Impact & sfi

NO they are not!

 

The sock in the helmet is!

 

AAGGHHH!

 

The helmet IS impacted (pun) if SFI "certified" and not Snell. So better check your stickers inside...

This is a copy of the post I placed somewhere else:

Time for some of you to wake up?

For many years, you have trusted a person with doubtful character, one who has built a reputation boosted by propaganda and intimidation of his own employees, the media and other entities.
Once dismissed from his former company after the Earnhardt fiasco, he has gone doing the same thievery for his new company. And now has been caught, not once, but multiple times, cheating the safety institutions and especially YOU, the product final user.
How can you trust a person who is making his profit by cheating you?

There are honest companies out there, making honest product of which technical characteristics and wearing comfort are vastly superior to that of what has been offered to you by the narrow field of companies you have been dealing with for many years.


T54

 

Yea, I guess I fit the audience to a T in your note - I have trusted my life to Bill Simpson for the last 16 years and followed him wherever he went, but this may be the final wake up call, but I will not jump to conclusions and wait to see the litigation outcome before choosing my next direction.

Anyway, seems as though JFR had been with for a while, but switched away from Impact over the winter to Mr. Simpson's "former" company, likely because he got a better deal. Just curious what the connection Force has to a French safety equipment company that I have never heard of, or seen JFR endorse or use product?

 

Anyone who gets a "deal" on personal safety equipment should seriously consider how much his life is worth. Would you prefer get a "deal" on an inferior product, or go to the best and pay the money?
Do you get "deals" on pistons or crankshafts? If so i believe that you are buying the wrong stuff. The best companies do not discount their product. When you see a catalog that has a "retail price" followed by a "racers net", my personal opinion is: RUN AWAY.
And also remember this: many racing garments MAY meet SFI or FIA minimum requirements, but go for the one that EXCEEDS these requirements by a wide margin while keeping you from boiling inside them. Inquire and get the truth from true experts.

As far as can be seen from that the website of that company that you have never heard of (Stand 21), world-known drivers wearing their stuff won 10 F1 championships (as in Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Keke Rosberg, Alan Jones and a few others), 4 Indy 500s (Al Unser Jr, Emerson Fittipaldi etc.) and a multiplicity of other races in most racing disciplines except... drag racing. In which apparently they are getting into, and Mr. Force is apparently a person who tried the equipment and apparently loves it, or so I was told.

I also know that this French company works closely with both SFI and Snell as close adviser, and is one of the very few companies on the planet that has an FIA helmet certified for F1. They are also the only safety company in an exclusive supply contract for Porsche.

Looks to me like you could inquire about them because obviously they ought to be more trusty than the person you have trusted for so many years...

Besides, their stuff looks damn good.

My opinion of course, and I have no financial interest of any kind with them to make things clear. However I have worn their stuff for many years and would not trust anyone else, because these people not only are THE innovators, but do not cheat.

 

I once again want to reiterate something I have said before-Please have the courage to use your own name for your screen name. All too often these forums get drive-by's from keyboard commandos who offer advice without any background knowledge or experience to go with it. As for buying French made safety equipment???? Now I get to ship it to France for recert? I don't think so. Shipping and the time it takes is bad enough already without packing stuff off to any other continent including Asia and Europe. Their is a thing called "Brand Loyalty". Drag Racers are very concerned about supporting the people who support their sport. And maybe more importantly-How about we keep American dollars in America? Dave Germain

 

safety equipment

Taylor motorsports, just get one from Dennis.

 

Thank you, Dave!!!

 

Well said dave!!!

 

what he said

I for one am all for keeping our business in the US with companies that support the sport. Anyone else notice how much better the service got at Simpson after Bill sold it? It was like dealing with a different place. Anyone who believes he didn't know what was going on in his company is in total denial. Dennis Taylor makes great stuff and does it either himself or under his close supervision. I also have not heard John Force make any mention of any French company. As if all that isn't enough, why would any American want to support ANYTHING FRENCH when it has been made clear over the years the general disdain they have for America and it's citizens? I boycott everything french personally. In case you didn't know, Target is a French owned corporation FYI.

 

Hey Clint:

Ditto on the French. My mom and dad visited Paris a few years ago. The first store they went in they were greeted very nice until my mom spoke English by saying "Hi." A few more words in English later they were thrown out of the store. Funny thing is, if it wasn't for the USA the French would all be speaking German now. That's gratitude for you.

