F1 Helmet review – 1:5 SparkEditions Alan Jones 1980
As F1 heads to Melbourne for the 2024 Australian GP, the grid will feature 2 Australian drivers – Danny Ric and Oscar Piastri (maybe even 3 if Esteban or Pierre get appendicitis…). Both drivers are hoping to be the next Australian Formula 1 world champion since Alan Jones achieved the feat in 1980 with Williams in FW07B.
I was looking at an Alan Jones 1:5 helmet made by Spark that was included into the SparkEditions Espana helmet subscription collection series back in 2019.
These SparkEditions helmets were only marketed and sold in Spain, Italy, Argentina and Mexico. The series collection initially included 2017 season drive helmets, Hamilton, Alonso, Senna and Schumacher world championship helmets but was subsequently expanded to include many 70’s and 80’s F1 drivers like Jones, Regazonni, Scheckter and Keke Rosberg.
Spark have since continued with 1:5 helmets in recent seasons but these have been limited to Mercedes drivers (Hamilton, Russell), Alfa Romeo (Bottas, Zhou), AlphaTauri (Tsunoda, Gasly) and McLaren (Norris, Ricciardo). Back in
Let’s take a look at the 1:5 Jones helmet:
Packaging – Alan Jones helmet was #74 in the SparkEditions collection
The 1:5 scale comes on standard 3.3″ square black base
Front view. The blank Marlboro chevron isn’t smooth
Rear view. The double stripe decals are slightly crooked
Compared to the newer Spark 1:5 helmets, these SparkEdition 80’s driver helmets are a little less refined as the simpler helmet graphics doesn’t leave anywhere to hide the blemishes.
For example, the Akai logo strip at the top of the helmet and the Marlboro chevron decal are slightly crooked. The white of the helmet is unpainted bare plastic unlike Sebastian Vettel’s white 2020 helmet. That said, the 1:5 Jones helmet still has accurate features and movable visor.
The SparkEditions collection was the best way to build a collection of small scale F1 world champion driver helmets as Minichamps have not really focused on their 1:8 scale helmets (other than to re-release their Senna, Schumacher and Rossi collections). For instance, the SparkEditions helmets included helmets of Emerson Fittipaldi, Jackie Stewart, Nelson Piquet, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Ronnie Petersen and Gilles Villeneuve which are more instantly recognisable than the constantly changing helmet designs of the current grid of F1 drivers.
Spark 1:5 helmets – side by side with Lewis Hamilton’s 2020 lid
