> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kelly, Katie [mailto:kkelly@spss.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 11:13 AM
> To: 'ba-autox@autox.team.net'
> Subject: HELMET QUESTION
>
>
> A couple of months ago, in need before our Divisional, I bought a Bell
> something-or-other-bottom-of-the-line full faced helmet from Bell
> Motorsports in Oakland. They know me, and my father much better.
>
> Although on the back of the helmet it says Snell M 95, the
> tech inspector
> almost didn't pass the helmet because of the necessary Snell
> sticker inside
> the helmet, under the lining. There is a possibility that the
> sticker is
> there, but the helmet is such that you can't move the lining
> to see what's
> there. Because of this, I was warned that although he'd pass
> this helmet for
> the Divisionals, despite his suspictions that I fabricated
> the sticker on
> the back of the helmet, I'd probably run into problems with
> this helmet at
> Nationals, to which I boasted, "Well, I'm not going to
> Nationals, so neener
> neener neener."
If I'd suspected you'd fabricated it, it wouldn't have gotten a sticker. Or
at least I'd ask you to measure the perch height (oops, wrong topic :-)
So, The basic issue is that the tiny 'Snell' sticker on the back of this
helmet could be re-created easily by anyone willing to - Not necessarly the
individual purchaser, but an 'evil' knock-off manufacturer for example. No,
not paranoid, just trying to protect Ms. Kelly's valuable head.
The actually Snell rating sticker (sewn to the chin-strap, under the lining,
etc.) is the 'official' method of showing the rating of a helmet. Look at
the 2000 ones - holographic and all, and much harder to duplicate.
>
> So, I'm flying to Nationals this Friday, and I've found a
> back up helmet
> just in case. On the back, it again says Snell M 95, and when
> you lift up
> the lining, there is indeed a Snell sticker. Are the odds are
> that this
> second helmet is legal?
No odds required - it _is_ legal (unless damaged, etc.).
>
> I'd never run into this type of problem with a helmet before.
> I told the
> guys at Bell Motorsports that this was an autocross specific
> helmet, and I
> just assumed that they'd be selling me the right product.
> Looks like not,
> and now I've got a worthless helmet with a big ol' daisy on the back.
> Bummer.
Other might not be as stringent as I was. But if you had had an incident at
the divisional (with the helmet on, of course) and there was a question as
to the legality of the helmet, then the club risks being at fault.
>
> Katie Kelly
Kevin McCormick - 2001 SFR Divisional Chief of Tech
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