Bell Helmets Test
Aug 11, 12:38 AM
Last week the boy’s from Bell Sports dropped me a line. They said they had a new streetbike helmet that they wanted to test and asked me if I was interested. ” Well I’m kinda busy doing this one thing” I said. They then told me that they had rented out Willow Spring International Raceway for me. “Ok… DEAL”!
We showed up at the track early. I got out of the car and was greeted by the nice crisp morning air. I looked to the left and then to the right and didn’t see a soul. I have to admit It was kinda weird, I have been racing there since I was twelve years old and not once had it been so quiet and un-inhabited . We unloaded the bike and some equipment and began prepping for the FUN..I mean WORK ahead.
All the tech guys and designers were there as well as the photographers that were hired to get some shots for the new catalog. We had a meeting to outline the testing procedure and what our objective was. Basically we had about twenty five different variations of the same helmet, from different vents, to small wickers on the top of the helmet, to different windshield sealers. We would have about seven laps with each helmet then we would come in and answer a series of questions with the designers. As soon as we were done with the meeting we were ready to rock and roll. The photogs went out and I followed shortly after rocking Bell’s newest creation! It took alittle time to get used to being out there all by yourself, its a big track when your not banging bars at 150 mph plus. I rode and rode till the tires were smoked. We tried almost all the variations and pulled in some very good data. It seemed like the techs were just as stoked as I was when they were watching the fruits of there labor flying around the track at a buck seventy.
Bell is a company that cares about the products they put out, they put in more time and effort than any other manufacturer to ensure they have the safest product possible. Not to mention quiet, ventilated, light weight, and sick looking! I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day, great weather, and a dope 2.5 mile race track all to myself. I have to thank my boy Sean Estes for always hooking it up, he’s the man. Sometimes I have to stop and take it all in, take a deep breath and exhale… Damn, I love my job…