wicked...

But the counterfeiting does not appear to be the actual safety equipment, but the stickers themselves. Is that so they could get the stickers cheaper without paying high fees to the sanctioning body?

Matthew

Quote:

Pretty much. While testing and certifying safety equipment is an important thing, we pay a bunch of additional money for things to be "OK". This goes on outside the racing stuff too, like the gas cans you buy, energy star, 5 star crash ratings, etc. some good, some bad.

Bill probably got pissed for some reason, wouldn't be the first time.
But, SFI makes big bucks doing this and selling approval stickers/patches.
A couple of years ago they convinced SCCA that seatbelts should be replaced every 2 years, did an idiotic test that had no relevance in the real world. Profit motivated?
It certainly had a big impact on people who buy the good belts, like mine @ $450 a set.
At the same time, if your belts had a FIA sticker, they were good for 5 years. Same belts, but the cert had to be done by FIA = more $$$.

Yeah, I love the age requirements as well. My employer is the world's largest provider of production seatbelts, and I can tell you that they do NOT degrade over time.

Unless there is physical damage such as cuts or abrasions, the material is as strong as new for many, many years.

Someday I'll get some real data on this and take it to NASA to call "BS".

Simpson belts can stretch on impact 2-3 inches, enough for your helmit to hit the asphalt when you're upside down. Ask me how I know.

Quote:

Oh damn. I want pics to prove it. just kidding. That gives me a headache just thinking about that.

Quote:

Oh, I had the headache.
Part of the stretch was my neck.
I only remember the first 2 hits since the second knocked me out. I missed the fun of the 6 barrel rolls before I hit the tire wall.
Things get really quiet when you're upside down, 8ft. in the air at 100mph.

It was a $5,000 wreck caused by someone else, totalled all the bodywork, all 4 corners, scraped the rollbar and bent the frame.

Attach file:

---

  019_16A.JPG (0.00 KB)


  007_4A.JPG (0.00 KB)


  015_12A.JPG (0.00 KB)


  018_15A.JPG (0.00 KB)


  020_17A.JPG (0.00 KB)

Man that doesn't sound/look like fun at all. I'll stay away from open wheel cars for a while. :D

ouch!

Quote:


Wish I could but, they're just so damn fast.

Impact won the lawsuit today.

Quote:

Good for them!

Quote:

Yea, excellent.

Bill Simpson's Impact Racing LLC reached an agreement Thursday with an industry-certification group that will allow the company to continue selling race car safety gear made this year and last.

Impact and the SFI Foundation Inc. issued a joint statement after a hearing in federal court. The two sides agreed that no counterfeit SFI conformance labels have been used in 2009 and 2010, and all Impact products made and sold during those years meet SFI specifications.

SFI maintained its decertification of Impact products, excluding helmets, made before 2009.

Based in California, SFI is the not-for-profit organization that sets minimum performance standards for motorsports equipment. It filed a lawsuit on March 26 in U.S. District Court of southern Indiana claiming that, between November 2005 and August 2008, Impact hired an Asian manufacturer to produce look-alike SFI labels. The lawsuit, based on an affidavit from former Impact employee Darren Swisher, says the counterfeit labels were put on seatbelts, arm restraints, fire suits, head socks, gloves and boots.

Remember folks, not-for-profit means they get more money to pay ppl salaries.

My guess is that liability insurance is a real bitch here.

glad to hear