to the mark
problem there is that ended badly. to a small degree i agree with nick on this point. i don’t follow f1 to spend all day reading quotes from whining team bosses because they’ve run out of money… again.
minardi and jordan had an excuse, f1 was cheap(er) when they joined, it was arguably more fun, and then it got tough. but when aguri entered it was expensive and the costs didn’t exactly spiral during their tenure, they just had bad management.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:49 pmScott Woodwiss said:
ignore this post, read the one below
May 15th, 2008 at 7:49 pmScott Woodwiss said:
NO NO NO! No more manufacturers, Please! We do not want them, we want more independant efforts. If there are any more considering coming in, then stay away. Please, what’s wrong with sportscars or rallying? This will soon turn F1 into a marketing exercise for the biggest car companies in the world, and I for one do NOT want to see that happen.
You know, back in the 60s, we had Cooper, BRM, Eagle, Brabham, and also McLaren. There was only Ferrari, Lotus and Honda as works teams. Now look at what we have - big brands and manufacturers taking over. It’s just not what F1 should be in my opinion.
Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to get it off my chest.
May 15th, 2008 at 7:50 pmScott Woodwiss said:
oops, sorry for the double post.
May 15th, 2008 at 8:51 pmme said:
you’ve lost me? did you edit or something?
May 15th, 2008 at 8:54 pmSteven Roy said:
So Nick Fry says there is a history of poorly financed teams working at the margins. In that case he should also know there is a history of manufacturers disappearing at a moments notice. If he hasn’t come across this phenomenon he should ask what Honda did between supplying championship winning engines and building useless racing cars.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:02 pmScott Woodwiss said:
Yeah, i edited the first to say to ignore it. Sorry
May 15th, 2008 at 9:13 pmme said:
ha!
thing is when the fia asked for $48m entry fee back in 1999 they kissed goodbye to the independent entrant. whatever the reasons back then, the die was cast.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:22 pmmy FA fantasy said:
The thing about the manufacturers is that people now are not very attracted to cars running on gasoline or diesel, they want cheap road cars and cheap fuel. I think Renault/Nissan will be building electric cars for Europe, they’ll have 25o km range and accelerate to 100 km/h in 8 seconds. That’s the one I want and not any of the current car range available from all the car firms involved in F1. BMW seems to build cars on Hydrogen but I haven’t seen any where I live.
I think grandprix.com was posting some relevant stuff today on the subject of oil prices and new technologies. Joe Saward says “there are a number of different elements in these analyses that need to be explained to show that the rise in oil prices is not simply oil companies and governments ripping off the consumers”, yeah, right, that’s exactly the case.
So having more teams like Red Bull and Williams would be nice. While of course I understand that Arrows is dead and gone it was a permanent feature when I started watching F1 in the early 1990s when I was a kid, so it’s just fond childhood memories.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:27 pmmy FA fantasy said:
Besides (and going back to the original subject), since David Richards left the team’s been struggling, apart from that lucky 2006 win. I hope JB doesn’t turn into the next Jean Alesi.
What makes Honda keep Nick Fry is a mystery to me. I think DR was the real deal and he was a charismatic team leader. While all Fry does is wretched PR talk.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:32 pmme said:
agreed, lovely colours. you wouldn’t get them confused with a mclaren.
he was, i never really understood what happened there, seemed like the perfect fit.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:34 pmme said:
mr. lynch, just had a look at the new images you’ve added to drop.io.
i sincerely hope you’ve submitted those designs, i especially like the 3rd one
May 15th, 2008 at 9:47 pmAlenyaa said:
I think Nick’s still bitter about Aguri’s stellar performance last season, given what they had to work with. It was good enough to stay in front of the Honda works team in the championship, untill that wacky Japanese GP came along, and good enough to outperform them untill halfway through the season.
What Fry doesn’t seem to understand is that not only F1, but also big manufacturers need the smaller private teams if only to make themselves look better. That is, of course, untill these private teams start outperforming them…
And I’m not even going to start about the advantages of working with one of those smaller teams.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:41 pmSteven Roy said:
I have no artistic ability whatever but I just can’t stop playing with this damned thing. You have a lot to answer for Christine.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:45 pmDan Brunell said:
Well, even if they were to bring in more manufactures… where will they come from?
You can throw out the Lotuses, Spykers and other smaller manufactures. Mitsubishi, Subaru and Hyundai cannot afford and are more successful in other motorsports categories. Ford and General Motors may not see out the next decade in their current financial condition and besides, NASCAR treats them better than any manufacture in F1 can dream of. The VW/Porsche group doesn’t want any part of F1 because of their success in LeMans/DTM/ and other race series. The Fiat will never put up another brand in F1 other than Ferrari.
