err no that's actually not correct
Here we go again as i have had this discussion so many times on so many car forums ...."deep breath"
This goes back to my discussions with trackday drivers wearing bike helmets in a fully caged cars and the reason its not as safe as you might think .
And this isn't going to lead anyone to think one helmet is stronger than another but here is the explanation .
There are different Snell ratings for helmets ,and many things may differ from helmet to helmet . Visors can be thicker ,field of vision smaller etc under different specs
A motorsport helmet for car racing , in addition to being fireproof has undertaken tests to withstand certain impacts that differ from say a bike helmet.
In a car with a roof and full cage ,it is not uncommon to impact the helmet on a cage . This is a different impact to a bike rider (or karter) impacting the ground and sliding .
the bar of a rollcage gives a smaller impact area ,and therefore quite possibly a greater load on a smaller area than the head hitting the ground .
therefore basically the helmets pass different tests , no that isn't saying an SK5 Arai would not pass a rollbar impact test , just that Snell haven't tested it and therefore have no reason to claim its safe .
Bike helmets are different to Kart helmets , and Car helmets are different to Kart helmets , the new FIA standard for certain single seater race series now incorporates a standard the needs carbon helmets and not laminate composite glass.
If you want to read up a little more on Snell standards and testing , and understand what goes on and why there are different rating then visit the Snell foundation ( http://www.smf.org/ ) .
hope that clears up a few unknowns about helmets and ratings .
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