Recreational Helmet Use in the Dunes

Rockwood said:
Yep. I go into detail in the article linked, but the short/skinny is you can turn your head as far as you would without a helmet.

View attachment 134572

The tether slides freely left/right. The only limiting factor would be turning your head so that the anchor moves past the HANS body, which was impossible in my experience.
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These were popular at the MX track years ago, also in Pro SX.
I rarely see people using them anymore, almost like it was a FAD at the track. There has been a ton of discussion on them, pros and cons.
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SLIM said:
These were popular at the MX track years ago, also in Pro SX.
I rarely see people using them anymore, almost like it was a FAD at the track. There has been a ton of discussion on them, pros and cons.
View attachment 134665
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Those are good to keep your neck from straining due to lateral or vertical forces. The HANS is for whiplash type protection. Neck rolls, or the above brace actually add to the force on your neck in a whiplash type accident.
 
acefuture said:
I've said this in other threads as well, but I think the #1 safety tool that is under utilized in our sport is proper harness, seats, and mounting.
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Not to detract from the helmet discussion but do you or anyone else have pictures of good and bad harnesses, seats, and mounting for those of us ( OK maybe it's just me) that haven't seen the difference and are assumed that ours are up to standards?
 
About 10 years ago, I decided to start wearing a helmet in the sand car, about the same time I had to start wearing glasses. Started with a full face street bike helmet. Switched that to a race helmet with a pumper and couldn't be happier. Have way less issues with sand in the eyes with the helmet and pumper than I had with over the glasses goggles. Wife must want to keep me around, got me a carbon fiber helmet and nexgen carbon neck restraint for Christmas. Took some getting used to and an extra minute to get strapped in but after I couple of rides, I don't notice it any longer. What I did notice is that my shoulder harnesses no longer cause my T shirt to rub my neck raw. I also run window nets on the car, prefer them over the wrist restraints.
 
EastMT said:
Not to detract from the helmet discussion but do you or anyone else have pictures of good and bad harnesses, seats, and mounting for those of us ( OK maybe it's just me) that haven't seen the difference and are assumed that ours are up to standards?
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I might start another thread for this. Long story short your belts should not be frayed, less than 5 years old, and mounted properly. You should also ALWAYS have a 5 or 6 point. I was first on scene of an accident where the girl passenger was in a 4 point and she slid out of the bottom and up onto the dash because she didnt have a crotch strap and they went ass over end.

Mounting should be with minimum grade 8 hardware, at least 1/2" hardware. You should not have a gap between the seat post and the mounting point. If there is, you should have it sleeved.

Seats, IMO, should not be suspension seats and should FIT YOU. Others can argue that bucket seats are not necessary in play dune vehicles because they are not "racing". I have had suspension seats in the past and they are comfortable. But in the case of a serious accident your spine will continue to compress further into the seat beyond where it should. Where a bucket will stop the compression. This trend of big seats like Jett Trims with the fancy trim on them is not safe in my opinion. No flack to Jett Trim, they make nice seats, but guys are putting basically couches in their cars that do not do a proper job of actually containing your body inside the seat. I sat in a few high dollar cars at the SSSS this year and you could basically slide across the seat. That is not acceptable in my opinion.

Here is a photo of my setup. Sparco EVO L that I went and sat in for correct fit. I have a race pad in my seat and my passenger seat has a "prerun" pad that is a bit softer. 2" Crow camlock harnesses mounted with pinned clips (passenger has a crotch, it just slid down in the photo). And I strap them down TIGHT. Safety first, comfort second.

IMG_3540.JPG


SLIM said:
These were popular at the MX track years ago, also in Pro SX.
I rarely see people using them anymore, almost like it was a FAD at the track. There has been a ton of discussion on them, pros and cons.
View attachment 134665
Click to expand...
I had one of these on during a crash when I was 17. The brace blew up my collarbone. Doctor said I may be a quadriplegic if I wasn't wearing it. So i'd say it worked for me. But I've heard other break a collarbone because of it when it wasn't necessary.