So who is left? Who is out there that can afford F1? Under the current financial model…no one. Why spend a ½ billion dollars on a F1 team when you can finance NASCAR entries, a LeMans team, a DTM team, Indy Racing League team, and even rally cars together for maybe half of the cost?
May 15th, 2008 at 11:11 pmlou said:
ehehe!!
LOL!!! Christine! 
You are amazing! you have just made my day!! Which would take some doing, considering the disaster that was my latin literature exam this afternoon! ahahahahaha!!! love it!!!
sorry i have not replied earlier….as i said the latin was a disaster - and it was not my fault
and when i got home we had a power cut! Have only just got power back! thank god! - thought i was gona have to go a whole day without F1 and sidepodcast!
ehehe ? sidepodcast!!! - you know me so well!
Right…now to go listen to F1 minute to bring me up to speed with that i have missed.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:34 pmAlianora La Canta said:
For some reason my helmet design landed in the “Other” category. The helmet design tool is fine for my mouse as long as you don’t want to draw any straight lines or smooth curves (both of which are needed for a truly professional-looking helmet - of which the site features several!
May 15th, 2008 at 11:36 pmThe Adelaide One said:
Sorry to whinge in my first email to the site, but what’s happened to the weekly podcast?
It’s a reeaallly great show. I copy it onto audio tape and listen on my way to work, usually on a Monday, and it’s the thing that gets me out of bed on that day.
You two are going to be big stars - if you are not already - and congratulations on the wedding!!!
May 15th, 2008 at 11:40 pmlou said:
its meant to be coming this week. something tells me it may be sunday now
Dunno if its gonna be every other week now 
May 16th, 2008 at 12:08 amme said:
hey, the adelaide one, and apologies… it’s my fault.
in short, i had a really good plan in my head that went:
“now that christine’s sunday race coverage is so good, let’s do the weekly show on monday’s.”
on paper this is nothing short of genius, as it means the timely race info is prioritised, and the casual news review show comes out when it’s a bit quieter.
problem is, we just don’t have time to do the show monday, nor tuesday, in fact we just couldn’t fit it in at all
so blame me, i’m an idiot, and in future we’ll have to rethink how to fit stuff in. this weekend will be an extra special bumper show, and i’ll do a post tomorrow explaining pretty much what i’ve just said, and also begging for a bunch feedback (email, voicemail, whatever) to pack the show to the rafters.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:19 amlou said:
yay!!! But to be honest you have alot to talk about cause the last weekly podcast was like 2 or 3 weeks ago
im sure u can fill it out 
you can always fill it out with gossip from the blog 
May 16th, 2008 at 12:22 amme said:
was it that long ago? jeez time flies.
lots of testing news, and we have a couple of voicemails, but more is always appreciated.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:26 amme said:
not sure what you mean by that? is yours the green / purple one?
May 16th, 2008 at 12:29 amlou said:
think so, cause you had the brilliant mini series
may, just may send in a voicemail. If i get any time and know what i will talk about
May 16th, 2008 at 1:02 amme said:
we won’t hold you to it, but it would be much appreciated
May 16th, 2008 at 1:12 amme said:
okay, have added my helmet design to drop.io.
it’s a bit easier to get straight lines with a tablet, so i’ve dubbed mine ‘cubist’ and submitted it
May 16th, 2008 at 3:59 amPink Peril said:
I vote for the one that looks like a watermelon !
May 16th, 2008 at 6:11 amAlex Andronov said:
I know that clearly the other shows seem to get more downloads somehow. But I think it’s the main podcast that make the community because they involve the banter, between us and you, and between the two of you.
While the digest shows are really good and well produced as I’ve watched the race I feel that they are shows I can miss. But the podcast has all the really fun stuff that nobody can replicate. They are your USP I reckon.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:30 amlou said:
I will do my best…..i will spend today thinking about what i am gonna say (have noooo exams!)
May 16th, 2008 at 7:33 amlou said:
I did a helmet ages ago and I have no idea how to put it onto drop.io…..i don’t have the best computer skills as you know. If anyone knows?…is it just a screen shot?….but how do i save that as an image….?
May 16th, 2008 at 8:20 amChristine said:
Don’t worry, Alex, we are fully aware of the importance of the show. It’s also the hardest show to produce which makes things more difficult on a race weekend, so we’re just trying to work things out as we go.
This week, it didn’t work. Next time round, we’ll have probably thought of something.
