Impact Decertified by SFI Foundation

And the drama continues to unfold:

March 26, 2010 - NOTICE OF DECERTIFICATION; NOTICE TO CEASE AND DESIST AND TERMINATION OF ALL CONTRACTS OF PARTICIPATION ISSUED TO IMPACT RACING

SFI Foundation, Inc., has issued a Notice of Decertification; Notice of Cease and Desist, and a notice terminating all Contracts of Participation to Impact Racing. Effective April 27, 2010, all products manufactured and/or distributed by Impact Racing pursuant to SFI Specification Programs 3.2A, 3.3, 16.1, and 16.5 are decertified. Evidence obtained by SFI shows that over a period of years Impact Racing has engaged in the production and use of counterfeit SFI conformance labels and patches, and affixed them to Impact products for use in motorsports. Under the Contracts of Participation between SFI and Impact, SFI conformance labels and patches may only be obtained from SFI and no other source. Evidence shows that Impact had counterfeit SFI labels and patches made in Asia and then affixed them to Impact products it distributed to members of the racing community. To SFI’s knowledge, Impact never advised its customers that its products contained phony SFI labels and patches. Impact never advised SFI of its systematic and longstanding practice of counterfeiting and distributing SFI patches and labeling.

Impact has been directed to cease and desist from this practice. SFI has directed Impact to immediately notify all affected customers to remove the counterfeit labeling and to offer the affected customers a full refund of the purchase price. SFI is requesting that all counterfeit conformance labels removed from Impact products be sent to SFI.

SFI has elected not to decertify these products immediately in order to minimize the potential hardships to members of the racing community that have been brought about by Impact’s counterfeiting activities.

SFI has also elected to terminate all Contracts of Participation with Impact Racing effective 90 days from March 24, 2010. Under the terms of the Contracts, either party may terminate the agreements without penalty upon 90 days notice. This means that Impact will no longer be able to participate in any SFI programs after this 90 day period.

SFI has taken these actions in the best interests of the safety and integrity of the racing community. This is in keeping with SFI’s mission and purpose.

More info on SFI Foundation's site here.

For a downloadable .pdf of this notice, please click on the following link: Decertification Notice 03-26-10

AIM SmartyCams are here!

Well, at least one still is. I didn't realize we received them sometime in the last couple of weeks - not until we sold them all accept for this last one did I get a chance to see the improved version! Don't worry, more are on the way - hopefully this one doesn't get sold so I get a chance to try out this new gadget.



As you can see, an external GPS antenna option is now shipped standard, including a dedicated connection port (Read our past post for all the improvements). I'm not certain as to the supposed firmware upgrades that were promised, but should get to test this in the next few days. I'll keep everyone updated!

HJC AR10 Helmet - Now in Rubberized Black Finish!

We know that everyone loves the HJC SI-12 Helmet, especially in the Rubberized Black Finish.

Now the same finish is available on the entry level HJC AR-10 Helmet! In production since late last year, we'll be receiving our first shipment later this week. Still priced attractively at $311.99 (White is still only $299.99).



Click here for more info

Kirkey's New Road Race Containment Seat!

We first caught wind of Kirkey's latest Road Race seat last summer when they sent us a prototype to play around with. Judging by Kirkey's perfectionist attitude towards designing, I figured we wouldn't actually see the seat for a while. However, I just got tracking info from Kirkey showing they are on the way!

Check it out:



Sorry for the poor photo - once it arrives (hopefully first thing next week) I'll get some better images made.

We're excited about this seat for a couple reasons. For starters, the seat has a much smaller profile then the first generation Full Containment seats. Better yet, the seat itself is only $540! (sans cover, of course)

I've hurriedly placed the seat on the site for ordering.

See details here

JUST IN - SPA Fire Systems

We recently looked into carrying the SPA line of AFFF fire systems. SPA Technique has been manufacturing a nice line of FIA approved fire systems for several years. Our first shipment arrived earlier this morning:



See the Complete Line here

We've really been eyeing the entry level steel-bottled Multi-Flow system (pictured above). $325 gets you a system big enough for 2 chambers in the car (for example, ports in the cockpit AND the engine bay), and 6 nozzles to spread the love!

AIM SmartyCam Update

Just finished hanging out with Chad & Cameron from AIM USA. One of the longer conversations was regarding the SmartyCam.

Good news first: If all goes well, we should be seeing these guys by the end of the month. Hopefully there's more accuracy in that statement then we normally see in this industry!

More good news: The version we're due to receive is the 3rd version of this camera with several improvements:

• Externally mounted GPS antenna is now optional. Prior versions relied on an internal antenna that proved to loose its signal in some environments (it is sitting INSIDE the car after all!)


• Improved video - the quality of the video recording has always been on the low side in the eyes of AIM USA. Their complaints have been heard, and the chipset supposedly greatly improved.


• True Data-logging abilities - the data and video will both be recorded separately and importable into AIM's Race Studio software. Before this update, the data recorded into the unit could only be embedded in the video feed and not viewable for outside analysis.

I'm sure there are other updates that are less significant. AIM is proving itself to be a company that is continually tinkering with and bettering its product. Now that I think about it, the only bad news is the wait - I NEED to start playing with one of these right now!

AIM's New (Sort of) SmartyCam

Although AIM's SmartyCam has been floating around for a little over a year, we're finally going to start seeing more of them at the track. The nifty camera system/data acquisition system has been available in Europe for quite sometime, and a few models have been floating around stateside. However, AIM has been admittedly working out some firmware kinks, but are finally ready to increase distribution in the U.S. market.



We should be seeing our first shipment of these by the end of next month (February). If you haven't seen them in person yet, the SmartyCam is pretty neat. The device - which fits in the palm of your hand - handles both Data Acquisition and video duties. But don't be fooled - that little space is enough to record a nearly HD quality 720x400px resolution, while processing a GPS track-map, 3D accelerometer data, and lap-timing data.

At $999.00, the device isn't exactly cheap. But when considering the price of a video camera AND separate data acquisition hardware, it may be the perfect solution for the up and coming racer.

Click here for more details