I even have a hard time ordering French Fries. Usually I'll get the curly fries or onion rings instead!

RG

 

"I once again want to reiterate something I have said before-Please have the courage to use your own name for your screen name."

Please accept my apology for this. I use the same screen name on many auto-racing forums because everyone there knows me by the name of a most famous Indy car I restored, the 1961 Cooper-Climax T54 that threw a wrench in the Indy establishment. Also my name is difficult to spell or pronounce.

I did not notice immediately that indeed, you gentlemen use real names in your forum, and I applaud this, because I myself run a forum about slot cars and I do require that people use their own name.
So here is mine: I am Philippe de Lespinay, and I will change my screen name immediately after posting this, as indeed I have nothing to hide.

I am of Spanish ancestry and immigrated in the USA in 1970. While I am not a drag racer, I love drag racing and I have been involved with personal safety equipment and auto racing in several forms for over 30 years. Often in the past, I have given lectures about its technology and advancements at the request of clubs as well as professional racing entities that included Indy car, IMSA and the like. I am now retired and no longer racing or involved in racing. You may inquire about my past racing and personal history with anyone in the road-racing media in both auto and motorcycle road racing.

The company I was recommending is solidly installed in the United States, in Atlanta and California. Besides making extremely advanced helmets and racing suits (exceeding SFI-15 and 20 spec and labeled as such), they manufacture over 60% of the HANS devices sold on this planet in collaboration with Downing-Hubbard, even possibly the very one some of you use. So while you may have never heard of them, you may already wear a product they engineered and manufactured.

I met these people and they know their business better than ANY other outfit I have ever dealt with, and this is why I recommended you to have a good look. It is my opinion and that of many top-level racing teams (like the factory Corvette team in the USA as an example) that no one else is even close to their level of technology. There is no need to send anything back to France for anything, these people are here and apparently will soon manufacture some of their product directly in the USA.

I understand the disdain of some for the French, and I agree with you that some of them can be a real pain, I have dealt with quite a few who were just that. I also have many good friends who are French and the nicest people you will ever meet. I think that generalizing is not so good, as each person should be gauged individually.

This was only a recommendation, and you can either inquire or ignore it, your decision.
Wishing you safe racing,

Philippe de Lespinay

 

T54 would this be you??

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z13775/Cooper-Kimberly-T54.aspx

will they take trades on a slightly used suit?

 

Considering some of the comments you made it kinda makes me feel like an idiot for dealing with Taylor Motorsports Products all these years. I'll bet the suits and stuff your talking about have ridden out worse fires than some of the funny car fires we've seen. And they surely performed better than any other products on the market today.

The nerve of DT and his company to think they can compete with the likes of this. I've seen those Indy Car engines explode. They make a TF/FC explosion look like a hiccup in comparison to a good ol' head lifting, supercharging exploding nitro kaboom. Especially considering all that inferior quality stuff required on them like the ballistic kevlar blower restraints, titanium valve covers and the kevlar ballistic blankets and junk they use.

RG

.

 

Clint I agree with you and Randy, if the press and gov't would advise Americans to purchase USA goods and services and perhaps offer a couple of cents tax break on USA goods and services the economy would def. see a bump. I for one look for products made in the USA, be it boots on my feet to the shirt on my back, even if it means spending a little more money. Back when old man Sam Walton was living @allmart had alot of stuff for sale made in the USA... try finding something made in the USA in there now

 

Clint, I love the fact that some people still believe in Made In The USA. Others care only about price. With all thats going on in my industry right now, I challenge anyone to come in and join any SFI program. The work and due diligence just to stay in the program and keep up with test reports, paperwork, new fabrics, new ways of manufacturing, is a daunting task to say the least. If you change the way you make anything, it's all new tests. Sure this is a royal pain, but auto racing is the sport I love and Im proud to make it my life. Nobody is more passionate about this industry than me.

I have a real hard time when someone doesn't play by the rules, and a harder time when people who don't know 1/10th of what has been happening still support them. The company at the center of the contoversy still claims "Proudly Made In The USA". I think you've all seen that may not be the case.

I think it's like using your own name on this board, if you can't get the President of the company on the phone, does he have your best intrest at heart?

