Not much love in my sparco helmet thread. I bought it anyway, used it once, so far so good.

Anyway. I had a freind ask me what the differences between a motorcycle helmet and an auto racing helmet were. I couldn't answer. I really haven't payed to much attention to that. He already has a motorcycle helmet and doesn't want to buy another helmet if he doesn't have to. Can you use a Motorcycle helmet in SCCA events provided it's up to code?

 

As long as it has a snell M95 rating or higher it is fine for SCCA Solo II events. If you are doing track racing you need an SA 2000 or higher

 

All the info about helmet can be found here

http://www.smf.org/

>Can you use a Motorcycle helmet in SCCA events
Not for racing event. You can use Snell M helmet for local autocross event though.

 

The difference is in the way the Hemet is certified DOT v SNELL not so much that one for cars and the other is for bikes. If the cycle helmet also has a current SNELL sticker it should be fine for SCCA. The basic thought out there is Snell is better than DOT.

Here are some links with more info.

http://usff.com/hldl/hoax/0597snellvdot.html
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbox/hatz/

 

Thanks guys. I notice one of the big differences is fire protection. Makes sense.

 

I think the shape and opening is different. A bike helmet is pointier in front and the opening is bigger top to bottom, and the auto one opening is more side to side.

 

Are you implying that us motorcycle riders have egg shaped heads and auto drivers have fat heads? :p

 

kinda, haa haa haaa

 

The difference is the way the helmet is designed protect from impact. In a car your head bangs around inside the vehicle. Where as on a motorcycle the head bounces off the ground, cars and other fixed objects. The cushining is different to absorb impact depending on the enviroment.

 

There is also some debate in the motorcycle world as to whether the Snell rating system is really better than DOT. Snell has some questionable testing procedures that are unlikely to occur in real life, resulting in compromises in helmet design to meet these tests. Of course, the SCCA doesn't listen to that, so they only like Snell helmets.