Many know Alexander Wurz for his two victories at Le Mans and his Formula One career, but the Austrian driver has several other strings to his bow. The Monaco resident is a consultant to the Williams Formula One team, chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ association, a commentator for the Austrian TV channel ORF and runs a road safety company, Test & Training international. And he hand paints his helmets.

Wurz first won Le Mans aged 22, as a rookie. The victory came as a somewhat of a surprise: "I was not supposed to be on the entry list of the 1996 Le Mans 24 Hours. Reinhold Joest, team-owner of Joest Racing, was looking for a driver and after a test session, he decided to trust a young guy to drive the TWR Porsche. It was a tough fight with the official Porsche: at 8am on Sunday morning, we were leading with an 8-second margin. But we finally won.”
The former BMX world champion was yet to realise that the victory would change his life. Two days later, Williams offered him a test in Formula One. The young driver who had been contemplating giving up racing due to lack of funds found himself embarking on a career at the top of the game. He remained an official driver until 2007 with a break as test driver for McLaren from 2001 to 2004.

His testing experience was no doubt instrumental in his selection for the Peugeot endurance team in 2008. The following year, he shared Peugeot Sport’s third car with David Brabham and Marc Gené. The team was by no means favourite as others were faster, but in endurance racing, especially at Le Mans, fastest is not always synonymous with first.

Wurz no doubt passes on that message to the younger generations in his capacity as trainer and consultant. He also emphasises the importance of safety in his work with the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy. "My Company Test & Training has trained over 2.5 million participants, and additionally more than a million kids in specially designed road safety courses. Of course, in such a serious business we have experts who design the course contents and define the best coaching and training methods. Some of these methods apply also to the racing world, and I make use of them."

Despite his busy schedule and daily training sessions, Wurz takes the time to decorate his helmet himself. In 2000, after the umpteenth complaint that his design was too complicated and took too long to produce, he began doing the work himself. The perfectionist turns his bathroom into a workshop for a few days, sometimes longer. “I don’t spend much time at home so it can take two months to finish two helmets.” Each design is unique and hand painted without a sketch.

A unique design for a unique driver in several ways. First, at 1.87m, Wurz towers above most in the paddock. Being tall is not an advantage for a racing driver. Second, he is a true sportsman and has never fallen into the bad boy trap to which many stars succumb. No, Wurz is a real gentleman, the sort who waits for his interviewer to stop writing before he continues. His career is unique too. Other than being the youngest driver to win Le Mans, he also holds the record for the longest hiatus between two victories. Although he never became World Endurance Champion, when Wurz is around, success is never far off.

Tschüss Alex! Bis bald...

Cécile Bonardel / ACO – Translated from French by Emma Paulay

PHOTO: LE MANS (SARTHE, FRANCE), CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES, 24 HOURS OF LE MANS, THURSDAY 20 JUIN 2013, QUALIFYING. Alexander Wurz paints his helmets himself.