Howdy,
On Tue, 4 Sep 2001, Kenneth Allan Mitchell wrote:
> Some sanctioning motorsports organizations either ink out or remove the
> snell cert label if the helmet has been involved in a motorsports
> incident including dropping the helmet on the ground. Once the lable has
> been removed the helmet is no longer certified.
As someone whose life used to depend on helmets (motorcycle racer, tried a
few out :-), a couple comments.
First, a whole lot of folks don't agree that dropping a helmet should be
grounds for tossing it out. The inside foam lining doesn't get distorted
from dropping the helmet on the ground as there's no head inside to
compress the foam while it stops more slowly. The outside shell
(fiberglass, plastic or whatever) MAY get chipped, which could act as a
stress riser and lead to shell failure in an incident, but that's easily
inspected. Of course, if you start tossing helmets for this at autoxes,
you'll likely toss 1/4 of the helmets out there.
Second, a lotta folks don't agree that the Snell testing represents real
accidents (at least for motorcyclists) all that well anyway. Those folks
think that DOT testing more accurately reflects what happens. I don't
have an opinion here, just pointing something out.
Third, as a motorcycle racer that smashed my head into the ground at speed
more than a couple times, people being concerned about helmets at
autocrosses is pretty laughable. My opinion is that the helmet should fit
reasonably well, be at least a 3/4 helmet (open face), and be either snell
or DOT certified. To be anal about which snell sticker you accept but not
be anal about shell damage or foam compression is silly at best.
Further, the rules themselves indicate that autox helmets are mostly a CYA
thing anyway. M rated helmets in a car accident are next to useless on
the 2nd impact to the same area. Given that the helmet's primary role is
likely gonna be protecting your noggin as it bashes against rollbars and
the like, how useful is that M rated helmet?
Fourth, when I tech cars & helmets, I check for a snell sticker just like
I ought to. My opinions aren't the rules. :-)
Mark
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