If you’ve priced helmets lately you know the price range is tremendous. Approved helmets seem to start around $200 and then proceed to over $8,000. I recently talked to a vendor who said their average customer spends around $2,000 for a new helmet. The HANS device adds another $800. We’re getting into serious money here. What am I actually getting if I spend thousands of dollars? Do I really need to spend that much?
Producing a product that meets the Snell and FIA standards is really not very difficult. Producing a helmet that people will purchase while at the same time meeting Snell and FIA safety standards is daunting. Keep in mind that the Snell and FIA standards don’t measure factors like comfort, ventilation, brand recognition or style. Snell and FIA standards only indirectly look at fit, weight, materials and workmanship. All of these are the factors that actually drive helmet cost.
Snell Foundation and the FIA:
At one time the FIA and Snell organizations didn’t work together. In fact if you showed up at a track that used the Snell standard they wouldn’t even recognize the FIA certification. That’s all in the past now. The final integration of standards will take place in 2015. Both organizations have agreed on standards and testing procedures.
There are three major differences between these designations:
• The SA standard requires a flammability test while the M and K standards do not.
•The SA and K standards allow for a narrower visual field than M standard (Some SA and K certified helmets may not be street legal).
• The SA and K standards include a roll bar multi impact test while the M standard does not.
SNELL 2010: This one is really very simple. You want a helmet that says SA 2010. Snell has a bunch of certifications but the SA 2010 is the most recent.
SAH 2010: The extra H indicates FHR (frontal head restraint) capability. This designation applies to helmets that are supplied with built-in HANS device connection points. It generally means that there are two sets of M6 thread inserts where the HANS anchors are installed. These threaded inserts are bonded directly inside the helmet shell.
It also means that the helmet has met FIA 8858 requirements for M6 helmet anchors used in frontal head restraint (FHR). An SAH 2010 label is equivalent to SA 2010 plus FIA 8858 labeling.
FIA 8860: This one is interesting. The FIA 8860 is basically the F1 standard. It currently doesn’t meet the Snell 2010 standard. The 8860 standard was developed by the FIA to improve overall helmet performance and safety and it is commonly thought of as the most severe racing helmet standard. FIA 8860 calls for significantly more severe impact tests and shell penetration tests than other standards. It also includes tests for shell hardness, friction, dynamic crush resistance and anchors for frontal head restraint (FHR). However, an FIA 8860 helmet must also be certified to either Snell, SFI or BSI requirements. As Hong Zhang of the Snell Foundation points out the “FIA 8860 helmets have been certified either to Snell SA 2005 or Snell SA 2010. These helmets are quite expensive since the FIA 8860 requirements virtually dictate costly carbon fiber shell technologies. FIA requires them for Formula 1 and they may soon require them for other forms of racing.”
HANS Fitment:
We all know about the HANS device. We all know it’s become common in vintage racing. What we don’t realize is that we can have a terrible injury at a fairly slow speed. The universally accepted measurement of neck tension sufficient to cause fatal injury is 4,000 Newtons. The Center for Advanced Product Evaluation (CAPE) conducted a test at 42 mph, with 40 g’s of negative acceleration upon impact. This resulted in 5800 Newtons of neck tension. That exceeds the accepted standard for a fatal accident by 45 percent. In other words you can have a fatal accident at 42 mph. Think about that for a few minutes. Every single car on the track during a race weekend is capable of being involved in a fatal crash.
You also need to keep in mind that the HANS device is available in 4 angles and 5 different sizes. The size refers to the width of the opening that goes around your neck. It’s also available with an adjustable angle now. Ask for help when you purchase your HANS. Another thing to remember is that while you can’t wear a HANS device out the tethers will need to be replaced every five years. These tethers should also be replaced after any major impact.
Does My Helmet Fit?
One good reason to buy your helmet from a real store is that they can help you determine the correct size. Sure you can measure your head and then place an order on Amazon.com. What happens if the helmet doesn’t fit? Will you even know if it fits properly? Most people select a size based on personal comfort. That may be a mistake. The important thing is that you don’t want the helmet to shift on your head during an impact. Actually the helmet should be a little tight when you first try it on.
If you can roll the helmet backwards far enough to expose your forehead, or if you can move it forward enough to block your vision, the helmet fits poorly. Do not use it. Replace the helmet with a smaller size. If you can't remove the helmet and it doesn't roll either backward far enough to expose your forehead or forward far enough to block your vision, you have a proper fit. A helmet that doesn’t fit snugly can easily rotate over the front of your head in an accident and come off, reducing the protection it provides to zero.
Now ask someone to help you while you bend your neck to lower your chin to your chest. With the helper standing in front of you and the helmet in place with the chin strap properly fitted, the helper should grasp the bottom edge of the back of the helmet and pull forward. The helmet should not be easily removed with a moderate pulling effort. The general rule is to choose the smallest helmet you can bear, but without any particular pressure points (or voids between head and helmet). Materials:
There are really three materials used to produce the shell of the helmet. Neither the FIA nor the Snell Foundation specifies that a particular material be used. Both organizations use performance standards. These are the three different materials commonly found in helmets:
Fiberglass/Kevlar Composite
Carbon/Kevlar
Full Carbon Fiber
The reason for using these different materials is a concern about weight. The full carbon helmets are the lightest weight helmets. The Stilo ST4 Formula Zero 8860 helmet only weighs 2.7 lbs. This includes the intercom system but not the HANS post anchors. Another lightweight helmet is the Sparco F1 ADV, which weighs in at 2.8 lbs. Right now the lightest helmet is about 2.6 pounds.