May 16th, 2008 at 8:55 amlou said:
oooo a good topic for a behind the scenes post
May 16th, 2008 at 10:02 ammy FA fantasy said:
Diz iz absolutely fantastic - F1-Live reports that French Hebdo-Libido (actually it’s autohebdo or something like this but I call it hebdo-libido) magazine reports that Sato will be testing for Renault this summer! Taku is my man and he’s also one of the biggest PR machine in F1 these days - imagine what Sato name could do to help Nissan sales in Asia and not only in Asia.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:15 amScott Woodwiss said:
Hey guys, I’ll send you another voicemail about the new F1 Racing issue, and whether my question to Sir Frank is included!
If and when I send it, can you use that one instead of the testing one I sent you guys?
May 16th, 2008 at 11:20 amSteven Roy said:
I just had a post disappear. I will try again.
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/16052008/13/sato-test-renault-summer.html
I would guess Renault are using Auto Hebdo to give Piquet a nudge. Either that or Carlos Ghosn is trying to use Sato to extract a few Yen from Nissan who have a strong tie-up (if Max will let us use that phrase) with Renault.
Auto Hebdo is the French equivalent of Autosport and can usually be relied on to give good info. This is a long way from the usual Bild Diario AS garbage.
May 16th, 2008 at 11:45 amAlianora La Canta said:
What I mean is that everyone else’s helmet can be found in “Pictures”. I assumed my helmet screenshot was also a picture, so I was surprised when it ended up in “Other”. It is largely green and purple - I thought an eco-friendly version of Jenson’s usual helmet style, with little stars to symbolise the Make-A-Wish foundation (the helmet’s being auctioned after the race to make the charity some money) would work well. The purple was supposed to be blue, but I guess I clicked on the wrong colour…
lou, sorry about the Latin exam going wrong, and good to hear you have no exams today.
To put a screenshot on drop.io:
- Take your screenshot and save it as a picture (Paint will do the job if you’ve got Windows and I’m sure the Mac has a similar utility).
- Click on the link to Sidepodcast’s section of drop.io.
- Click on “Add Files”.
- Click on the large “Add Files” button that appears.
- Find your screenshot and click OK.
May 16th, 2008 at 12:03 pmbrendan stallard said:
“The real mission for F1 is to attract a Volkswagen, an Audi”
Not with Max Mosley in charge.
brendan
May 16th, 2008 at 1:06 pmme said:
just to clarify, because i don’t have a pc. you do this by finding the helmet and then pressing the print screen key (top right of the keyboard), and then select edit > paste in paint.
alianora, how does one go about cropping the image so you don’t get the whole screen, but just the helmet? on the mac you get to choose which part of the screen to grab but print screen gives you the whole page.
May 16th, 2008 at 1:12 pmme said:
hmm, i see it in “pictures”. odd.
haha, love it
May 16th, 2008 at 2:15 pmLynch said:
They start out in “Others” but hit refresh and it goes into the pictures section….
…its quite addictive too… i have done a few more, revison is dull….
May 16th, 2008 at 3:07 pmlou said:
Thanks Alianora! paint! I forgot about that!
yeah latin literature was awful! we had not been tought the 2008 sylabus, we were tought the 2007 by accident which ment we got into the exam and could not do half of it.
so yeah not the best of days. but study leave starts today so thats good 
When i first got my laptop I managed to select only a part of the screen but i have totally forgotton about how i did it….i will just crop the image till i figure out how to
May 16th, 2008 at 3:43 pmme said:
unless you’re planning to be an artist, i’d suggest it’s probably more important though.
loving your latest. what happened to lynch #4?
May 16th, 2008 at 3:47 pmme said:
ahhh, i see a new helmet in drop.io.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:49 pmlou said:
May 16th, 2008 at 3:50 pmlou said:
another reason to love sidepodcast - they care!
May 16th, 2008 at 3:56 pmScott Woodwiss said:
let’s play “Spot the Force India”
Probably the worst bit of photography of an F1 car XD
http://www.autosport.com/gallery/photo.php/id/101092
May 16th, 2008 at 4:04 pmScott Woodwiss said:
Honda with another radical looking rear wing
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/99749.jpg
May 16th, 2008 at 4:07 pmme said:
did he just crash?
May 16th, 2008 at 4:07 pmScott Woodwiss said:
Williams with a possible new rear wing too? Unbranded in this pic
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/99750.jpg
May 16th, 2008 at 4:08 pmScott Woodwiss said:
If he did, he’s done it a favour - the dumbo ears are gone!
May 16th, 2008 at 4:10 pmScott Woodwiss said:
Also, is it me, or are Force India doing absolutely NO development on their car? I haven’t noticed a single new part on it since the season started. No wonder they can’t get into Q2 - they have all this money, yet they’re not using any of it to improve their aero parts. :/
May 16th, 2008 at 4:10 pmme said:
where’d the shark fin go?
