dfinke23

I am getting ready to purchase my first "really good" helmet, and have a couple of questions.
I've noticed some brands have removable/interchangable cheek pieces and some don't. Is this a neccesary option?

My next question involves forced air. Most of my driving will take place in the midwest and even though it hasn't happened yet this summer (knock on wood), it gets very hot and very humid. I don't want to be hot to the point of being very uncomfortable, so anyone with experience or opinions with forced air helmet cooling systems, please chime in. Neccesary option or not? Also, is there any downside to having the option and not always using it?

What restraint system does everyone recommend, and why?

Lastly, does anyone have a link to a driver/passenger radio system you would recommend?

Thanks in advance,

DF

J.R.

Driver-Passenger communications system-

One of the best - Aircraft quality- Sampson RA-2

wwww.sampsonracing.com

Bill Dearborn

As far as communicators go the Chatterbox seems to be the preferred system. There are several places where you can get them. I purchased mine here: http://offcambermotorsport.com/ocm/c...art/Itemid,26/

Bill

Short-Throw

When deciding on a helmet for cooling, figure out if you may want a side mounted port vs. top mounted.

I have 2 helmets which I would purchase again.

Bell Infusion
Arai GP5

My Bell Infusion has a top mounted port and while I have plenty of room in the Beast, it doesn't allow much headroom in 'stock' trim cars. I wear my Arai everywhere else including my T1 car.

There's no real downside other than the initial cost of having it installed. While you're going through the expense, have your helmet wired for a radio as well.

Another option is to get a cool shirt with a hood, although I do prefer the forced air.

As far as restraints, I use Schroth,

http://www.schrothracing.com/

but there are plenty of other good setups. More importantly is to have the harnesses installed properly. Spend the few extra bucks and get a six point.




Mike

AU N EGL

You do want a full face helmet with eye shield. Too much crap still gets into the cockpit and bounces off your helmets chin guard or eye shield.

FAST cooling system- cool shirt and forced air for the helemt
http://www.saferacer.com/fresh-air-s...?productid=342

or
Cool suit - http://www.discoveryparts.com/cgi-bi...s_cool&pid=740


Drink LOTS AND LOTS OF WATER / gater aid between run sessions.

bowtiguy

Daniel,

I bought a Bell full face helmet and love it. its not forced air but has passive "cooling" designed for street bikes. I agree with short-throw, if you go forced air...sidemount it.

I have run Stroud Cam-lock harness's in both my Camaro ( pics w/o the corbeau seats installed) and now the Z. I love them, well engineered, color choices for belt material and both the initial price and redo later down the road were the cheapest I've found.

http://www.stroudsafety.com/RestraintSystems.html

next step..hans.

dfinke23

What about a head/neck restraint?

shifter77

HANS with GP5 ARAI/the best.

mgarfias

Subdriver is traveling, so I'll add what he told me about his helmet air: He thought it didnt do any good. Until he forgot to hook it up one day when it was hot and about died.

I would get the cheek piece things, that way you can adjust the fit. But if its between those and stuff like hans and no cheek adjusters, get the extra safety gear.

dfinke23

I've decided on a helmet but am still on the fence with the forced air. The helmet is optioned with or without, and is the same price either way. Without forced air the helmet has a passive venturi cooling system, but with FA it looks like there are less vents. With the prices being the same, the only downside is the possibility of the FA helmet having no cooling whatsoever if I'm not plugged in to the system. Does anyone have a FA helmet that has used it in hot weather without being "plugged in"?

ssdeuce

Unless you have a racing seat with five or six point harness I don't know of a head and neck system that will work. I was watching the X Games over the weekend though and saw the Moto X guys wearing some kind of head and neck system that fitted like a loose collar around the neck.

BEZ06

I have an R3 Rage made by Safety Solutions ( www.SafetySolutionsRacing.com ) and it's designed to work with OE 3-point safety belts. It straps to your body, so it doesn't rely on a harness system to stabilize it.

It's a great solution for an instructor that rides right seat in a lot of cars without a harness.

Bob





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dfinke23

^ Does this system work with the HANS helmet attachments or something else?

cgh1

Before I get started, I have a couple questions for you:
What is your intent for this setup? HPDEs?, Instructing?, Racing?
If you are only doing DEs in either seat, then most cars you wear this new helmet in will not be able to accommodate your plumbing for the FA option. Also, head restraint selection is vastly limited if you look to wear such while instructing - unless you only instruct in cars that have dual vertical shoulder belts.

If you are racing in a race-prep'd car, then all bets are off and I recommend using a FA helmet and something like a HANS or Hutchins Hybrid system.

How long do you plan on using your new helmet?
Helmets have 10 year effective lives and the SA2005 models are already 1/2 way through their life cycle - meaning you only have 5 years left. The SA 2010s will be coming out soon and it may be worth your wait to get one. They will, of course be more expensive and I'm sure there will be many tempting deals on SA2005 models to get them out of inventory. Just something to think about.

My school helmet is quite ragged looking and it's an SA2005. I have no plans on replacing it until I find a good, price/value ratio SA2010 helmet to do so. My racing helmet is an Arai GP5 and while it is also an SA2005, it has been cared for with kid gloves and rarely worn in any other environment. In 5 years, I'll be ready to replace it, I'm sure...

