Inside Motorsports Vol. 1 2018/Q1 - Part I | Page 5

Hel met of t he er a hist or y
and Anal yzis
Af t er t he sof t hel met s, i n 1949, t he
f i r st hel met s wi t h har d shel l wer e
bor n. The har d shel l was made t o
act ual l y absor b some of t he ener gy of
t he i mpact . As You can see f or
pr ot ect i ng t he f ace, t her e was
basi cal l y not hi ng, onl y t he gl asses,
f or pr ot ect i ng t he eyes of t he dr i ver s.
The 1950's wer e pr et t y i mpor t ant i n
t he hi st or y of r aci ng hel met s, i n 1954
t he Bel l hel met f act or y desi gned t he
f i r st mass pr oduced r aci ng hel met ,
st ar t i ng pr oduct i on i n 1957. At t he end
of t he '50s, many i mpor t ant t hi ngs
happened: t he devel opment of f ul l
f ace hel met s st ar t ed, and i n 1959 Snel l
Memor i al Foundat i on cr eat ed t he f i r st
r aci ng hel met st andar ds.
1950's: Juan Manuel
Fangio's hel met