Motorcycle Helmets are sometimes allowed for your first event, after than you have to have a Car SNELL 95 or Newer Helmet.

 

Didn't even know that. Just get your head measured and then find a couple lids you like. E-bay prolly has the best prices when you know what you want.

 

Sorry it took so long. But after some research I may have just have to stand corrected. I couldn't really find anything that supports either of our opinions. Which I thought was odd.

Anyway, I found a lot of good information about the testing of SNELL and DOT. Let's just say go with SNELL. The only thing I can use to strongly stand behind my original opinion is that I have two helmets. A cheapie open face MA rated helmet that I bought off of Ebay for $35 and a good Full Faced Bell helmet that's SA2000 rated that costs close to but below $300. The cheapie is essentially a styrofoam cooler with hard plastic around it where the Bell has many layers of energy absorbing materials. Again they're are not in the same class though because of different SNELL ratings and one is open faced and one is closed faced. Obviously full face helmets are much safer. MOre material equals more costs. But can another brand FF helmet be had cheaper than the Bell? Probably so. Will it be better, after all this...I don't know. LIke I said, all I have is these two examples. A POS and a work of art. The POS might be used better during Autox because I can see and breath better and slower speeds means not as severe impacts. But I'll probably stick to my middle-of-the-road price range helmets for piece of mind. No pun intended.
Anyway here's some good links I found plus some corespondence I recieved from SNELL:
http://www.friction-zone.com/HelmetTesting.pdf
http://www.mmsp.org/helmets/snell.htm
http://www.na-motorsports.com/Journa.../3/Helmet.html
http://www.stockcarracing.com/techarticles/78458/
http://www.smf.org/
"Dear Mr. XXXX,

The nature of our tests is such that, when a helmet passes, we can't
tell how much more protective capacity might have been there. When a
helmet fails, on the other hand, we can do a simple analysis of the
results to figure to figure just how close the manufacturer might have
been. Over the years, though, we've pushed the standard as high as we
dare so that I'm sure even the most capable manufacturers don't pass by
wide margins. There seems to be direct relationships between protective
capability and the weight and bulkiness of helmets. Right now, we're
asking for all the protection that a driver can reasonably be expected
to carry on his head. What the higher priced headgear might get you,
though, is Snell levels of protection plus comfort and quality of fit.
Lower priced models generally come in two shell sizes and some just one,
most head sizes are accommodated by using a larger sized headgear padded
down with extra foam rubber fit material. This foam rubber is too soft
too offer any real protection but it may help stabilize an XXL helmet on
an L, M or even S sized head. The top shelf headgear models come in
four or even five different shells so you've got a much better chance of
getting a good fit with a minimal helmet mass and silhouette.

Of course, we don't rate helmets for comfort or fit quality. You can
tell us better than we could ever tell you. If it weren't for the fact
that protective capability is nearly invisible, there would be no need
for Snell at all. But protective capability is not the only important
helmet feature and is far from being the most expensive. I think any
Snell certified helmet will provide a premium of protective benefit but
I know that even the most prudent will not wear a heavy, uncomfortable,
or for that matter, ugly helmet for very long. Even if someone is
willing to take our word for safety, they've got some important
decisions to make whenever they go looking headgear.

Thanks for your interest.

Ed Becker"

 

Check out www.saferacer.com
That's where I have purchased my gear. It's the cheapest online place I could find a Bell helmet.
Like Blurr mentioned sometimes MA helmets are allowed and sometimes they have to be SA. Just go ahead and get the SA. SA2000 is the latest rating.

 

sounds good

 

M helmets are designed for a single large impact where as SA helmets are designed to absorb a series of smaller impacts. Just think about what happens when you fly off of a motorcycle at 90+mph and you're headed toward a guardrail or something... Then think about you strapped in a car rolling down the sandtrap and your head is whipped around banging against the roll bars. M helmets have shock absorbing layers that do not recoil... So once they hit they lose protection in that same region... If you were wearing an M helmet, and you're strapped in a car rolling and your head is banging against the roll bar... Chances are you will sustain head injuries.

 

I believe that to by a myth. nowhere is such a thing documented on the standards document.

 

If you just need a helmet for autocross, the SCCA only requires a Snell 90, 95, or 2000. They only require a Snell approved helmet that meets the current, or one of the previous two Snell rating years. This will change once the Snell ratings come out in 2005.

For autocross, pick your brain bucket based upon what you think your head is worth. Try:

www.soloperformance.com

Hope this helps, and keep the rubber side down to avoid testing your helmet.

Jason

 

M2000 standards
http://www.smf.org/standards/m2000std.html
SA2000 standards
http://www.smf.org/standards/sa20std.html

Note in section E4.3 (Test Impacts) they are different... Then there are other differences as well, such as venting, weight, visual fields, flame resistance, etc etc...

 

some dude with the last name of Snell died in a racing accident some moons back and got his name associated with a helmet cetification standard. just thought u all wanted to know.

