Racing Helmets

The rating is the first filter, not the brand. Snell SA is the car-racing standard — fire-retardant lining and roll-bar impact testing, which is what separates it from an M-rated motorcycle helmet that looks identical. The number is the year of the standard: SA2020 and SA2025 are the current pair, and organisations retire the older one on their own schedule, so check what yours accepts before you buy rather than after.

Alongside Snell, most of the range also carries FIA 8859, and the top carbon shells — Bell HP, Stilo ST6 Zero, Sparco Prime — are built to FIA 8860, the standard required in top-tier international competition. Karting has its own ratings: K2020, and CMR for youth.

Two practical things. If you run a head-and-neck restraint, the helmet needs threaded HANS posts — post anchor sets are stocked separately, so check whether your shell has them. And a helmet has to be genuinely tight when new: the liner packs down with use, so a comfortable fit in the shop is a loose one by mid-season.

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check the rating your club accepts before you shop the brand

About Racing Helmets

The rating is the first filter, not the brand. Snell SA is the car-racing standard — fire-retardant lining and roll-bar impact testing, which is what separates it from an M-rated motorcycle helmet that looks identical. The number is the year of the standard: SA2020 and SA2025 are the current pair, and organisations retire the older one on their own schedule, so check what yours accepts before you buy rather than after.

Alongside Snell, most of the range also carries FIA 8859, and the top carbon shells — Bell HP, Stilo ST6 Zero, Sparco Prime — are built to FIA 8860, the standard required in top-tier international competition. Karting has its own ratings: K2020, and CMR for youth.

Two practical things. If you run a head-and-neck restraint, the helmet needs threaded HANS posts — post anchor sets are stocked separately, so check whether your shell has them. And a helmet has to be genuinely tight when new: the liner packs down with use, so a comfortable fit in the shop is a loose one by mid-season.