Sorry to derail your thread Sean.
 
acefuture said:
I might start another thread for this. Long story short your belts should not be frayed, less than 5 years old, and mounted properly. You should also ALWAYS have a 5 or 6 point. I was first on scene of an accident where the girl passenger was in a 4 point and she slid out of the bottom and up onto the dash because she didnt have a crotch strap and they went ass over end.

Mounting should be with minimum grade 8 hardware, at least 1/2" hardware. You should not have a gap between the seat post and the mounting point. If there is, you should have it sleeved.

Seats, IMO, should not be suspension seats and should FIT YOU. Others can argue that bucket seats are not necessary in play dune vehicles because they are not "racing". I have had suspension seats in the past and they are comfortable. But in the case of a serious accident your spine will continue to compress further into the seat beyond where it should. Where a bucket will stop the compression. This trend of big seats like Jett Trims with the fancy trim on them is not safe in my opinion. No flack to Jett Trim, they make nice seats, but guys are putting basically couches in their cars that do not do a proper job of actually containing your body inside the seat. I sat in a few high dollar cars at the SSSS this year and you could basically slide across the seat. That is not acceptable in my opinion.

Here is a photo of my setup. Sparco EVO L that I went and sat in for correct fit. I have a race pad in my seat and my passenger seat has a "prerun" pad that is a bit softer. 2" Crow camlock harnesses mounted with pinned clips (passenger has a crotch, it just slid down in the photo). And I strap them down TIGHT. Safety first, comfort second.

View attachment 134701



I had one of these on during a crash when I was 17. The brace blew up my collarbone. Doctor said I may be a quadriplegic if I wasn't wearing it. So i'd say it worked for me. But I've heard other break a collarbone because of it when it wasn't necessary.

Sorry to derail your thread Sean.
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Thanks for the detailed explaination!
 
acefuture said:
I might start another thread for this. Long story short your belts should not be frayed, less than 5 years old, and mounted properly. You should also ALWAYS have a 5 or 6 point. I was first on scene of an accident where the girl passenger was in a 4 point and she slid out of the bottom and up onto the dash because she didnt have a crotch strap and they went ass over end.

Mounting should be with minimum grade 8 hardware, at least 1/2" hardware. You should not have a gap between the seat post and the mounting point. If there is, you should have it sleeved.

Seats, IMO, should not be suspension seats and should FIT YOU. Others can argue that bucket seats are not necessary in play dune vehicles because they are not "racing". I have had suspension seats in the past and they are comfortable. But in the case of a serious accident your spine will continue to compress further into the seat beyond where it should. Where a bucket will stop the compression. This trend of big seats like Jett Trims with the fancy trim on them is not safe in my opinion. No flack to Jett Trim, they make nice seats, but guys are putting basically couches in their cars that do not do a proper job of actually containing your body inside the seat. I sat in a few high dollar cars at the SSSS this year and you could basically slide across the seat. That is not acceptable in my opinion.

Here is a photo of my setup. Sparco EVO L that I went and sat in for correct fit. I have a race pad in my seat and my passenger seat has a "prerun" pad that is a bit softer. 2" Crow camlock harnesses mounted with pinned clips (passenger has a crotch, it just slid down in the photo). And I strap them down TIGHT. Safety first, comfort second.

View attachment 134701



I had one of these on during a crash when I was 17. The brace blew up my collarbone. Doctor said I may be a quadriplegic if I wasn't wearing it. So i'd say it worked for me. But I've heard other break a collarbone because of it when it wasn't necessary.

Sorry to derail your thread Sean.
Click to expand...
I think suspension seats are fine since the seat compresses instead of your spine.

There was an argument against them due to "preloading", but that's indicative of improper seat/harness installation. At no time should your shoulder belts compress your spine enough to cause injury since the belt should only be at a 0-10* angle. Spine injuries from belts/seats are either from waaaaaaaay to hard a case (at which point the seat won't matter), or from improper belt angle.
 
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