Zachreligious wrote:Serj wrote:Zachreligious wrote:S rated helmets allow a lot less peripheral vision than M rated ones. That's one of the reasons I use an M rated when autocrossing.
VERY VERY BAD idea. an M-rated helment is designed to abosorb more energy, yes, however it's only designed to take that energy ONCE. Add that to the lack of fire protection in an M-rated helmet and you might as well be wearing a foam hat inside a bucket.
I should point out that I autocross a street car without a cage. Also, I've never seen a car rollover or catch on fire at an autocross. Perhaps I'm going to the wrong events!
I'm not sure what I would do if I had to drive a caged car on the street - probably bite the bullet and wear a proper helmet.
IIRC SCCA is ok with M rated helmets for AutoXing a street car because obviously there are no roll bars to impact your skull on (thats the difference, not multiple impact testing, but rollbar impact testing, no helmet is rated for multiple impacts). The other thing to realize is the fact an M helmet is not fire rated is the least of your problems if your car were to catch fire at an AutoX since there is no safety clothing requirement either. I doubt the shorts, t-shirt, and chuck taylors most of us are probably wearing are fire rated either.
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