May 16th, 2008 at 4:13 pmScott Woodwiss said:
Another new rear wing, this time on the McLaren
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/99760.jpg
From what I read, they’re all testing low downforce configurations for Canada.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:14 pmScott Woodwiss said:
I’m quite sure they were only trying it out and not going to use it as a permanent fixture on the car just yet.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:16 pmme said:
yeah, they do that, 2 days at monaco and 1 for montreal.
has the HTTT been artificially flooded, or has it been raining there?
May 16th, 2008 at 4:25 pmScott Woodwiss said:
Hmm, I’ve just checked the weather forecast over there and apparently it’s sunny, but it does look rather cloudy in those pics, so if you ask me, I would say it’s been raining. There is a pic on gpupdate.net which shows the Wet Track board.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:35 pmme said:
just curious, cause normally when it rains everyone scurries inside. given it’s the last day, i would’ve thought they’d all go home. maybe it was just a light shower.
May 16th, 2008 at 4:37 pmlou said:
Hey, i have a question. something that as bugged me for awhile actually does anyone know what the attachment to the top of the cars is. it usually apears at testing, and is usually different for each team, or at least they seem to be different. Is it for collecting data or something?
May 16th, 2008 at 4:44 pmme said:
my guess, and it’s nothing more, is they need to know what the undisturbed air is doing.
for example, right at the very top is a pitot tube which are usually used to measure an aircrafts airspeed. f1 cars have them on the nose, but they can only record disturbed air coming off the front wing.
putting them up really high, gives teams a solid benchmark to work with.
as for the rest of the structure, i have no idea, maybe more pressure and temperature sensors or something?
May 16th, 2008 at 4:57 pmScott Woodwiss said:
New-looking winglet on the Renault
http://images.gpupdate.net/large/99699.jpg
May 16th, 2008 at 4:59 pmlou said:
thank you, me! i have been wandering about it for ages!!
May 16th, 2008 at 8:43 pmSteven Roy said:
Isn’t it amazing. All we get from Max is high tech this and advanced development that and all anyone really wanted was a colouring in competition.
May 16th, 2008 at 9:06 pmSteven Roy said:
I have tried print screen but it does nothing. Any other ideas?
May 16th, 2008 at 9:40 pmme said:
do you have vista? if so, under ‘accessories’ there’s the ’snipping tool’, which does basically the same thing.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:22 pmSteven Roy said:
The snipping tool worked. Thanks
May 16th, 2008 at 10:44 pmme said:
omg, i’ve just seen your image, wow!
do you have a tablet thingy too, or just incredible mouse control? also, i like you’ve called it 001, how many you planning on doing?
May 16th, 2008 at 10:45 pmme said:
also, any idea who jb13 is?
May 16th, 2008 at 10:47 pmlou said:
yay! thats how you do it!
May 16th, 2008 at 11:45 pmSteven Roy said:
I have a laptop with a pad rather than a mouse so it is really easy to do straight lines. I just start a few mm before the edge of the pad and move my finger to the edge and hold it still on the edge of the pad and the cursor keeps moving. Straight lines are about the limit of my artistic ability
The 001 thing is just habit. I do it with all my files because over the years with work I have always had series of files which were so similar it only made sense to give them the same name but index them with numbers.
May 17th, 2008 at 3:19 pmAlianora La Canta said:
Too right it is - is it the tiny white blob at the top of the chicane? Looked like it was part of a competition, not a real attempt at meaningful photography!
Something must have gone wrong - the wing’s not symmetrical and it has to be to meet the regulations!
Force India are developing their car, but it’s only really small things at the moment - an endplate here, a redesigned suspension item there. The main thrust of development is on Hungary, when they seem to be aiming for a big development step, and 2009, when they’re trying to steal a march on the competition (or at least keep up). Hence why not a lot is happening now and hence why Q2 seems as distant as ever.
That was real rain. Apparently it started raining in the late morning and carried on until late into the afternoon portion of testing. However, it’s the only day of testing using Canada-mimicking track settings that the teams get, which is why several persevered until the end of the day.
May 17th, 2008 at 3:24 pmme said:
got ya, cheers. i guess at times like this they’ll be be wishing they could extend the tests like last year.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:45 pmAlianora La Canta said:
In theory, there’s nothing to stop the tests from being extended. However, the FIA have to be informed and Bridgestone have to be prevailed upon to provide tyres. Since each team can only use 200 sets of grooved tyres in testing this year (apart from demo runs), this reduces the likelihood of test extensions or additions.
May 19th, 2008 at 4:54 pmme said:
i thought the teams this year agreed that under no circumstances would a test be extended by bad weather?
something to do with them having to pre-book hotel rooms just in case, i think.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:33 amAlianora La Canta said:
Now that would be a good practical reason why tests cannot be extended. Thanks for that, me