 

I used to run a 1962 1300cc alfa at driving school and track days. Slow and fun, cars have come a ways in 40 plus years.
The schools and track day events are very serious about car helmets. Their insurance is dependent on the right helmet.
You won't be allowed to drive with a motorcycle helmet, at least not in the PNW. Argue all you want.
Can't wait to get an evo out on the track, got a bit of learning to do with the new wheels.

 

So there's no difference between Kevlar and fiberglass? More expensive helmets tend to be made of lighter and stronger materials.

Well, regardless of whether your theory that there's no difference between car and motorcycle helmets is true, the fact is you won't be allowed to enter most track events unless you have an "SA" rated helmet. Considering there isn't a huge price difference between "M" and "SA" rated helmets, it doesn't make much sense to advise someone new to track driving to buy an M-rtated unit that he'll never be allowed to use except at local auto-cross events.

If price is a major concern, you can check out the G-Force helmets sold by Racers Wholesale. They're SA-2000 rated and pretty high quality. Similar in fit to the Bell units.

Emre

 

I posted those links in a helmet thread about a year ago, stating that the impact testing was the same, while the flame resistance testing and visibility was different, and I still stand behind that claim, with one difference... I noticed that the ONLY difference between the two is that the SA rated helmet includes a roll bar impact test.

M2000
a. There shall be two impacts at each site tested against the flat anvil. For the first impact, the impact energy shall be 150 j for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. For the second impact, the impact energy shall be 110 j for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. Given an ideal frictionless mechanical test facility, the certification impact energies represent 3.0+ meter and 2.2+ meter drops of a 5 kg headform and supporting assembly.

SA2000
a. There shall be two impacts at each site tested against the flat anvil. For the first impact, the impact energy shall be 150 J for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. For the second impact, the impact energy shall be 110 J for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. Given an ideal frictionless mechanical test facility, the impact energies represent 3.0+ meter and 2.2+ meter drops respectively of a 5 kg headform and supporting assembly.

M2000
b. There shall be two impacts at each site tested against the hemispherical anvil. For the first impact, the impact energy shall be 150 j for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. For the second impact, the impact energy shall be 110 j for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. Given an ideal frictionless mechanical test facility, the impact energies represent 3.0+ meter and 2.2+ meter drops of a 5 kg headform and supporting assembly.

SA2000
b. There shall be two impacts at each site tested against the hemispherical anvil. For the first impact, the impact energy shall be 150 J for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. For the second impact, the impact energy shall be 110 J for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. Given an ideal frictionless mechanical test facility, the certification impact energies represent 3.0+ meter and 2.2+ meter drops respectively of a 5 kg headform and supporting assembly.

M2000
c. There shall be one impact at each site tested against the edge anvil. For each impact against the edge anvil, the impact energy shall be 150 j for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. Given an ideal frictionless mechanical test facility, this energy represents a 3.0+ meter drop of a 5 kg headform and supporting assembly.

SA2000
d. There shall be one impact at each site tested against the edge anvil. For each impact against the edge anvil, the impact energy shall be 150 J for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. Given an ideal frictionless mechanical test facility, this energy represents a 3.0+ meter drop of a 5 kg headform and supporting assembly.

M2000
d. If the impact energy for any test impact exceeds the energy specified by more than 3%, that impact shall be declared invalid.

SA2000
e. If the impact energy for any test impact exceeds the energy specified by more than 3%, that impact shall be declared invalid.

and the only difference I found for SA2000:
c. There shall be three impacts at each site tested against the roll bar anvil. Sites selected for roll bar anvil impacts must lie behind the fore plane and above the test line of the helmet. For the first impact and second impacts, the impact energy shall be 150 J and 120 J respectively for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. For the third impact, the impact energy shall be 100 J for all other testing regardless of headform size or weight. Given an ideal frictionless mechanical test facility, the certification impact energies represent 3.0+, 2.4+ and 2.0+ meter drops of a 5 kg headform and supporting assembly.

So in short, it still seems that the helmets meet almost the same criteria except for flame resistance and visibility, and that's why some helmets have 2 versions, because they actually pass both tests for impact and visibility, and they just add a nomex liner for the SA rated ones. Which is why autocross and open track events usually don't require SA, because of how rare collisions and fires are in such events.

 

Or check out Pyrotect helmets http://www.soloracer.com/pyrotectlids.html they are designed by Bell, but almost as inexpensive as G-Force. I am currently looking at the Purotect and G-Force open face helmets, as I will need an SA rated one when I start racing in VARA (whenever we finally finish the project car)

 

Looks to me like depending on what you want to do that will determine what you need to buy. If you plan on only auto-x, most organizers do not require you to have an SA rated helmet. If you plan to do track events or organized road racing a SA helmet will probably be required. One nice thing is if you purchase an SA rated helmet you will be able to use it at any event.

On the fiberglass versus Kevlar issue, I have used both. The nice thing about the Kevlar helmets is that they weight less and cause less neck strain. Especially when you hit the tire barrier.

Concerning cost, buy the best that you can afford. Everyone knows that racing is inherently dangerous. Buying the best safety equipment that you can afford may help to save your life if something were to go horribly wrong.

Shad