WHEN IT comes to motorsport memorabilia, securing second hand or even replica helmets sported by your favourite driver can be both hard work and prohibitively expensive. Fortunately, we’ve found one person who’s solved that problem..

WORDS: Richard Craill

ADELAIDE RACER, signwriter and graphic designer Asher Johnston has run Check it Out Graphics for more than 15 years, with a growing side-element of his business wrapping helmets for both himself and a raft of customers.

Though still relatively new in the industry, vinyl helmet wraps are quickly becoming popular on account of the fact they are more affordable and quicker than the more traditional paint jobs – but are also remarkably customisable and more easily replaceable, too.

As a side hustle, Johnston has also created a raft of replica helmets honoring both his own racing heroes and an array of other superstars as private commissions.

While his Check It Out Graphics business – run by Johnston and featuring double Gold Star champion Simon Wills on the tools as well – wraps up to 60 custom helmets a year for racers around the world, producing replicas for man-caves and displays has become increasingly popular.

“I got into doing replicas because, at heart, I’m just a big fan-boy!” he told TRT.

Johnston grew up with the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide: A Nigel Mansell replica helmet taking pride of place in his growing personal collection.  

“There’s something satisfying about replicating things as close as possible to the original, whether it’s helmets or tribute liveries on race cars.”

“It’s amazing how many little changes happen over a year, particularly with the F1 replicas. so research is key. For example, the 3 red stripes on the 1994 Schumacher helmet: at the start of the season they didn’t feature at all.. they were introduced because his and Verstappen’s helmet looked very similar from front-on. Initially there were two stripes, it went to red on top, orange on the bottom next, before the 3 stripes stayed for the last part of the season and 1995 as well.  

“It’s details and stories like that that I love recreating.”

The process begins by sourcing the correct helmet for the driver and period in question, before spending hours researching the finest details to ensure the design is period-correct.  

“It’s all about getting the base helmet and model correct. For example, I have done old replica designs on modern helmets in the past, and it never looks quite right to me. So the replicas we do are largely driven by what helmets I can find… If anyone has any old helmets laying around, get in touch!”

With an extensive back catalogue already, Johnston agreed to run TRT through some of his favourite replica designs created to date.

555/Silk Cut open face:

These were helmets we’ve had laying around work for years (ex-Team Dynamic ride helmets care, of Simon Wills) I’ve always wanted to try a ‘car tribute’ in helmet form, so when things slowed down with COVID, we did a few up in iconic liveries. It was also a chance to play with a few different looks we don’t usually get to do on customer helmets. The plan is to do a few more, possibly the rainbow warrior Jeff Gordon livery from the early 90’s could be next!

Jenson Button ‘97

This was done for a customer of ours who restores vintage go-karts. He wanted a Button replica helmet to go with his kart and managed to find the correct model Arai GP3 helmet to do it on. Jenson actually got in touch with him about it via social media, which was a pretty cool thing to hear!

Craig Lowndes ‘96

This one’s in my personal collection. I’ve been a fan of Craig’s since Bathurst 1994 and always wanted to do a replica of his helmet. I found a near-new Bell Vortex in the USA and went from there. I showed it to Craig a few years back and I think he was quite surprised to see it!

Nigel Mansell ‘86

Being from Adelaide, I don’t think there’s a more iconic moment then Nigel’s tyre blow-out in the 1986 Australian Grand Prix. I managed to acquire the helmet a while back, and only recently realised it was suitable for a Mansell replica. I’ve also done a 1993 version of his IndyCar Arai.

Schumacher ‘94

Again, the AGP connection was the reason behind this one. We actually did a 1995 Schumacher replica for a customer, which was nearly the same, but on a different model Bell. I found a Bell XFM-1 that was already painted and pretty tatty and restored it for this one. I don’t mind them looking a bit old, I think it adds to a replica that is meant to be 15+ years old anyway..

Brooke Tatnell 

Brooke has been a customer of ours since 2012. We do 2 helmets a year for him, on average, usually at the start of the Australian summer. We’ve spoken a few times about him giving one back, once it’s been retired, but the helmets we do for him usually have a meaning or connection behind them, so it’s important that he keeps them in my view. So, I decided to do my own replica of his, from his Shell Helix days, on the correct Simpson Shark helmet. He’s signed it for me, which is pretty cool, and then threatened to throw it down the road to make it look more authentic! We’ve actually done replicas of our designs for him to give to sponsors as well. 

Mark Webber ‘96

A good customer of ours is a massive Webber fan. I found him an old Arai online and we created one of his Formula Ford helmets – before his designed got Red-Bulled!  

Ivan Capelli – Adelaide Motorsport Festival

In 2018 we were approached but he organisers of the Adelaide Motorsport Festival to recreate Ivan Capelli’s current helmet, who was coming out to drive his Leyton House at the event. They had done some filming with Ivan in Italy and needed to continue filling in Adelaide with a different driver. At short notice, we found a Bell that was similar to his and replicated it off a few screenshots from the filming that was already completed.

At the event we showed it to him, and he was taken back at how close we had it – even down to the sponsor stickers that he currently has on there. At the AMF event, he was using the helmet he wore from Hungry onwards in 1991.. He said he knew because he had a sticker on there that was a promoting a local band, and he’s never taken it off!  He was a great bloke and chatted to us for ages about helmets and F1 in Adelaide, he also signed it in Italian – I think it says, ‘with great speed’.

The Race Torque!

WHILE I only get on the track exactly once a year, it’s nice to have a helmet and nicer to have one that looks pretty.. so even if you can’t use it, you can put it on display and have people say nice things about it.

While not a ‘retro’ helmet per se, I did want the design to feel like it could have been done in that great era of helmet design – 1980-1990s Formula 1.

My only stipulations to Asher and Simon were that, and that it should carry the state colours of South Australia (obviously) and a very loose description of perhaps using the old and classic ‘SA GREAT’ logo as a guide. The boys delivered and the finish product looks In-freaking-credible. Could not be happier and my only disappointment is that because I am so rarely on track, and so rubbish when I am, few people will ever see it in action!.

Richard Craill, Editor