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Stilo, the successful Italian specialist of racing helmet, is celebrating their 10^th anniversary with a series of innovative helmets that meets F1 safety standards to offer the most comprehensive range world-wide for rally and track tracing drivers. The range will also been extended to Kart racing driver soon.

Among the new arrivals is the world-first Open-Face  F1  (FIA 8869-2004) standards helmet that many professional and amateur drivers racing closed cars, have been waiting for.

The all-new helmet, called  Stilo WRC DES  has already passed all tests  for the FIA 8860-2004 standards and it is expected to receive FIA homologation approval on time for the very beginning of the 2010 racing season. “All we have to do now is to clear the administrative process” said Ludovico Fassitelli, co-founder and managing director. Indeed as of next year the FIA 8860-2004 rule will be extended to all racing drivers competing in the WRC, FIA-GT and LeMans Series championships.

Last year Stilo was among the first specialists offering  FIA F 8860-2004  the top-safety standards required for F1 racing when FIA mandate their use also to drivers competing in GP2, Formula 2, Formula 3 International and the World Touring Car Championships races. In their first year on the tracks  Stilo ST4 helmets have “won” the Formula 2 and Formula BMW championships thanks to Andy Soucek and Felipe Nasr, and it is on its way to win the WTTC with Gabriele Tarquini. In addition Alvaro Parente, wearing a Stilo helmet, won the most challenging GP2 race at SPA.

In 2008  Stilo was also the first company to obtain the FIA homologation for its Full-Face 8860-2004  ST4 helmet integrating the ear-muffs, the communication system and the drinking system that make its design so distinctive. These features are now available in the all-new WRC DES helmets.

The Stilo ST4 helmet has gone through ultimate tests on track as well as on the stages of the world rallies championship, actually winning the company its 5^th WRC title in a row with Sebastian Loeb who was the first WRC rally driver to use (one year before the mandate) a FIA F8860-2004 helmet in rally racing.

With the new helmets Stilo is also launching a completing new range of intercom systems, renowned among specialists for its outstanding quality and reliability, further improving their performance for noise reduction and clear communications.

In its ten years of life, the Bergamo based company established by past Italian Rally Champion Ludovico Fassitelli and his wife Elena Perini (editor’s note: daughter of the author) has gained a dominating position in rally-racing  world-wide.

The company now exports in 40 nations, through the past ten years, annual sales have gone from € 100,000 in the first year to € 4.5m estimated for the current year and the staff has grown from three (including the two founding members) to thirty-two.

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