There is another Firesuit company that is new to Drag Racing. Sparco. They make a nice quality product. Know where there made? France. Making an SFI-5 firesuit is not that tough, but making a -15 or a -20 takes some talent. Why do you think you can get -5 suits so cheap at the discount parts warehouses? Because they come from China! I can't or wont compete with China.

We still make quality Racing Safety Equipment with passion, and the best quality materials we can find...IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!

Dennis Taylor

 

From another web site.

Whoops. That's gonna leave a mark...

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo303/Supergas565/SFI-IMPACT-1.jpg

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo303/Supergas565/SFI-IMPACT2-1.jpg

http://i386.photobucket.com/albums/oo303/Supergas565/SFI-IMPACT3-1.jpg


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Thanks Arnie at SFI

I would like to take this time to personally thank Arnie and his staff at the SFI foundation for protecting everyone in motorsports and keeping us safe by making sure the manufactures follow the rules of there contracts with SFI. I know Arnie did not pull the SFI tags from Impact with out having more than sufficant evidence and numerous defective items to do so. Someone has to police the industry to make sure crooked people do not cheet the system. I see some people on the web are so ignorant they some how want to blame Arnie for the whole Impact problem. I was involved in the original process of having two suits tested, an SFI 15 and a SFI 20 both of which failed. They both were as thin as any SFI 5 suit around. I took a lot of grief when I tried to warn everybody on this site about the problem Impact was having and than had Kelly at Impact threatened to sue me to keep me from going public. Why doesn't kelly get her ass on here and try to cover up the fake hans pins and the fake SFI patches. I heard Bill Simpson is already blaming the problem on one of his employees ( same thing he does every time he has something bad happen ). I feel sorry for anyone that has a suit from the past that might be rendered useless because of the decertification as they had no idea this was going to take place. (I have an old suit as well). But for anyone who ordered a new suit since the junk suit and boot fiasco, you were for warned so please do not call and cry to me and ask what you should do (as this has been happening). I do not want to give any advice to anyone and than have Bill Simpson come back and threaten to sue me again because of it. Why don't all of you Bill Simpson supporters call him up and ask him what he is going to do for you to take care of your cost to buy a new suit and when he threatens to sue you see how you feel. Yes I am mad as you can tell by this post ,but my livelyhood was threatened with the lawsuit. Now I do not give a crap because what I said back than on the suits was true and if Bill wants to sue me all the records from SFI would be released and you will all get your eyes opened when you see the test results. Also I would counter sue for slander as Kelly stated on this site that I sent a thug down to Gainsville to threaten her, just another one of her little ploys to try to get the public to discredit me. Anyone who knows me knows I call a spade a spade, if you cant handle that I am sorry. Why is it Bill Simpson never talks to anyone about the truth and never excepts any blame. He can blame no one but himself for what is going on, if any of us were to have problems within our company we would do what ever we needed to do to fix the problem, not continue to make decisions to cheet the consumer and line our pockets. I again apologize if I have offended anyone. I just think it is about time to put the blame where it is do.

 

Sfi???

"... maybe a class action suit against SFI is in order"

Sorry, I don't remember who stated this but they have a very good point. It is painfully obvious that SFI knew that this was going on yet they allowed it to continue for a VERY long time. The fact that there were literally millions of dollars of "bad" product sold to a somewhat unsuspecting consumer base is unacceptable. I am not defending Impact in the least. They were breaking the rules. But SFI has a lot of responsibility with the extent of the problem. Also, if Impact is really doing all this, why isn't Snell investigating the helmets? Sounds to me like a serious case of politics.

On a related but slightly different note, does it bother anyone else that SFI is the primary certification "company". They do not have any other organization that keeps them in check. This is obvious from some of the edicts that NHRA has come down with concerning recertification and replacement of safety parts. One biggie is an aluminum trans shield. How the hell is this piece going to be "bad" after 5 years. What...? the aluminum breaks down from the heat? .. don't think so. So why then? No one is keeping a check on what's necessary and what is reasonable. I can also attest that some companies will make sure that their products "certify" by not only creating their own spec, but by "creative" testing. I have personally seen one item completely fail in the field that was a new SFI certified unit. Makes you wonder. If anyone want's to know what that was, send me a private message.

Joe Wiles