Ian Ebbs: Winner of the Red Bull competition to design Liam Lawson's next helmet on his design

A Christchurch father-of-three has won a nationwide competition to design a helmet for Formula One driver Liam Lawson. 

The competition, run by Lawson’s team sponsors Red Bull, invited New Zealanders to submit original designs and offered a rare chance to see their creativity come to life on the F1 grid. 

Nearly 500 designs were submitted, and the winning design will debut at the Singapore GP in October.  

Winner Ian Ebbs told Mike Hosking he took into account things Lawson likes —the colours on his previous helmets, and hobbies like golf— as well as including tastes of home. 

He says the design is a taste of New Zealand. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This could be better than lotto. Actually, Ian Ebbs has
won a competition. The competition was to design a helmet
for Liam Lawson. Lawson personally picked the winner the prize
as a trip for two to Singapore to hand the
helmet over. I mean, how goods the scenes with us
Ian Morning. Well, you're an F one fan, yes, and
your son's an F one fan.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, a big fan. Big fan will.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Try and describe that. Well, actually you try and describe it.
What have you done design wise?

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yeah, So put together this pretty fine kind of Kiwi
Onna inspired helmet for Liam that he's going to wear
at the Singapore Grand Prix. It's tried to take in
some of his kind of things that he likes, his
colors from some previous helmets that he's worn, and then
just stuff it into a bit of golf and yeah,
a lot of a lot of tastes the home, I
guess as well, with the Kiwi and the Kiwi fruit

(00:50):
and kind of the mountains and the green rolling hills.
So yeah, it's just kind of a taste of news
and for him on his on his helmet, I guess.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
It's very well done. It's did you were there? Indian strips,
or did you have to take into account intricacy in
other words, if there was too much detail that it
would become problematic on on a helmet, or could you
do whatever you want?

Speaker 3 (01:09):
No, there wasn't any kind of requirements as such around that,
so I kind of just went wild with the things
that I added. You did have to kind of stay
off a few areas where his race number goes and
the sponsors on the side and stuff, so there's a
few kind of safe zones that you had to leave bank.
So it'll be interesting to see how the kind of
three D version comes out. I'm excited to see what
they take from kind of the concept. I guess where

(01:30):
we put together here and then and how it turns
out when it's on his head flowing around the track
in Singapore.

Speaker 1 (01:34):
Where do they do it? Do you know where do
they actually make the helmet?

Speaker 3 (01:39):
I understand it's about a six to eight week process
to get them made, so I think they've already done
the kind of the concept now of what it will
actually look like.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
I haven't had a chance to see that.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
I'll get to see it in person when we're in
Singapore for the first time.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
So it's pinks, it's blues, it's green of the land,
white of the fern, and good because that's sort of
his colors, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, So I kind of went back and looked at
some of the helmets that he'd worn in the past
to try and get some inspiration for what he might
like to see. And yeah, you're right, the pink is
definitely like a key color. He has this fun, kind
of lean lawson kind of character with a pink baseball
hat on backwards that he has on his helmet at
the moment. So I used that a little bit in

(02:23):
the design and turned him into a little golfer because
he's into his golf now.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
So that was on there is one of the main.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Bits when you'd done it, did you think your head
something that you know, you thought, hang on, this is
actually quite good.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
I did think, actually this does look quite cool, and
I did feel like, ah, yeah, it's in with a shot.
And then obviously about kind of six weeks after i'd
put the entry in, I had a email from Red
Bull and they were just checking that we were based
in New Zealand and over the age of eighteen, and
I was thinking, hold on, you don't really ask these
questions of people if they haven't got a chance.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
So I said to my son Michael, who's come with me?
I said, Oh, Michael, I think we've been shortlisted.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Liam's gone through and he's looked at all of the
designs that everybody's put in, which itself is pretty cool
that he took the time to go through and look
at everything everybody did you know?

Speaker 2 (03:11):
So yeah, it's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Were you in because of Michael? Did you into because
of Michael? Did he tell you the competition was on
or was it you?

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yes? Exactly? So yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:21):
I've got three kids and they order have loved to come,
but it was Michael who is the one who found
the competition, was like, we need to enter this, we
need to have a go, We need to.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Try and make a helmet for Liam Lawson. So wow,
he's the ones to come with me.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
That's incredible. Have you ever been to F one before?

Speaker 3 (03:37):
Yes, about twenty five years ago. I went to the
Silver Soon Grand Prix with my dad. So it's pretty
fun and a bit of take.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
Mine that's my dream? Is Silverstone? Is it worth it?

Speaker 3 (03:49):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah, it's fantastic. Yeah, it's fantastic.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
And what about Michael. He hasn't been to an F
one no, no, never know, so that Paul's a good
thing because it's night, it's in town, you can do
the town, you can do the I mean, it will
be amazing thing.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yes, it would be incredible just to see it all
let up in the city. Yeah, the neon and everything.
So quite the experience for Michael. It's only only second
trip abroad, so yeah, he will love it.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
There we go, and of course the important point is
you get to meet Liam and you hand the helmet
to Liam. So I mean that'll be as big as
going to the IF one one.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah, totally. It's very very fun. I kind of held
that back.

Speaker 3 (04:25):
I haven't really mentioned it too much to Michael, but
he's just starting to get the impression that that's happening.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Is like, well, we get to meet Liam. I'm like, yeah,
I think so. So yeah, very excited, very excited.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
And he's a lovely guy, Liam, So you'll enjoy that experience.
And he did. Apart from Carlos over the weekend. He's
he's coming together, isn't he.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Yeah, the car's looking good.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
He had really good pace and yeah, it's just a shame,
but it's one of those things, I guess, But yeah,
I just was looking at the tracks and trying to
work out how much of a chance he'd have and
how the car suited Singapore.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
And I think he's got a's.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Got a good go when he there, so it'd be
nice to pick up some points between now and then.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
But I think you should go pretty good in Singapore
as well.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
I hope so, and I hope you go well in Singapore.
Congratulations and Ebbs, who's Michael's dad. They've won the competition.
They did the helmet and it's a cool helmet and
they're gonna make it and they're gonna hand it to Liam.
And that's as far as prizes go. I mean, sure
of winning the Powerball in America, which is a billion
dollars at the moment, that's about as good as it gets,
as far as I can work out. For more from
the Mike Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks. It'd

(05:27):
be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.