Driver Safety
Helmet Requirement, Recommendations and Explanation:
Requirement:
We require helmets for our events. The requirement is driven by the insurance that sets the minimum standard. Currently, Sandia Speedway only requires a DOT or better helmet. These are certainly decent protection, and if it is what you have, you can use them.
Ratings:
There are many helmet ratings. The four most common are:
-DOT - a government minimum for motorcycles. It only rates for a single impact and has a certain field-of-view requirement built around motorcycles. Very few Motorsports organizations accept these, but our track does. The only real advantage is these are usually cheap.
-Snell - Snell does a whole host of helmets certs but there are two relevant to motorsports. These standards are updated every 5 years.
-Snell M (ex. M2020, M2015, etc…) this is a motorcycle rating like DOT but is much more rigorous; it is designed around the one large impact typical of motorcycle crashes but includes limited multi-impact protection. These also are DOT certified.
-Snell SA (ex SA2020, SA2015, etc…) this is an auto-racing cert. These are designed exclusively for cars and are designed around the types of conditions in a car crash. These also are required to be fire retardant. These are ideal for cars and are accepted by all track and motorsports organizations.
The only downsides to these are 1) they are more pricey, and 2) they cannot do double duty as a motorcycle helmet.
