What The Hell Is A Snell Rating?

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One of the first things I needed to prepare for my first track day event was a helmet. I noticed on the tech sheet that the helmet needed to be rated SA2010 or higher. Not knowing what the SA2010 stood for, I started doing some online shopping to get an idea of helmet types and cost. Ultimately, I knew I needed to go try on helmets before I bought one to make sure the fit was good. A friend recommended I go to Discovery Parts at Atlanta Motorsports Park (AMP) and I am glad I did!

The open face helmet on the Discovery Parts clearance page would have been the absolutely wrong one for me to buy.

It looked like a great “deal” online as it was over 75% off. First of all it was a Bell helmet and it turns out Bell helmets are not a great fit for my head. Each helmet brand fits a bit different, so it is critical to try them before you buy one. After trying helmets from Bell, Arai, Stand and Simpson it was the Stilo helmets that were the most comfortable fit for my head.

The next wrong move would have been an open faced helmet. I wish I had a picture of my wife’s face when the salesperson recommended a closed faced helmet so I don’t break my nose and face when I put my car into the wall. I thought my track days were over before they started! The closed helmets give me more options for driving karts, convertibles and dedicated track cars as well as offering a bit more protection.

The biggest take away from my helmet shopping experience was learning about the Snell Foundation Rating. If I had ordered that “great deal” helmet with a SA2010 rating, I would have learned the hard way that the 2010 part of the rating is the expiration date and the helmet would need to be replaced in just a few months. My Stilo helmet has a SA2020 rating and should be good for years to come. Be sure to check your local/event helmet rating requirements as not just any old helmet will do.

M235i MPerformance

My First BMW

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My wife used to work for GM and part of her compensation was a free car. The only caveat for remaining eligible for the free car was that our family had to buy a new GM car every 4 years. Aside from a Corvette, GM doesn’t make much I want to drive, so when she changed jobs I quickly sold the Cadillac SUV and went shopping for a new sports car. I found 10 cars on Car Gurus that I was interested in and set out to go for test drives.

I wasn’t aware of the M235i and after I took it for a test drive, I couldn’t wait to get back into it. It was the first car I drove so I didn’t buy it right away, I wanted to drive the other cars on my list. My list ranged from a brand new Mazda Miata to a 20 year old 911 Carrera 2S Cabriolet. With every car I drove, I got out and said to myself,

“I can’t wait to get back in the M235i and go for a drive.”

The M235i served as a great daily driver for the last couple of years. In comfort mode it is very relaxed and easy to drive around town. When you want to do some spirited driving, putting the car in sport or sport+ mode sharpened the steering, stiffened the ride, enhanced the throttle response and amplified the sound from the MPerformance exhaust. In sport mode and rowing the gears with the paddle shifters, this car was the most fun automatic transmission I had ever driven. It really made you feel like you were driving the car and not the other way around.

I am a big boy, (5’10” & 250 lbs) and the M235i has a nice spacious interior with back seats an adult can ride in, but wouldn’t want to for long! Most of my use of the back seats was folding them down to fit a large item from Home Depot that was longer than the trunk could handle. Speaking of the trunk, that is one of the nice things about this car, it is plenty big enough for all your errand running and long weekend road trips. Rarely did I have to trade cars with my wife to use her SUVs larger trunk capacity.

I bought a used car that was already out of warranty on purpose, so as I started to modify the car I wasn’t worried about voiding the warranty. The car already had the MPerformance package which included a front splitter, side skirts, carbon fiber mirror caps, carbon fiber deck lid spoiler, rear diffuser and the MPerformance exhaust. This took a run of the mill M235i and turned it into an aggressive looking coupe.

My first modification was adding an Injen cold air intake to help the engine breath a bit better. This didn’t give me any noticeable performance upgrades according to the seat of my pants but it did sound cool. The next upgrade was a RaceChip GTS Black piggy back upgrade to the cars CPU. This provided for a noticeable kick in the pants, adding 70hp to the car in the highest setting. Both modifications were pretty easy to install for a novice like me.

As I started to think about tracking the car, the list of upgrades got longer and therefore more expensive so I decided it was time to for a new ride that was more suited for the track. Ultimately I said goodbye to my BMW M235i and welcomed her big brother my new 2017 BMW M2.