I will be attending quite a few (road course) track days this season, and started thinking perhaps I should buy a better helmet (to replace my cheap $70 open-face helmet), and even buy a HANS device.

Does anyone have experience using HANS device? Would you recommend any brand or place to buy it? I remember seeing two different brands, and was told the one whose brand is not literally "HANS device" is more comfortable and just as effective.

On a broader question, how and in what order would you start investing in terms of safety equipment? I was thinking: good helmet first, then fire extinguisher, HANS device, gloves, and finally suit.

FYI, I do not intend to modify the car (like roll cage, etc.).

 

Better asking in the road racing section. Hans device is great. Buy the best protection you can afford. Of course it can be limitless.
Talk to Jdillon he uses a Hans device at the track. Someone crashes pretty much at every track event I have been to, including me. We all run out of talent sooner or later.

 

You're right; I forgot about it since it's not under C6 Forum section :P Unfortunately, this forum does not allow the OP to move or close the thread (or I could not figure it out), so I'll create a new thread under that road-racing section.

 

Buy the HANS and the best helmet you can afford. It blows me away when folks spend more on a set of tires than their head/neck protection.

 

You can't use a HANS without a harness. It won't work with 3 point seatbelts. Some will say that harness without roll bar not safe. Of course the question then becomes whether a roll bar (usually pertains to cage) is safe on street without helmet. Seems that every mod has a consequence! . Okay, for track days I suggest full face helmet with stock seatbelts and air bags. They are meant to work together. Now some will say that full face helmet with airbag dangerous. I find that hard to believe. Can't go wrong with fire suit and gloves. Learn about SFI ratings. I like 3.2/5 to give you a few extra sec over the popular 3.2/1.

 

Oh yeah, best safey equipment is you! Try bondurant or spring mountain. It will be eye opening!

 

Good advice!

 

Yup. I spent a few years racing W2W (and occasionally wrecking, or getting wrecked) with the HANS. It's very effective when properly used, but race safety equipment is definitely not a pick & choose kind of thing... it all works together as a system, so it's not uncommon for people to actually make things worse (visit pretty much any Honda car forum for many examples).

The HANS absolutely needs a proper harness (5 points or more), and even then you have to make sure you do that right (angles and such; it also tends to slip with 3" belts, but you don't want 2" on a harness). Harness with no roll bar/cage = you're held in place to get crushed when the car rolls (standard belts let you fall out of the way of a collapsing roof). In a street-driven car, a roll bar (not cage) might be ok, as long as it has proper padding and isn't close to your head. Full cage is a bad idea in a street car, because unless you're strapped in hard with a proper harness every time, a wreck with lateral movement will send your ribcage into the door bars (seen it happen; can still be possible with a harness). Keep in mind that being properly strapped into a race harness is not comfortable... they'll stretch in a wreck, so they need to be cranked down tight, and if they aren't the HANS is far far less effective as well.

The airbag + full face helmet thing has been around for years and seems ridiculous to me and everyone I've heard from. I've never disabled the airbag system when I've taken a street car on track, and I would prefer a full face if one happened to go off. Also never saw a difference either way when people have wrecked street cars and set off the air bags.

As for firesuits, they're only designed to give you a few more seconds if engulfed in flames, smoke/fume inhalation may very well kill you first, and street cars are usually very easy to get out of quickly (although the C6 door release might be an issue). Fires are pretty rare too, even on backyard-built racecars, and even when they're also old and German. I did once see a C5 Z06 flame up at just an autocross though (blew the engine too), so who knows. I find that the majority of firesuit owners, including myself, don't bother to suit up for laps in a street car. That's a personal choice, but ultimately you always have to accept some risk if you're going to be on the track in any car.

 

Ozer,

You are on the right track with replacing your helmet. Helmets, especially the full face ones, can be difficult to fit because of all of the different head shapes. If you have a round head (as opposed to oval), I would look at Bell but if you have an oval head, Arai makes some great helmets (my brand of choice).

In the events I went to I never saw anyone wear a suit. They are hot and nomex doesn't breathe very well. I would suggest gloves and shoes though.

As for the Hans device, roll bar with a brace for harness attachment points. You'll have to change the seats to accommodate the 5 point harness needed for the Hans device.

You may also want a screen to keep body parts from flying out the window in case of a crash. These are typically made of webbing material, similar to seat belts and cover the window opening.

On the tracks around here, if you are going to have an instructor with you, you must also provide the same seating arrangements for him/her as well as a 5-point harness if that is what you are installing for yourself.

 

Thanks for the invaluable info. Since I won't modify the car and put any kind of cage, sounds like I can't use HANS device, either. I will indeed replace my helmet with a full-face one, and possibly buy gloves, but that's about it.

 

Indeed, looks like unless you go all the way, it seems there's not much you can do.

Shei's X-11 / X-12 motorcycle helmets are a good fit for me, but I never shopped for a car helmet. I'll start researching for it.

