Sam N

On the last page of a recent issue of Autoweek there is a blurb about a German fan who stole one of Michael Schumacher's helmets. It goes on to state that the helmet costs about $49,000! Is it made of an unbstable isotope of unobtanium?

Geo

[quote]Originally posted by Sam N:
<strong>On the last page of a recent issue of Autoweek there is a blurb about a German fan who stole one of Michael Schumacher's helmets. It goes on to state that the helmet costs about $49,000! Is it made of an unbstable isotope of unobtanium? </strong><hr></blockquote>

No. That is the value on the collectable market.

Danno

Wow!!! That must mean Schumacher can survive a crash 100x more powerful than with a $490 helmet! If we can walk away from a 100mph crash, he must be able to get away with a 10,000mph crash!!!

Vinny '98 3.8 C2S

Per Dano: [quote] Wow!!! That must mean Schumacher can survive a crash 100x more powerful than with a $490 helmet! If we can walk away from a 100mph crash, he must be able to get away with a 10,000mph crash!!!<hr></blockquote>
No, that just means that it's protecting a head that earns them 100X more than any other driver would.

BTW, The article did mentioned cost and not collector value, although I can't imagine that "cost" is correct.

Geo

[quote]Originally posted by Vinny '98 3.8 C2S:
<strong>BTW, The article did mentioned cost and not collector value, although I can't imagine that "cost" is correct.</strong><hr></blockquote>


Semantics.

It's collector value.

Flying Finn

I think his helmet costs about $6000.

Alan C.

It's the unobtanium material to contain the ego !

Which is not to say that he isn't one of the best ever. Don't want to dig out the Nomex.

Alan

pig4bill

[quote]Originally posted by Alan C.:
<strong>It's the unobtanium material to contain the ego !
</strong><hr></blockquote>

That explains it. It's size XXXXXXXXXXXXL.

Geo

[quote]Originally posted by Flying Finn:
<strong>I think his helmet costs about $6000.</strong><hr></blockquote>


Actually, cost is kind of hard to define. He doesn't pay for his helmets. In fact, I'm pretty sure he gets paid to wear a particular helmet. Bell was suing him a while back because he breached a contract to wear their helmets.

stefang

Well there's manufacturing cost. The problem is volume - and lack thereof. It's a custom fit helmet made only for him AND his car (wind tunnel tested), so since he only uses 30 maybe per year that's pretty low volume for a very specialized product.
Add in communications and you're up there.

Stef

Geo

[quote]Originally posted by stefang:
<strong>Well there's manufacturing cost. The problem is volume - and lack thereof. It's a custom fit helmet made only for him AND his car (wind tunnel tested), so since he only uses 30 maybe per year that's pretty low volume for a very specialized product.
Add in communications and you're up there.

Stef</strong><hr></blockquote>

It is not the cost of manufacturing his helmet. It is the collector value. If you doubt this, do a search for F1 helmets and look at the collectable sites.

When he used Bell helmets he basically used an off-the-shelf shell. I'm sure his current shell is also off-the-shelf. If there is $40k of comm gear in that helmet, I want the bloody contract.

Geez, we went through this before on the mailing list. Costs in F1 can be astronomical, but his helmet does not cost $49k.

stefang

I never argued that it costs $49k to produce. However, nothing on that helmet is off the shelf, the shell is specific to the F2002, the ventilation system is developed new, the materials (titanium, CF, etc) are pricey. Who know what it costs, but it's more than $6k (amortized) to do the windtunnel testing, that's for sure. Check their website for the specs.

Stef