MotoGP: AGV analyzed Valentino Rossi's helmet after the impact in Aragon

AGV announced through a press release and on its Facebook page the analysis carried out on Valentino Rossi's helmet after the crash at Aragon, which occurred last September 28th. As happens in the event of falls, the helmet was completely dismantled to be checked at the group's Research & Development laboratories.

The test highlighted how, during the violent fall, no structural critical issues were detected and this demonstrates how the helmet optimally absorbed any impact energy, protecting the head of the rider from Pesaro from trauma. More precisely:

The shell shows clear traces of impacts with the ground and against the factory Yamaha M1

The first impact occurred with the ground (Fig. 3), following the pilot's high side. The helmet impacted the left rear part (Fig. 4), near the spoiler, which came off as planned. After a series of rolls in the escape route (asphalt and gravel), the helmet came into direct contact with the motorbike (Fig.5). In fact, on the right side part, there are evident and violent signs of impact of the shell with structural elements of the rear part of the vehicle (swingarm and/or brake caliper/disc). Also on the right side of the shell and visor, there are very evident traces of rubber (Fig. 6), the result of contact between the rotating tire and the Pista GP helmet. The high friction created between the tire and helmet led to the right part of the visor detaching from the shell, with the breaking of the metal rotation and fixing mechanism of the same (Fig. 7). Furthermore, the visor also cracked on the opposite side, again near the attachment mechanism, but without detaching from its anchoring seat.

This protection was also guaranteed by the racing kit (additional metal screw locking the visor to the rotation mechanism) that AGV uses on all racing helmets. The symptoms experienced by Valentino, temporary memory loss and headache, are probably attributable to the violent and sudden rotational acceleration of the head due to contact between the helmet and the still rotating rear tyre.