Helmet delicacy

       There are two sides to Felipe Massa's tragic accident in Hungary recently:either the helmet he wore gave poor protection or it helped save his life. I believed it was the latter.
       The coil spring that broke loose from Brawn GP racecar of fellow driver Brazilian Rubens Barichello bounced back in to the path of Massa's car and struck him in the helmet while speeding at around 260kph.
       That Massa escaped death can be attributed to a combination of factors - doctors' competence, modern medical facilities, the circuit medical team's prompt rescue and the driver's helmet.
       Following Aryton Senna's tragic death in 1994 at Imola when he rammed his car at speed and a broken metal suspension from his car breached his helmet causing fatal injury, the FIA Institute has worked with experts from various disciplines to develop a safer helmet among numerous other safety equipment, technical specifications and rules.
       The currently enforced technical specification for the helmets is called the FIA standard 8860-2004 made compulsory to all F1 drivers since 2005.
       The standard requires test methods according to latest procedures laid down by the globally recognised helmet testing facility, Snell Foundation in the USA.
       To evaluate a helmet model conforming with FIA's standard 8860-2004, the helmet manufacturer had to give six identical samples for a dozen laboratory tests.
       The tests include impact testing where a machine pounds the test helmet worn by a sensor-equipped dummy head. The helmet needs to be able to dissipate a certain amount of energy to minimise life-threatening injury to the wearer.
       It needs to pass a penetration test which is more stringent than existing Snell SA2000 standard in which a four kilogramme metal cone is dropped with its tip pointing downward from a height of three metres. It must also stand crush tests, the applied force amounting to 500 joules.
       The kind of structure that can tolerate such abuses is a relatively newly developed composite shell consisting carbon fibre, fibre-reinforced resin and polyethlene.
       The inner part of the helmet is a special foam wrapped in flame-retardant Nomex fabric not unlike the material used for the race drivers' fireproof overalls.
       The visor is made from tough polycarbonate with specifications closer to that of an astronaut's helmet visor than the lenses of a modern pair of sunglasses.
       This visor has to withstand a ballistic test where metal pellets are shot upon at speed faster than any current F1 racecar can achieve.
       Still, it is a big weak point of a helmet,but extensive research and investigation into Massa's incident could pave the way for an even safer helmet.
       But there is no need to panic on the issue of helmets because people in the motorsport know fully well that car racing in still a very dangerous sport no matter what precautions are taken, and that the Massa episode was rather untypical of accidents that generally occur on the race track.