Vettel's gold helmet brings in $118k for charity

If you caught the German Grand Prix this year, then you got to see the reigning multiple World Champion Sebastian Vettel win his home race for the first time. In fact, Germans got to see one of their own win the race for the first time since Schumacher took the checkered flags at both the German Grand Prix (at Hockenheim) and European Grand Prix (at the Nürburgring) way back in 2006.

Vettel took the win in spectacular style, a form that was only heightened by the blinged-out gold helmet he was wearing specially for the event. The Arai lid was signed by Vettel and recently put up for auction by Bonhams at its Oxford headquarters in England at a special event for classic cars and automobilia. There it fetched an impressive £72,100 – equivalent to over $118,000 at today's exchange rates – setting a new world record for the most expensive (F1) helmet ever sold at auction. The winning bid was placed by an undisclosed buyer overseas, with proceeds going towards the Wings for Life non-profit foundation that promotes spinal cord research.

Seb's golden lid wasn't the only race helmet included in the auction. Highlighting just how many more fans Vettel has than his departing team-mate, a similar helmet signed by Mark Webber brought in "only" £17,500 (nearly $29k). Finally, the Bell helmet worn by James Hunt during the 1976 Formula One World Championship depicted in the blockbuster hit Rush went for £37,500 ($61k).


Source:Bonhams, Autoblog