Dealer
Stilo Q&A with Osian Pryce
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Osian Pryce has contested 13 rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship – including a career best 4th place WRC2 finish on last year’s Rally Finland in an M-Sport Fiesta R5, as part of his DriveDMACK Fiesta Trophy prize drive. The 25-year old Machynlleth-born driver has always worn a Stilo, and now Osian has a two different Carbon helmets to choose from, depending on what type of car he’s driving, as he explains:
What crash helmet do you wear and what makes it your number one choice? “I’ve got a Stilo 8860 Carbon in both open face and a full face. It’s the strength and the lightness that I like. I switch between both the open and full face helmet depending on what car I’m driving. I tend to use the full face in a modern R5 car, as to me it just gives me that little bit more feeling of protection, but in a car like a historic Escort Mk2, where you need to see a bit more around you, I wear an open face. But that said, I have driven an R5 car with an open face.”
What have been the most significant helmet changes during your career? “I’ve always worn a Stilo, it’s been my only choice since I started competing back in 2009. I like its strength, comfort and sound quality of the intercom. I’ve always struggled with other makes of intercom, and the Stilo intercom is superb.”
What incident springs to mind, where you were thankful you were wearing a good quality helmet? “Rally Poland last year. We were lucky to get away with a very big accident like that. The roll cage of the Fiesta R5 had actually brushed the side of my Stilo – and the FIA checked the helmet and there was absolutely no damage to it whatsoever. I was very grateful. You’ve only got one head and you need to protect it.”
What advice would you give someone starting out in motorsport, as regards helmet and safety equipment in general? “The cheapest option isn’t always the best, and you need the best when it comes to safety equipment. It also needs to be comfortable, so for a helmet and HANS for example I use a Stilo Carbon, which is a little bit lighter than a Composite helmet, and a Simpson Hybrid Sport.”
