John, you ask a great question. I have always believed that if seat
belts deteriorated the way we are told they do by the 'experts' in
racing then the Feds would mandate regular replacement of them in
passenger vehicles. The feds have the authority to make it law and
enough lobbyists to demand it if it were truly an issue. If ours are
getting hard and brittle, that is a different matter and YES, they
need to be replaced. That is certainly the case if the race car sits
out in the elements all year long with no cover of any sort over the
cockpit. (I'm assuming an open car here, not a coupe or sedan) But
that is a different story.
As to helmets, The VSCCA had a call with the Snell guys a few years
ago and they basically said they had no evidence of deterioration in
properly stored helmets. Certainly if you wear it EVERY DAY there's a
difference. The point they made to us was they were most concerned
with Motorcycle helmets because they lead a very hard life and get
dropped a bunch and such. Thus it's important to get them replaced
periodically. Most of our racing helmets though live most of their
lives in a bag in the closet away from the light and other things that
may compromise them over time. Nomex, which is often the fire
retardent liner, is fire retardant in its essence, in other words, age
should have no effect on that characteristic unless for some reason it
changes into something other than nomex over time and that isn't real
likely.
kind regards,
jimdonick
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