Thought of the day...

#21

There’s a number of crash videos out there that show a guy being thrown forward and then to the right. If not for the right-side net, he’d either have come out of the seat entirely or come back into the shoulder brace. In a crash the harness stretches a fair amount.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be a big right side net advocate, but after watching a couple videos I can see the charm of the idea and don’t bitch about buying them.

Foghorn, my crash might have been the most violent in SpecE30 land. My kids still have a dad because of my $340 Schroth harness and $1k Safety Solutions R3 HNR. I am a huge cheapskate, but I’m willing to spend some $$ on safety gear. I’ve not ever seen a dead racer, but I’ve seen a lot of dead people. This huge cheapskate is willing to spend some coin on safety gear and not whine about it.

#22

Dont get me wrong either, I am a big fan of safety gears, but I am really surprises about the side net thing. If it was really a good safety gear, I would think that the FIA would have made it mandatory because for this guys money is no object, and they have not so I am really really surprised.

#23

The safety world isn’t all that logical. One organization or geographical region will get it’s panties into a wad over one issue, and a different issue will be the obsession on the other side of the river.

In the US if your gradeschool age kid isn’t in a kid seat you are a “bad parent”. Never mind that there’s zero data showing that a kid in a booster is safer than a kid in a 3pt. Sometimes rules have a logical basis, but it’s not something you can rely on.

#24

Manufacturer tests prove whatever they need to prove to sell a product and then to have that product banned for safety or environmental reasons as soon as they’re exclusive patent rights expire.

#25

Here’s a good example of why to buy the best safety equipment you can afford. Rob Lamb’s crash (2012 Season Opener at Infineon) convinced me it was time to upgrade my seat. I just picked up a new containment Racetech seat this weekend to replace my old non-containment MOMO.

I talked to Rob the next day following his crash and he was REALLY thankful he had the seat he did…he said he could feel his helmet pinned against the side bolster during the crash. Rob walked away unhurt from this 85 mph tire wall hit.

This is probably the hardest hit I’ve seen in SpecE30. I was about 100 yards behind him…his car went about 6-feet into the air.

Judge for yourselves…

http://vimeo.com/37085724

#26

If that happened to me the other driver would have a fist related head injury.

#27

The other driver’s view: http://vimeo.com/37356229

The race director ruled Rob was at fault for turning in too soon before completing his pass. It was an unfortunate deal. Rob by the way was a complete sportsman dealing with it afterwards as was Mike the driver in the other car.

Anyway…like I said earlier…buy the best equipment you can afford. Remember the old Bell Helmet slogan…got a $10 head? Then buy a $10 helmet.

#28

That makes it a bit more complicated. From Robs view he barely moves right and is following a normal line, but from Mikes view he cuts right to much.

When my house finally sells I’ll get a containment seat. My right side net seams pretty worthless.

#29

The other driver’s view: http://vimeo.com/37356229

The race director ruled Rob was at fault for turning in too soon before completing his pass. It was an unfortunate deal. Rob by the way was a complete sportsman dealing with it afterwards as was Mike the driver in the other car.

Anyway…like I said earlier…buy the best equipment you can afford. Remember the old Bell Helmet slogan…got a $10 head? Then buy a $10 helmet.[/quote]

That’s funny because I do have a Bell helmet. It’s a snell 2000. Never been in a wreck with that helmet. No reason I shouldn’t be able to wear it. But, now the rules say I have to buy a 2005 or newer helmet. I believe that one was pretty expensive too with a full radio set installed for team races and enduros. Now that helmet is junk and there is no reason it needs to be that way.

Just looks like another reason for the helmet guys to keep selling helmets.

And that video shows that both drives did basically nothing to avoid a crash. This is called track awareness. The guy being passed should know that Mr. Lamb was going to need to set up for the next corner right about where his car was. Personally, i would have expected that move and probably backed off a tad.

Lamb knew he was attempting a pass that would leave him little room to back off the throttle mid corner, otherwise risk a spin with TTO. Again, this worries me because I’ve seen a lot of this driving at NASA events.

#30

Scott’s crash was arguably more severe than mine. But even so My HANS tethers had obvious stretch, I had right side net marks on my helmet that it took rubbing compound to remove, and the sheet metal style latch on the right side net had failed. At that time I was in a Sparco Evo seat and the right side net did what it was supposed to.

If you aren’t in a full containment seat and you have the right side net properly positioned it will do what it is supposed to do.

#31

I’ve been away for a few days and just now read this.

I mentioned that example merely to illustrate how much your body moves in an impact. Yeah it seems like you’re going nowhere when tightly strapped into 6 point belts, but these in-car videos show just how much belts stretch. Nets and containment seats are meant to keep your body where it’s safest, in the seat and under your belts. Just imagine a secondary frontal impact after your torso has slipped under a shoulder strap. That would NOT be good.

As for the comparison between US and European safety standards, yes there are differences. I’ve always wondered why in Europe they run the harness shoulder straps to the rear bulkhead. Here, most cars run them to a harness bar directly behind the seat. Also, while designing my SpecE30 cage I studied the DTM E30 cages. They don’t even have harness bars and the diagonal on the main hoop goes from driver’s side floor to passenger head. Exactly opposite of what we are required to do.

I have no idea who is correct, but none of that changes the fact that there are safety rules in place that we all need to follow. I trust that those who wrote our rules have a damn good reason for implementing them. I wouldn’t want to race in an environment where those rules are not enforced for all competitors. Just because someone doesn’t feel like buying or wearing a HANS doesn’t fly with me. That’s a very selfish outlook with no regard for fellow competitors. God forbid I would ever be involved in an incident and that other person was injured. Yeah that might have been his choice not to wear a HANS, but that wouldn’t help me sleep at night.