Bell Racing is one of the world’s leading auto racing and karting helmet companies and has been building quality products for racers for 60 years. The company constantly pursues that legacy of quality and safety and continues to develop ways to keep us safer behind the wheel.

In a conversation with Kyle Keitzmann, we discussed the direction of Bell and their upcoming products. And, with new SNELL and FIA regulations coming out in the next year, Bell is gearing up for some major advances in safety.

“This year we’re in a bit of a transition with the new SNELL stuff coming October 2015,” said Keitzmann.

The date the new regulations are scheduled to release and the finite lifespan of Helmet certifications (only 5 years for SNELL-rated helmets) dictates that the company must wait a bit to release their newest gear. Until then, they are bringing out a bevy of new graphics packages and various composite materials.

“We have a lot of carbon fiber helmets,” said Keitzmann. “The RS7 is pretty popular; it’s the GT2 carbon helmet.” Bell also offers a Formula 1 helmet, called the HP7, which is very popular with the road racers due to its high level of protection.

Keitzmann also mentioned there is a lot of retesting and recertification happening, and they have at least six new models coming out in the very near future. There is also a new FIA spec coming out, so for anybody racing outside of the U.S., the FIA will be requiring helmets with the new “FIA-8859″ certification to pass inspection. Helmets that are SNELL-2015 will not be accepted at these events.”