BELT EXPIRATION QUESTION

[Steve B]

My SFI rated Simpson belts were last re-webbed in January of 2001. Per the recent changes to the GCR, they are good through December 31, 2003. The GCR allows annual tech to be performed in December of the previous year.

Does this mean I can use these belts in 2004 if I get my annual tech done this December?

Steve Beeler
Lola T-540 HU44
home: (734)416-8865 thebeelers@peoplepc.com
office: (313)390-1818 sbeeler@ford.com

P.S. This GCR rule change was written by lawyers, not engineers. These belts are safe and replacing them is a waste of money. Thumbs down to the SCCA.

[Larry]

Sorry, but an annual tech doesn't mean that the belts are good. Your car is subject to tech inspection at any time, and expired belts are never acceptable.

While I find the new belt rule to be one of the dumbest moves in SCCA history, we'll have to live with it until it's changed. If SCCA continues like this, we'll all have NASA stickers soon!

Larry Oliver
International Racing Products

[Greg Mercurio]

Steve: You might be able to slide on that one, but a competent Scrutineer would make a notation in you logbook to replace the harnesses by 1/1/04, so that when you register it's in the log.

I agree that the rule as written is nonsense, and it's time we sent a flood of emails to the CB/Steve Johnson/Phil Clarke to protest the stupidity of the rule change. Ohterwise, it's going to stay on the books and those who have harnesses that will expire in December are hosed.

[Garey Guzman]

Steve,
Since the SCCA has implemented this rule change, I'm going to get Willans belts. They are FIA rated and are good for 5 years.
I hope the SCCA realizes what they have done to American businesses such as Simpson, etc.

[EYERACE]

Steve...you are correct, there is a loophole there...but you could, of course, find yourself at the mercy of a straight laced Tech inspector so there would be a note in your log book "replace belts by next race"

[Daryl DeArman]

I am not normally a big SCCA flag waiver. But don't blame the SCCA for this one. This was a combination of the SFI's doing and our litigous society. All we need to do is buy FIA belts, if enough people do, the SFI manufacturers will be re-evaluating their test 'data'.

[EYERACE]

agree....the newest question should be "What's an SFI belt?" I just bought a set of Willans for the FC car. They will only be valid for 4.5 yrs due to the time of year purchased but that's still better than 2 yrs. Good luck with your new belt company Mr. Simpson.....i don't blame you for Dale's Daytona death at all - but if your company doesn't sell many belts to SCCA, we'll all know why. By the way, Dale was known to not just loosen but even unbuckle himself at times in the very late stages of a race!

[DaveB]

What makes you think Willans belts are FIA labled.
Dave

[Dave Hopple]

"All straps in an FIA restraint system will have these labels. FIA restraint systems with the certifica- tion "D-###.T/98" are equal to FIA specifications 8853/98 and 8854/98, and are therefore acceptable restraint systems."

I thought we covered this already, Willans belts have FIA tags also on the lap belts & sub belts, which say FIA D-111.T/98 and FIA D-108.T/98, on the back side of the FIA tags, it sez, good until 2007. (new purchased from LRE in JAN) Area 4 BoD member Erik Skirmants posted this (see below) on the Prod board , it should shed some light on the situation (see links)-Dave :

http://www.apexspeed.com/ubb/ultimat...;f=14;t=000882

http://www.coloradoscca.org/prodcar/...r=asc&start=15
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Erik Skirmants
Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2003 6:50 pm Post subject: For the Record!!

Regarding safety harnesses. The CB did just fine on this one. I dropped the ball in my ill fated attempt to stop the change. Former SCCA Tech. Director Ken Brown and I ended up at a dead end looking at SFI's testing. He wrote an article about it and I looked at all the available data (a photo caption in the article, written by the magazine's editor, did misquote me). The CB (after a letter from Phil Creighton) saved the day as much as they could. The new rule allows us to navigate around the SFI and buy FIA approved belts and use them for 5 years (they may cost over twice as much though). Some of you did note that if you read carefully the creative wording actually allows three seasons out of the belt by ignoring the month code and focusing on the year. This is 50% longer than the SFI allows if we followed their intent. This is a very good compromise and recovery from a major risk management issue. (You can buy new belts for $69 from Jeg's).

Send your hate mail on this one to me.

Some great points about small cost to the racer, versus having someone else cover it. I'm not convinced our better safty record and buying power is getting us much in the insurance industry. One moe topic to get smarter on.
_________________
Erik Skirmants
Member #134105
"have a great day"
God Bless You #86
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[size="1"][ September 09, 2003, 10:18 PM: Message edited by: Dave Hopple ][/size]

[EYERACE]

the tag on the Willans belts

[Brian]

Some European manufacturers will sell you identical belts with your choice of the SFI or FIA lables...so if you really wanted, you might be able to get Willans with SFI labels and change them all of the time...

Cheers, Brian