Helmet - Scrutineering question

[Mr.Jingles]

Quick question guys - Recently changed my seating position in my FF1600 and by dropping half an inch down I'd started rubbing my helmet against the chassis bars - now sorting the problem with padding but it's badly rubbed the lacquer in several places. I've attached a pic of it.

Spoke to JLF (who painted it) about re-laquering, but they are snowed under at the moment. They have suggested covering it with clear vinyl (to protect the paintwork until they have time to look at it), but is this going to cause me problems at scrutineering by making it look like I have "something to hide"?

Thanks in advance.

[chezza]

Wouldn't this be better under the racers forum as I think the scrutineers tend to frequent there.

[Mr.Jingles]

Possibly, but I thought it was more of a 'marshally' thing and I had seen scrutineering threads here. Happy either way as long as someone tells me whats what

[Stephen Green]

I agree with Chezza that you will get better response by it being in the racers forum so I am moving it for you.

[Eddy V]

Maybe send a PM to "scrutineer" who posts here.

[Chris Y]

Don't know why this ended up in National racing forum, so I've moved it to Racers'.

[Piglet]

I can't help but are you saying that your current seating position produces rub and that you've put padding on the chassis bar to protect the paintwork?

If so personally I'd be much more concerned about protecting my head and its contents and not about possible scrutineering problems.

Apologies if I've misunderstood and it was your previous position that caused the damage. If your planning to run in a series I'd suggest you contact the eligability scrutineer and have a chat with them. They won't be the safety scrut on the day but their input would probably be useful.

[Mr.Jingles]

Hi piglet,

Bit of column A and a bit of column B (I didn't make it clear). I have padded my seating position to change it AND I'm also padding the bars "just in case". Being short + wider shoulders limits my seating options as I need to have my shoulders under the side chassis bars, rather than alongside (and inside them), which drops me lower than I'd ideally like.

I have PM'd scrutineer, hopefully he will be able to help answer this. I personally don't see a problem with clear vinyl (as you can see the rubbing underneath) but still, I've heard of people getting told off for making 'repairs' and I don't want to ruin an otherwise perfect helmet by trying.

[scrutineer]

Mr Jingles, this is a tricky one as obviously I cant see the actual helmet and photos dont always show a true representation of what is really there.
First thing however, DO NOT cover it with clear (or otherwise) vinyl. As you dont know how the glue in the vinyl will react with the helmet, there are some helmet manufactures selling this stick on stuff, but as yet its no known if the FIA/MSA will accept it.
Trying to hide marks is a bad move, and will only lead to you loosing your helmet for the day.
If it is only the paint that is effected there should be no problem especially if it has not gone through to the gel coat (normally yellow in colour), you need to feel around the effected area to make sure there are no 'soft' spots or any feel of distortion. If you feel anything out of the ordinary then there is a chance that it will be thrown out. At the end of the day you are the best person to know if you have damaged it and need a new one.
Happy racing

[Mr.Jingles]

Thanks for the reply.

There is no shell damage (it's was just rub-wear, taking off the lacquer coat only) so I'm happy the helmet is safe. The plan has always been to have it re-lacquered professionally to re-protect the paint but that can't be done til April due to the painters workload.

I will err on the site of caution (as suggested) and not apply clear Vinyl.