Jun 27, 2012 6:30 AM

Gallery: Exclusive: How Giro Made a Cooler, Faster Helmet

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*Engineer Sam Kass with "the Therminator" he developed to test the cooling efficiency of helmets like the Air Attack. It features an aluminum skull fitted with 24 sensors that monitor air temperature in a helmet in the wind tunnel.* Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired
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*Engineering manager Rob Wesson and engineer Paul Kele look over 3D renderings of the new Air Attack helmet.* Photo: Peter McCollough/ Wired

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*Helmets begin with ideas, which lead to a sketches, which lead to half-scale models made first of foam and then of clay. The models allow engineers and designers to quickly and easily revise helmets before committing to full-size prototypes.* Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired
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*Engineering manager Rob Wesson explains the aerodynamic principles his team used in prioritizing performance over form during the creation of the new helmet.* Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired

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*The prototype lab at Giro where machined moulds can be made on the spot.* Photo: Peter McCollough
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*Engineer Sam Kass prepares to do a collision test on an Air Attack helmet.* Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired

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*Giro says the Air Attack increases a rider's efficiency by providing optimal aerodynamics, cooling and light weight. Giro claims the helmet will make you faster.* Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired
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*When Giro developed helmets for Lance Armstrong's Tour de France campaigns, it made a life-size model of his torso to refine his [$15,000 time trial helmet](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/playbook/2010/07/armstrong-helmet-exclusive/) in a wind tunnel. The Air Attack shares the frontal profile of a time-trial helmet.* Photo: Peter McCollough/Wired

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*Engineering manager Rob Wesson explains the R&D of the Air Attack helmet.*

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