Is there some kind of ruling about the age of a harness (ie seatbelts) and not being legal (in the eyes of CAMS) if it's too old?

Re Speed events (autocross).

I've tried searching the CAMS manual, but failed. Haha.

_________________

it has recently changed actually. dated belts now last longer in motorkhana, khana and supersprints. What that age is, haven't clue. Call CAMS and ask em. Your paying for it, use the service!

_________________

It's old, but as new! Dated 93.

Is a supersprint a speed event, or a non-speed event like a motorkhana or khanacross?

_________________

Make sure its a CAMS event not the other mob. One of them just changed the life of safety equipment.

Definately CAMS.

_________________

CAMS decided to blindly follow the FIA and introduced a five year age limit on belts. (CAMS is supposed to be our representative to the FIA and is not supposed to be the Australian arm of the FIA)
After a lot of negotiation they backed down after they set up a safety research committee to look into the effects of age on belts. The committee found that there was very little effect so CAMS has changed the rules. (one member of the committee was the bloke that invented the six point harness in the first place, it was his good work that led to the overthrow of this stupid rule)

I don't recall what the new rules are but they are not black and white, they still have various shades of grey in the rules.
You need to look up the current CAMS manual and try and find the CAMS bulletin that covers the change.
You will also need to carry the copies of the rules and bulletin to show the officials. They will probably still not believe you as they flick through their 2005 edition of the Manual.

I have very little time for CAMS. (actually none at all in the past ten years)
They are an incompetent bunch of fools that think they have a god given right to tax motorsport out of existence.

A supersprint is a speed event.

Harnesses had a life of 5 years, however CAMS changed the ruling to 10 years last year, lucky for me as the harnesses in my new Cooper S are 2007 dated, at least i can get some use out of them now.


Doogie

_________________
I won Hay once, here's the pic to prove it..


Hay, it's not about the car, it's not about the venue, it's about the people that come here. Peter Dwyer, Mayor of Hay NSW.

WTF?

So is "XXXX" the year of manufacture or the 'used by date'?

_________________

The last time I worked on a V8 touring car was just after the introduction of the five year rule. The car was fitted with a belt that was about 12 years old.
So out came a very fine texta and the date was changed to a more recent one.
Something like changing a 93 to an 03.

Funny that they extended the limit from 5 to 10 years. The research showed that there was no loss of integrity after 5 years. It also said that there was none after 15 years.

There is some silly part of the 10 year rule that I can't remember. It may be that FIA labled belts are exempt or it only applies to FIA belts, I can't remember. But it is important.

XXXX should be the manufactured date.
So according to that it is a five year rule. But we know different.
Keep looking for the bulletin.

Nope can't find.

I guess i'll not use my perfect 4 point harness, and put an old lap-sash in simply because it's not dated and can use it in speed events.

Now that's SAFETY for you!

_________________

Keep the lap-sah belt and fit a harness as well.

My harness is out of date, but I've never had an issue using it in autocross, but I still have a standard lap-sash in place just in case.

Cheers,

_________________
Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

Get your car clubs to leave CAMS and take control of your destiny.

My understanding is that the XXXX on FIA spec belts is the 'use by' date, which has now been extended. So my 2007 dated belt can now be used until the end of 2012. If I choose to use the glorified lap sash harness that is 1.5" wide that came with my car (1980's era cheap harness), that is fine in the eyes of our friends at CAMS, because it has no date. Crazy!!!

My 3" six point harness was used 4 times and was then no good until they extended the dates last year. Check CAMS website for bulletin.

I am fairly sure that if your belt has the FIA date, it does not matter if it is being used in a speed or non-speed event for the date rule to be effective.