ive always used simpson helmets for speedway

As kyleb says.... $2 head, $2 helmet. How much is your head worth? Personally, I only use Arai, full face.

Would a HANS devise keep your helmet from hitting the roll bar?

If Dale Ernhart had been wearing a full face helmet would it have saved him? I have only ever had a full helmet.

Your body has two of several things. You can make do without one of them, and still get along. But for the things of which you have one, protection is a must! Go full face.

I was part of a team, again back in the 70s, who researched the death of 120 motorcyclists in a one year period. We correlated damage to the helmet with injuries sustained. A great number of riders sustained fatal neck injuries when protrusions on their helmet jagged against something whilst they were rolling along the ground. We recommended helmets be 'bowling ball' shaped. Within a few months the Police were issued with those BMW flip-up jaw piece helmets with multiple protrusions because... wait for it... they 'looked cool - just like the guys on CHIPS' - ignoring all our recommendations


Another piece of research discovered that 'Bikies' shouldn't be required to wear helmets as their anti-social behaviour and custodial terms were harmful to the public and a drain on resources. Basically, a 'Bikie' fatality was a plus for the community. No politician ever ran with such legislation and the research was never published.

Priceless isn't it?

To be clear though, Peter, this design i think is good. The 'sunglasses' are a good feature - better than having to 'add' sunglasses into the mix or stopping and swapping visors. And I 'oversold' the "flick of a knob" - it is actually a tiny slide tab that I doubt would affect the helmet performance.

Full face, clear visor. My mate killed himself when steam entered the car. While the firewall should have prevented that steam from coming into his eyes, it didn't and neither did his visor-less helmet. We cannot know if the steam influenced his vision at the (drag race) finish line, but we guess it did.

Wasn't it Carroll Smith who wrote: "Racers using an open face helmet should get their brains tested."?

If you spin into the dirt, and your window is open, a lot of debris can enter your car.

Another finding of the research was the lower base of a full-face helmet sometimes contacted, and often fractured, the clavicle, preventing hyperflexion of the neck. Better to have a broken collarbone that a fractured neck.

HANS devices are now used to prevent hyperflexion.

This is my helmet.

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...ium/Helmet.jpg

There are many like it, but this one is mine ... :D


Ed

1. Best you can get. Forget new wheels till next year and buy the top shelf helmet.
2. Get your head professionally measured and then matched to a helmet. Different head shapes can match certain brands.
3. Hans compliant no brainer but make sure your belts seat and all the rest are match fitted.
4. Chin spoiler best for open top cars as it helps prevent your helmet sucking off your head.

I like the Bell full face. Besides, it is warmer, and helps cut down the exhaust note. But hearing the emergency units coming up behind me has always been difficult.

It's strange how you become accustomed to things.......

A cousin of mine has ridden motorcycles all his life. He commuted across Brisbane, a daily round trip of some fifty klms, for much of his working life, always on some bike or other. He has toured most of Australia and a few overseas countries, on bitumen dirt sand snow and ice, always on two wheels. He has driven a family car too when required but his preference has always to take the bike rather than the car.

A few years ago he decided that as he was "getting on" he should try to drive more often rather than ride so he bought an MX5. He never got used to it and sold it after a short time. He told me that after all those years of riding with a full face helmet, he felt fearful and exposed when driving the open-top car without one. Driving his wife's WRX was bearable but being out in the open without head protection was too much for him.

We jump into our cars with our legal but barely effective lap-sash seatbelts and our often only-for-show roll hoops without a second thought, yet here's a bloke who has exposed himself to what we would perhaps call a high degree of risk for many many years, who is unable to feel safe and comfortable in, let alone be able to relax and enjoy, an open car.

I offered him a drive of my lovely old Healey 3000 a while ago. We pottered around my suburban streets for half an hour and he seemed OK but he was noticeably more at ease later on as he threw his leg over his Aprilia preparing to go home.

On a personal note, I ride a Suzuki VStrom 1000 and have a Shoei XR 1000 full face helmet which is coming up for five years old and is therefore due for replacement. I would never consider an open face model although I had a few when I was younger.

Same helmet I had for last six years Don. Renewed to the new Shoei GT-Air. Try it out - I love it! Lighter, quieter, fog free, built in sunglasses. [/end free plug]

best advice given to me when i first started racing was if you think ya heads only worth 50 bucks then buy a 50 buck helmet otherwise buy the best you can afford same with racing suit i have a double layer and use the matching long johns . balaklave socks and gloves even tho our rules say you can use a single layer suit...my body is old and knackered but i dont want to take any chances on safety ..

cheers dean

Open for instruction

Full for solo

chr

I'm in favor of the closed helmet for all times on the track - instruction, track day or race. For instruction, in-helmet microphone/headphones are preferred; don't ask about when my helmet got tested except to say it was during instruction...