Food for thought...safety equipment

[Damn True]

A friend just posted this on Twitter.

Low (relatively) speed crash

No HANS wearing driver on the left, HANS wearing co-driver on the right



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g40YatgE_CE

I'd been debating whether or not to get a HANS for use in my car (eventually) for track days. Debate is over.

[Track Junky]

That's a great post True. I've been debating also but the truth is in the pudding right there.
I'd like to see some examples of different Hans devices. The one and only turn off(only from what I have heard) is the limitation of being able to turn your head from left to right.
Hopefully we can get some here to chime in.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

7 lbs head + 12 lbs helmet = snapped stem. Easy elementary school arithmetic.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Originally Posted by Track Junky

The one and only turn off(only from what I have heard) is the limitation of being able to turn your head from left to right.

Mirrors

I like the idea of being able to move your head at all after something happens.

[Shmoov69]

WoW! That might leave a mark!! Really tho, will the brain keep moving in the skull more with a Hans? Just thinking out loud.

[Damn True]

Originally Posted by Shmoov69

WoW! That might leave a mark!! Really tho, will the brain keep moving in the skull more with a Hans? Just thinking out loud.

Whether you get a concussion or not is immaterial after the basal skull fracture.

[Damn True]

Originally Posted by Track Junky

That's a great post True. I've been debating also but the truth is in the pudding right there.
I'd like to see some examples of different Hans devices. The one and only turn off(only from what I have heard) is the limitation of being able to turn your head from left to right.
Hopefully we can get some here to chime in.

The Gen II devices all have sliding tethers. Turning your head is no problem.

[Flash68]

A HANS is certainly on my list, but just playing devil's advocate here.... is that a cornfield in Iowa?

That looks like some backyard dirt road vs the nicer tracks most of us round here are running or plan to run our cars on.

Another point to take is knowing the run off and and overall setup of the track you plan to run on. Greg always like to say that he likes Thunderhill because it is nice smooth well maintained track with sufficient and smooth runoff.

But, good post True, definitely something that should be on many shopping lists.

[ironworks]

Its ironic you guys bring this up. I was in a pretty scary roll over last week in my UTV while pre-running for my first desert race last friday. I think this Hans - or the Simpson hybrid I was wearing really saved my neck.

I was on my 3rd lap on a 30 mile course at mile marker 24 when I was chasing a some green UTV in his dust trying to pass him when I ran upon a 24" tall speed bump at about 40 mph. I had about 6 foot notice as the guy in front of me must have slowed down to go over it and the dust cleared for just a second. I slammed on the brakes and the front tires climbed the bump and the UTV did a complete flip and landed squarely on the roof collapsing the cage just a little and then continued the forward momentum as it just grazed the back apron and flipped back on its wheels. The impact into the roof was pretty stout.

Both myself and my co driver had neck restrains on and that really slows down the travel speed of you neck by limiting you travel. We drove away from the incident slowly on an off track back road back to the pits to find the impact had unplugged wire connections under the dash and taco'd my cell phone. They want you to keep a cell phone on you to call for help if needed and the radio connection wont work. So I had the phone in my front pocket of my race suit for safe keeping.

You can see the roof damage in this picture. You can not see that the spreader bars on the cage are bent about .25 of an inch in the middle. I hugged the cage builder on Monday morning after winning my class and finishing 7th overall. I will always race with some kind of neck restraint, its just not worth it.

[Damn True]

Originally Posted by Flash68

A HANS is certainly on my list, but just playing devil's advocate here.... is that a cornfield in Iowa?

That looks like some backyard dirt road vs the nicer tracks most of us round here are running or plan to run our cars on.

Another point to take is knowing the run off and and overall setup of the track you plan to run on. Greg always like to say that he likes Thunderhill because it is nice smooth well maintained track with sufficient and smooth runoff.

But, good post True, definitely something that should be on many shopping lists.

It's a rally stage. Judging by the dress of the observers I'd say northern Europe.

They slid off a dirt road at what looks like no more than 50mph max and came to an abrupt halt in a roadside ditch. In the normal course of circulating Thunderhill, and most tracks for that matter, the runoffs are pretty broad. But.....

Penalty points are pretty high in a number of places at Infineon and Laguna.

If a car spins in front of you and you hit it, or in the course of avoiding it go off in an area where the runoff isn't so broad?

If something on your car fails? Here's my friend Mike Hedlund losing the brakes on an exceptionally well prepared 911 in the 2012 25hr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrveASsJMZ0 He did everything as right as he could and missed all but a bit of barbed wire...Im pretty sure I'd not perform as well (which is why he's testing a 458 GT3 this week and I'm not)

Lot's of stuff can (and often does) go bad on track. The "Well I won't be going all out so...." that many in our community use to talk themselves out of safety equipment seems horribly naive and short sighted.