Now let’s look at some of the value priced helmets. A Bell M4 helmet sells for under $400 and weighs just slightly less than 3.5 lbs. A Simpson Voyager normally sells for about $300 and weighs just slightly less than 3.6 lbs. That one-pound difference between the Simpson Voyager and the Stilo ST4 in weight is rather expensive.
The reason weight is a big deal is because your head becomes a pendulum in an accident. A helmet adds around 20-25 per cent to the weight of your head. You also need to consider muscle fatigue. In a thirty-minute race this might not be important. If you do two-hour stints in endurance racing it’s something to consider.
Ed Becker, the Executive Director of the Snell Foundation points out that while “helmet prices do not directly reflect protective capability drivers may still get something worthwhile if they pay a little more for their headgear. Although the standards don’t consider matters like ventilation, comfort, fit quality and looks, these are all critical issues for every driver to consider and they will add to helmet costs. No one will wear a helmet for very long that is too hot, uncomfortable or ugly. A helmet that isn’t worn is too expensive at any price.”
The interior foam lining is actually the most critical factor in helmet safety. Most helmets use a thick layer of expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam. EPS foam is rigid yet lightweight and crushable. During the high-impact traumas of a crash, this foam liner absorbs and disperses energy that would otherwise be transferred directly to the skull and brain. Some manufacturers have refined and customized the foam liner in their models. Some designs feature dual-foam liners of various depth and density.
One item that’s seldom discussed is the deterioration of the material used in your helmet. The glues, resins and other materials used in helmet production can affect liner materials. Hair oils, body fluids and cosmetics, as well as normal wear all contribute to helmet degradation. Petroleum based products present in cleaners; paints, fuels and other commonly encountered materials may also degrade the materials used in helmets. This degradation will affect the performance of the helmet in an accident.
Open Face vs. Full Face:
No discussion of helmets would be complete without commenting on this. Most racers today use a full-face helmet thinking that it’s superior to an open face helmet. Well, maybe. Both Bell Racing of Europe and Stilo now have open face helmets that meet FIA 8860 standards.
The FIA states that “Full face helmets give better protection against fire and facial injury than open ones. For closed cars, open face helmets are tolerated. This is because it may be necessary to remove the helmet inside the car to enable access to an injured driver’s airway and helmet removal could be difficult.” The key word there is “tolerated”.
Full-face helmets provide a measure of protection from facial injuries.
If a full-face helmet is equipped with a face shield it may also provide a measure of eye protection. The Snell Foundation tests the face shields of full-face helmets
for particle penetration resistance. The face shields that are provided with open face helmets generally do not provide the same levels of eye protection and, for that reason the Snell Foundation doesn’t even bother testing them.
Aero Considerations:
Crash Replacement:
When your helmet (along with your head) encounters an unyielding object, such as your roll cage the hard outer shell takes the energy generated by the moving helmet (and your head) and spreads it over a larger portion of the helmet. This energy is then transmitted to the internal liner. This then starts to crush and break up which transfers a lot of the energy keeping it from reaching your head. In short everything slows down really quickly. Your helmet effectively reduces the speed of the head by breaking and crushing which reduces the amount of energy transferred to the brain. The whole process takes only milliseconds to turn a potentially lethal blow into a survivable one.
Protecting you during an accident may exhaust a helmet’s protective capability. Helmets are constructed so that the energy of a blow is managed by the helmet, causing its partial destruction. This damage may not be readily apparent and the Snell Foundation strongly recommends that a helmet involved in an accident be returned to the manufacturer for complete inspection.
You need to think of your helmet as a single use object. If your helmet protected you from injury one time it probably isn’t capable of doing it again. If you crash your car you need a new helmet. This one time use is widely ignored by amateur drivers.
Kyle Kietzmann from Bell says “If a racer is involved in an accident with our helmet we strongly recommend sending it back to us for physical inspection. We need to determine if it’s still safe for use as protective equipment.” If your helmet is involved in an accident you may be able to get a credit toward a new helmet from the manufacturer by doing the following:
1. Your damaged helmet.
2. A copy of your dated cash register receipt
.
3. A letter describing your accident (in as much detail as possible).
Finally, the protective capability may diminish over time. Some helmets are made of materials that deteriorate with age and therefore have a limited life span. At the present time, the Snell Foundation recommends that motor sports helmets be replaced after five years, or less if the manufacturer recommends earlier replacement.
Over the usable lifetime of a helmet it will only really be needed for about 2 to 4 milliseconds. Most of the time your helmet will be doing nothing more than around on your head. As a driver you’re the individual responsible for your personal safety equipment. You might have a shop takes care of your car but that shop isn’t responsible for your safety equipment. You may even get paid to drive someone else’s car. It’s the team’s job it to make sure that your car runs and is safe to drive. It’s your job to make sure you have the appropriate driving suit and helmet.