Montoya receives special helmet from Sid Mosca

When Juan Pablo Montoya was growing up, his idol was the late Formula One and World Champion driver Ayrton Senna. Sid Mosca, the famous designer of helmets for Brazilian drivers, heard this and when Montoya came to Sao Pablo, he gave him a special gift.

Montoya visited Brazil to film a television commercial for one of his sponsors, Petrobras. The filming was done at the Interlagos circuit and during one of the breaks, Mosca surprised him with the gift of a helmet.

This was no ordinary helmet. Mosca presented Montoya with an authentic Ayrton Senna helmet that he had personally dedicated. The helmet was painted and designed by Mosca in the livery of 1988, the year Senna was his first World Championship title.

"It is a very special gift. Ayrton Senna is my idol and it was a big surprise to receive a replica of his helmet", said a smiling Juan Pablo afterwards.

The legendary Mosca painted all of Senna's helmets during his Formula One career.

"I have always admired Montoya's way of driving. He wants to win just like Senna wanted and I heard that Senna was his idol. When I knew he was coming to Sao Paulo I decided to give him the helmet to give him good luck in his way to the first world title." commented Sid Mosca.

Mosca has and still does design and paint special helmets for the top Brazilian drivers including Emerson Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet, Rubens Barrichello, Ricardo Zonta, and Luciano Burti from Formula One past and present. And from Championship Auto Racing (CART), some of his famous clients are Roberto Moreno, Mauricio Gugelmin, Christian Fittipaldi, and Tony Kanaan, and Andre Ribeiro from Indy Racing League (IRL).