Always thought it was strange that a 30 year old OE belt was ok. But 4 year old harness isn't. Yes, I have seen window nets and harnesses that crumble to the touch when they get old and that makes me wonder how good were they in the first place.
Always thought it was strange that a 30 year old OE belt was ok. But 4 year old harness isn't. Yes, I have seen window nets and harnesses that crumble to the touch when they get old and that makes me wonder how good were they in the first place.
It's tough to swallow but it protects your life when you need it and the only way to prove that it was good enough is to destructively test it. Is what it is, sanctioning bodies have done dumber things.
fatallightning said:TR7 (Forum Supporter) said:fatallightning said:My harness got checked at a TNIA at NJMP in my Elise. It was out of date and tech inspector told me I had to run my stock 3 point seat belts and not my 6 points.
NJMP is a little unique in that the safety enforcement is ultimately up to the state police from what I understand, so they are more strict about certain things than other tracks.
Also, thanks for the pointers on other belt manufacturers that reweb, good stuff I didnt know before.
I've noticed that too. Like you have to have a Snell approved vs just a DOT helmet for any kind of HPDE. Long pants required. Open top cars require arm restraints. I may have just had an overzealous tech guy, he tried to broomstick me in the Elise, even though the tech rules count them as targas and not subject to it.
Could be the PD was around "helping" and the tech guy needed to CYA for the event to keep running. About 10 years or so ago they were pretty zealous about writing speeding tickets, equipment tickets, and unsafe driving tickets (for on track incidents, such as racing contact, spins, 4-off, ect.). Rumor has it (I wasnt there for this one) at one event they decided to ticket a bunch of people in the paddock wearing shorts, because technically the law states you are not allowed shorts in the paddock. They seemed to have calmed down a lot since then, but you will still occasionally see an officer around the paddock walking around checking safety gear at random. Its weird to have already gone through tech, just hanging around mid-event, and there is now a cop that is opening up your car and checking things out. I get it, kinda, in a "I guess he can technically do that" way, but still....
So, I am going to toss this in here. I would be VERY interested in purchasing any "Takata" branded harnesses or such that anyone has sitting around. It wouldnt be going into a car and I would be happy to explain the very novel reason with anyone who has some they might part with for a reasonable price over PM.
In reply to Gearheadotaku (Forum Supporter) :
That's the point I made, but the counter was there is no expiration date on the OE belts but there clearly is on harnesses. So at that point the expiration date needs to be followed...
OE belts and stitching don't have to be SFI rated, so they use materials that wears much longer but might turn into Napalm in a fire.
I keep old helmets for fueling or yard-kart duty.
A friend of mine raced Sprint cars for years and changed his harnesses every year or after a big crash. He would give the old ones to the guys racing in the beginning / slower classes so that they could have decent stuff. Some of them had some pretty nasty belts. The stuff he crashed with got put in file 13. Helmets he did the same thing. Some of them were using motorcycle helmets. Safety Equipment was not teched to close at some of the tracks.
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