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A celebratory twist on tradition: Abbi Pulling on her special edition fan-designed Singapore helmet

It wasn’t only Abbi Pulling’s performances on track that caught people’s attention in Singapore, as she switched up her usual 2024 helmet design for a special fan-designed lid.

Before she went and sparkled under the floodlights of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, we sat down with Pulling to find out the process behind the design and why there was no better place in her mind to go all out.

“I did a competition a month ago to let my fans design a helmet,” she explained. “It was really hard to pick through and choose one. There were at one point about 20 that I couldn’t narrow it down from. I ended up going with this one because I just thought it was absolutely spectacular.

“It’s designed by @It’s_Krea on Instagram and that’s her signature on the back to show it’s designed by them. It’s based of traditional Singaporean clothing with all the patterns around it, some symbolism that is very Asian culture as well with the clouds and the dragons. I learnt recently that the colour of red is a colour of celebration in Singapore, which I think is also really nice.

“I absolutely love it! I think it’s going to look amazing in Qualifying under the footlights and for the rest of the weekend. Hopefully, we can make it a fast one.

“I wanted to do a special helmet for Singapore because it’s such a special track. It’s the race weekend that I’ve been looking forward to the most all year and out of any of them, it’s one to make a statement at and to show off a sparkly lid. I don’t have any glitter in my current design, so I needed to go all out for this one and I couldn’t be happier with it.

“I really like the look from the front. I think it looks really mean, you can see the dragons and the glitter. I think the red glitter is just going to look incredible. I don’t really know what else to say, I like it all — I can’t pick one piece.

“Obviously, it’s got the Singapore Grand Prix on the back, my logo matching the vibe in the same colours and my number #9. I just absolutely love it and I wouldn’t be able to do it without the support from Bell Helmets, so they made this possible.”