Saw an interview with him, a while after he'd come off his motorbike in a race - and slid through a gravel trap. He had his helmet with him - and the abrasion of the gravel had removed most of the resin from it (I'm assuming it was carbon fibre) - and all that he had left was this sort of semi-rigid softish cloth-like thing that wouldn't protect you from being smacked with a wet salmon.