Think of SFI as the Mafia and you get pretty close to the mark. I won't rant on. I've done it too many times.

The original article that caused the move to 2 year life on belts was so flawed that it wasn't even funny. No freaking way it would stand up to scientific analysis. The material they based their assumptions on isn't even the same material used in racing belts.

I don't know if they have changed their testing protocols since they changed their belt service life, but I wrote to SFI to get a copy of the spec and protocols and they didn't use ANY sled testing. Shoot, SFI didn't do ANY testing at all. It was all done by the manufacturers!

My biggest gripe about the belt rule is that I could find ZERO scientific testing regarding what strength was actually required to protect a drover. IOW, nobody even knows if webbing at 10% strength is sufficient to protect a drover at 50g or 100g or whatever. NOBODY FREAKING KNOWS or at least didn't at the time. When is the last time you heard of a belt failure that wasn't due to improper installation? I've been following racing closely for nearly 40 years and have NEVER heard of a single case.

OK, I said I wouldn't rant. I lied. Sue me. I could go on, but I'll stop. Well, almost. SFI is full of horsepucky. It's a sham and anytime I can use an FIA or Snell rated piece of safety equipment I'll do that over SFI any day. What is really funny and annoying is that in the US you have to have a Snell rated H&N device. I just sent my HANS to Hubbard-Downing yesterday for retro certification (I bought it at H-D in Atlanta 3 years ago just before the Snell spec came out) and the damed thing has an FIA homologation. With a FIA homologation, WTF do I need a Snell sticker for to race anywhere in the world? Freaking scam. I HATE SFI.

Hi Gregg!

 

Indeed.

I bought a Snell 90 Bell Sport II helmet before my last season of karting. I probably wore it a total of 10-15 days of karting/autocross/car racing. I had to replace it with a newer Snell rated helmet when I was out of work so I bought a brand new Snell 95 Sport II. I could NOT believe how badly the foam had deteriorated in the old helmet over time, even with limited use over 8 years.

 

Wow, hope I didn't cause to much of a stir, but you guys are right, it is so hard to tell about the testing and who is being truthful about what. Thanks for teaching me a few things too. !!

I made a call to HANS and the answer I got to your question is that they have NO shelf life. The usual time that the sticker wil show void if it been pulled off.

But.... of course he added, that if it is stored in a place with high sunlight, heat or moisture it could possibly begin to peel back reveling the void underneath. The Device is still able to be used.

With that said: My suggestion if you have any doubt contact HANS. 1 888 hans 999. I wouldn't want you to have any trouble with competeing not to mention the $$$$ you put out to purchase it.

 

I don't know of a complete list, but there are several good brands out there. It's not just the webbing, though; I hear the hardware and stitching are equally important.

I'm not a belt guy, but a simple calculation (F=ma) tells you that a 200# driver hitting something at 70Gs is in dire need of a harness good for 14,000#. IIRC, that's about twice the SFI strength spec.

My personal choice (http://www.hookerharness.com/ ), and the one we use for crash testing whenever possible, recently broke the test rig at ~16,000#, and is probably good for something in the 20,000-25,000# range. I've heard it's scheduled for testing on a 30,000# rig.

These are not outrageous numbers because they exclude any safety factors. Figure a big guy in a moderate hit and a SF of 3.0 and we're talking a harness good for 10 tons, easily.

YMMV.

 

So let me get this straight, I was under the asumption that suits needed to be dry cleaned. But you can wash them in cold water with woolite?

 

I am not sure which suit you have, but this is what Sparco reccommends, they give both ways, dry cleaning and cold water wash.


http://www.sparcousa.com/resourcesfa...resources&id=1

 

My Sparco suit came with w mesh bag to put it in when wasking it.