Just some things to think about before spending a bunch of $ that you may not get great ROI from.

This is a nice option if you are like me and have a very course beard which destroys the nomex cover material over the pads (like contact with velcro does.) It is not necessary and I don't think I'd spend a lot of extra $ on it unless the pads were made in several sizes to make a more custom fit.

Again, this is a nice option if you are racing and have a car that has all the proper plumbing to accommodate your helmet: air-grabbing duct securely mounted, cool box (optional), hoses to go between duct and helmet (and cool box option if applicable), as well as ties, hooks and/or clamps to hold hoses for routing and keeping them out of the way.

If you have a FA ducted helmet and are not using the FA inlet, it definitely will get hotter than if you had a standard vented helmet. Not 'heat stroke' hotter but hotter just the same.

My personal GP5 does not use the vented option and it can get hot in there BUT, I can wear it in any car/situation without worry of compatibility.

This one is up for general debate but I would recommend going with something that has a significant amount of history/testing - AND - if you are racing, make sure that your device is accepted by the racing organization with which you compete. Many require HANS but some have opened the reg's to Hutchins devices like the Hybrid Pro.

Both of these systems work with your 5 or 6-point seatbelt/harnesses and I know of no racing sanction that allows a head restraint system that doesn't require such an implementation. That doesn't mean they don't exist, just that I am not aware of any...

That being said, there are some interesting looking devices out there that use a body wrap only restraint system (like the Hutchins Hybrid series CAN but Hutchins highly recommends their products be used WITH belts...) to restrain head/neck movement. If you're not racing, and especially if you do a lot of instructing, these may be an option for you.

Chatterbox is pretty much the HPDE standard here. I'm sure there are still some people out there using the old Nady units but they are not recommended. Again, unless you are prepping a race car and need car-to-pit/spotter/coach transception, buying a Racing Radios or Speedcom, etc. setup is a huge investment that will doubtfully provide ROI as these setups are NOT made for HPDE work.

If you are racing or need car-to-pit comm, then let your helmet vendor or radio vendor professionally wire your helmet (not worth your time and they get to fix it if it's done wrong - drilling holes IS required)

If you're just doing HPDE work, then you can get Chatterbox 'permanent mount' microphone and headphones that easily self-install in your helmet without drilling any holes, etc. OR you can simply get a second 'student' earpiece and use it in your helmet.

I personally love having my rig permanently installed, so I can just put on the helmet and I'm ready to go; no fussing over earpiece placement (like my students have to deal with ) and no base unit to leave behind, as it's mounted to my helmet.

If you race AND play in the HPDE world, as many of us do, you'll wind up getting both types of comm setups as they are not compatible with one another. Or, just do like many of us do and use a separate helmet for each application... simpler that way.

---------------------

Hopefully some of this proves helpful and whatever you do - Stay Safe & Have Fun!!

dfinke23

Thanks for the great info.
I am currently running HPDE's and open track days, hopefully leading to instructing and racing in the near future. I don't have a FA system in the car right now, but may in the future. If there wasn't a huge downside to have the FA option and not use it, I was going to go with it. I can't imagine that with the visor open, a FA helmet not hooked up, would be much hotter than a helmet with a passive cooling system. After all it's not like a motorbike where you are getting a clear stream of air, but I could be wrong.
I would love to see pics of your helmet with the radio base permanently mounted.

Thanks again,

DF

Joe_Knesek

That would be the Leatt Brace.
http://www.leatt-brace.com/

cgh1

OK, let's see if I can make this picture thing work with my album here on CF... (It sure would be nice to be able to just add photos straight from an album without having to back-surf and go through an extra 4-step process just to get the URLs... if someone knows a way to do so - please inform.)

Also, remember, this is NOT a radio setup - it is a hard-wired seat-to-seat communications system - originally intended for driver to passenger motorcycle applications.

This system is all but ubiquitous among HPDE instructors and I know of some organizations that require their instructors use this system, albeit not many.

Per your request, below are some pic's of my school helmet with the Chatterbox unit mounted. They are mostly self-descriptive.
Hope this helps!

Blurry pic of the whole enchilada:


Full Frontal Nudi... um... View with student headset and my embarrassingly worn-out cheek pads. :


Major components of the chatterbox system "permanently" mounted on my school helmet:


The wires tuck under the edge-gasket, under padding, and in between pads inside the helmet. You can see the slightly displaced edge-gasket in this picture...
Note: The connector that is mounted to the helmet using the white band is not part of a chatterbox system - it's from an old/different comm setup & I simply wired the C-box into it:


Ear pieces (there are two for stereo) are tucked into the ear holes in the helmet. I used some spare padding behind them to place them closer to my ears so that I don't need the volume cranked way up to hear my students, which would be quite uncomfortable for them when I speak :


Picture showing the microphone which is mounted to the unit's base clip. The clip holds both the mic and communicator unit in place and clamps onto the helmet shell, which requires displacing some of the rubber edge gasket:

dfinke23

Thank You.

e3pres

Yeah, and it damn gigantic! I tried on a couple at PRI and they were monstrous for what we do. My choices are down to the HANS and the DefNder. I've tried them both, and honestly, I'm leaning towards the DefNder right now.


AT

dfinke23

Who's Subdriver? I tried to send a PM and was told it wasn't a valid username.