 

Get yourself a really good helmet. Get a HANS device when you're willing to put in a cage and 5 point belts.

 

I just ordered HJC AR10 II helmet in L and XL sizes (my head is right in between per sizing chart, so whichever fits better, I'll return the other). Hopefully this concludes my track-readiness investment for this season; looking forward to my first track day of the season on April 8th!

 

Only when my wife gets frisky!

 

If you don't want to modify the car, you're stuck with stock seats and stock seat belt. So you can buy a helmet (as light as you can afford, less strain on the neck in a crash), get some gloves if you want.

Gloves are optional, so is a fire extinguisher and shoes. The extinguisher is almost of no use for yourself. If your car catches fire, you have to get out quick. The shoes are for your comfort, same with the gloves as you might get sores on your hands.

The next step up is to put a rollbar + harness + race seat. Since you have to do all those pretty much at the same time, might as well get the HANS device then too. The Rollbar can be put in without the rest, but you might as well do it all. Get a good race seat if comfort is important.

 

As has been mentioned - you need a harness to use a HANS.

HOWEVER - I have an R3 Rage:




http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SAT-R3R-MED-10/

You can see that you strap it to your body, so it works with any seat belt system, including the OE 3-point belt.

It's a really good solution for instructors who want head-n-neck support and ride in many different student's cars that only have the stock belts.

Ozer, I see you ordered an HJC AR10 helmet - that's a good solution and meets the standard required by many/most track day sponsoring organizations. Many track day sponsors will not accept a motorcycle DOT helmet - they usually require a Snell SA rated helmet. Most organizations require an SA spec helmet certified within the last 2 cycles - i.e., SA2005 or SA2010.

The Snell Foundation does testing about every 5 years, and your HJC AR10 was tested and certified to Snell's 2010 standards and has an "SA2010" specs.

C'ya at the track - and I hope one of the events you'll be attending is the Nat'l Corvette Museum HPDE at VIR the end of June. Edited: Ozer, I see you're in Washington state, so a cross-country trip to VIR might be out of the question - but, it's worth it if you can make it!!!

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/auto...istration.html

Bob

 

 

I've been using my full face Arai Snell 2005 motorcycle helmet, it offers better visibility but lacks the HANS device attachment and the fire retardant lining, though I could wear a nomex baklava to get around it. I leave the visor off because it is more difficult to hear. There are differences between the 2005 and 2010 Snell ratings but can't recall all of the details. What I do recall is the 2005 helmets had to have stiffer shells for the impact testing used in 2005. In 2010, the impact test requirements were changed and the shells are now more flexible. I like the Snell standards because they are provable by the manufacturer, not just a manufacturers claim for the DOT rated helmets.

I also wear driving shoes for the extra sensitivity, have yet to get gloves.

I know that roll bars save lives, there was a bad accident last year when a brake rotor came apart and the car ended upside down. This was an 'A' class driver with an instructor who was driving at the time, so it does happen. A friend of mine has a roll bar installed in his Nissan GT-R, replaced the seats and uses a HANS device so it can be done but practically any HANS installation will require different seats. For the Corvettes, you have probably seen the bar that can be installed behind the seats used to anchor the rear harness attachments without installing a roll bar.

This year I plan to start back at Novice as this is a new car with different traction and braking capabilities than my '08. When I get used to it and my speeds are sufficient, I'll bump up to 'C' group. I'm not too anxious to get to the upper groups right now, I feel the safer groups are C and D because there are almost always instructors on board, so when it is time to go to B and A and correspondingly higher speeds, I'll install the roll bar and associated goodies.

 

Check this out. Apparently Snell '05 had some issues, and they were since quietly fixed by Snell '10. SA and SM (Motorcycle) are different standards as you already know, and one more important difference is that SA focuses on small projectiles (one of the tests is a lead piece hitting the visor at 300 km/h if I recall the numbers correctly) whereas SM focuses on hitting a flat surface fast. The helmet I bought is ~$300, yet is one of the lightest available, being .4 lbs heavier than the lightest carbon helmet, so it might be a good investment after all.

That device looks very nice!! I'll definitely check it out. Yeah, it would be nice, but my farthest track this year will be 5 hours away in Oregon; you guys have fun!

I have a feeling I'll upgrade to a C7 in a few years, so I am refraining from customizing my car with such mods. If I indeed get the C7 early in its cycle, I might as well do such safety mods to it; we'll see!

 

I attended an instructor's seminar for BMW Club Instructors last year. Joe Marko from HMS Motorsports presented the safety portion of the seminar. There is only one thing you need to worry about with an air bag and either an open or full face helmet. If you have the face shield on a full face helmet it has to be closed. If you don't want the face shield closed then it has to be removed. They did some testing and found the air bag tended to catch under the shield which prevented the face from planting properly into the air bag. The same thing was true of helmets that had a brow shield like a lot of open face helmets have. If you have a brow shield on open or closed face helmet remove it.

Bill