[robz71lm7]

After sunday's autocross a novice asked on our region's message board about getting a cheap helmet. He got replies ranging from links where you could get an M2000 helmet for $60 and one even $49!

The site we raced at sunday was a military air strip with tall grass off the sides. The dirt wasn't always flat and smooth. In fact, yesterday and S2000 went off into the grass sideways-he wasn't the only one to go off into the grass. Now is it just me or this the kind of place where a good possibility of rolling over exists?

It just kind of disturbs me that people will recommend and use such cheap helmets. Am I being a little excessive here?

What's everyone's opinion on helmets in autocross?

[00 Trans Ram]

First of all, ya'll are right - more expensive does not always equal better.

Second, the Snell ratings are very similar to governmental crash ratings for cars. For a company to sell the car, it must meet MINIMUM crash ratings. However, many car makers design their cars to EXCEED these standards. Similarly, many of the "cheaper" helmets simply MEET the Snell standards. However, quite a few "more expensive" helmets exceed these standards.

I have no idea which manufacturer it was, but I know that I read it somewhere (Bell, maybe). They said that, while Snell only required an satisfactory impact rating for 1 impact occurence, they guaranteed thiers for 2 impacts. This is quite nice, as when a car rolls over, you will usually hit your head (helmet) more than once. This is a good example of the EXCEEDS part. Of course, if I remember correctly, you would have to pay for it - the helmet was like $400 or something.

Also, I think that most of you are right. This is for autocross. Speeds are not what they are in road racing. There are no other cars on the course. There is "usually" enough runoff room to where you won't contact any immovable objects. Taking this into account, as long as your helmet can absorb a relatively hard hit with the roof/door jamb, or steering wheel, or other in-car place, I think you'll be fine.