After he broke both his arms in a drag racing crash, Bill Simpson started thinking about safety. His first idea was the drag parachute which was introduced 1959. Simpson continued to be at the forefront of developing safety equipment and in 1979 launched their first helmets; the RX-1 for automotive racing and the RXM-1 for motorcyclists, nicknamed the Star Wars helmet, these were renamed the Model 30 and with a few modifications are still in production today as the M30 Bandit. Simpson have introduced many new styles of helmets over the years and in 2005 launched the Diamondback which was made famous as the Stig's helmet in the BBC's Top Gear.
