Who thought that style would be one of the reasons that MotoGP is awesome? Well it turns out that the outfits and helmets of the riders are the sixth reason.
Every rider wears a set of leathers with a pair of gloves and boots. Their head is covered with a helmet. Of course sponsor's names adorn nearly every inch of the showing surfaces. However, the riders can add their personal touches of logos, colors, names and numbers. The helmet is probably the personalized part of the outfit and the first thing to become a special or unique design for a given race weekend.
Recently, the riders are making their outfits more personal, which is nice because then you are able to tell them apart as they are circling around the track. For instance, last year it was difficult to tell the Ducati Team riders apart as they were on all red bikes, in red leathers and had similar colored helmets.
Happily however, this year is different as Valentino Rossi is riding for Ducati now and his favorite color is florescent yellow. He is also a fan of the sun and the moon.
As you can see, Rossi's nickname is placed nicely on his butt. This is the norm, which is good as you can tell who they are when they show the on board shot facing the rider's back-side.
Rossi's team-mate Nicky Hayden has gone with a much more subtle and tasteful approach.
Australian Casey Stoner has incorporated the Australian flag into his helmet. Plus, his boots have silhouettes of kangaroos on them.
Unhappily however, there are three Repsol Honda riders this year that all pretty much have the same outfit, similar to what Stoner is wearing above. Although Dani Pedrosa has black boots and gloves, while Andrea Dovizioso has red ones. Of course they do have different helmets, but sometimes those just become a blur.
At the Yamaha Factory team, their outfits are pretty similar as well. Only the highlighting colors are different.
Ben Spies for instance has robin egg blue gloves and boots.
The World Champion Jorge Lorenzo has red on one side and white on the other. It goes with his angel/ devil theme.
As an example of a not everyday helmet, here is Lorenzo's helmet from the race from Valencia, Spain at the end of 2010. It is painted with real gold paint and covered in 1,800 Swarovoski crystals. Lorenzo's celebratory helmet took 96 hours to complete and was sold for 12,000 euros ($13,250) after the race.
So the stylish or outrageous outfits that the MotoGP riders wear to keep them safe when they crash are sixth reason why the sport is awesome. Besides, who would not want to ride a motorcycle with their name placed ever so strategically on their butt?
