drivemusicnow
15+ Year Contributor
- 1,444
- 30
- Nov 15, 2004
-
Germany,
Europe
I wanted to start this thread as I've been doing a lot of research recently on safety. I'm going to try and keep all the politics out of it (regarding SFI and FIA etc) and provide a brief guide to what is required at what levels.
I'd also like to make the distinction between road racing, and time trials/HPDE/OT.
For TimeTrials/HPDE/OT you can use stock seats, stock belts, and stock pretty much everything else too. At some point, this becomes dangerous and in reality that point is different for different people. If your car is significantly faster than stock, you should take the proper safety precautions necessary to insure that you can survive a crash.
Seats, Harnesses and Cages/rollbars all go together. You can't put a cage in without a proper racing seat and harness, or put a racing seat in with out harnesses and a cage, etc.
For racing there are a few rules that are mandatory, such as head and neck restraints (new as of this last year), Right side lateral impact protection, roll bar padding etc.
I'm not familiar with all of the club rules, but here are some general rules of thumb. (Consult your sanctioning bodies before doing any purchasing)
Helmets: SA2000 or sa2005 rating is required. Helmets are good for 10 years from the rating, so if you buy a helmet with a 2005 rating, it should be good until 2015. This is something you do not want to go cheap on. I would much prefer spending minimal amounts on a suit, gloves and shoes, and spending a bit more on a helmet. Get something that is comfortable to wear, and provides enough vision to not be an issue.
Head and neck restraint: NASA requires that you have an SFI 38.1 legal head and neck restraint system. This would be a HANS, R3, Hybrid, leatt brace, or defNder TID. SCCA and others have not required this yet.
Harnesses: SFI rated harnesses are only good for 2 years. FIA rated belts are good for 5 years. Any 5-6-7 point race harness is typically legal, cheaper side of things would be the G-force belts, for about 150$. These can range up to about 350$ or so.
Seats: FIA legal seats don't require back braces and can be mounted to sliders. I think that a non FIA seat with a back brace, or an FIA with a back brace is really the way to go. Lots of companies make these and they're fairly easy to find.
Lateral protection: Every organization requires a window net. These are cheap, but have to be mounted in a "quick release" manner and typically require adding brackets on to the cage. The two styles available are the mesh type, and the ribbon type. The mesh type offers significantly better visibility. For the passanger side protection, you typically need either a full containment seat, or a small triangular right side net. These are easy to install if you have a full roll cage as they attach to the main hoop, your harness bar, and your dash bar. This also must be quick release.
Clothing: This one is pretty self explanatory as you just buy the suit, gloves, and shoes that fit your rule book and budget. Again, G-Force racing will probably be your cheapest legal option, and prices will go up significantly from there. Again, NASA requires a 1 piece suit, versus others that allow two piece suits.
Fire extinguisher: You are required to have a fire extinguisher on board. It has to have a metal mount and be a quick release type. I would recommend have a fire system, however different budgets allow different things.
Roll bar padding: It needs to be SFI legal anywhere that your head might hit. I'd also suggest having said padding on the dash bar of your cage. Without it, that bar becomes the shin breaking bar.
Those are all of the basics for "safety stuff" to buy. I'd love to hear personal accounts of quality and non quality gear that people have experience with. I personally think that G-Force makes decent legal stuff for the inexpensive cost involved. Not necessarily the most comfortable, but at half the price, I'm typically okay with it. I'm picking up a new schroth harness though as I like them a lot better.
I'd also like to make the distinction between road racing, and time trials/HPDE/OT.
For TimeTrials/HPDE/OT you can use stock seats, stock belts, and stock pretty much everything else too. At some point, this becomes dangerous and in reality that point is different for different people. If your car is significantly faster than stock, you should take the proper safety precautions necessary to insure that you can survive a crash.
Seats, Harnesses and Cages/rollbars all go together. You can't put a cage in without a proper racing seat and harness, or put a racing seat in with out harnesses and a cage, etc.
For racing there are a few rules that are mandatory, such as head and neck restraints (new as of this last year), Right side lateral impact protection, roll bar padding etc.
I'm not familiar with all of the club rules, but here are some general rules of thumb. (Consult your sanctioning bodies before doing any purchasing)
Helmets: SA2000 or sa2005 rating is required. Helmets are good for 10 years from the rating, so if you buy a helmet with a 2005 rating, it should be good until 2015. This is something you do not want to go cheap on. I would much prefer spending minimal amounts on a suit, gloves and shoes, and spending a bit more on a helmet. Get something that is comfortable to wear, and provides enough vision to not be an issue.
Head and neck restraint: NASA requires that you have an SFI 38.1 legal head and neck restraint system. This would be a HANS, R3, Hybrid, leatt brace, or defNder TID. SCCA and others have not required this yet.
Harnesses: SFI rated harnesses are only good for 2 years. FIA rated belts are good for 5 years. Any 5-6-7 point race harness is typically legal, cheaper side of things would be the G-force belts, for about 150$. These can range up to about 350$ or so.
Seats: FIA legal seats don't require back braces and can be mounted to sliders. I think that a non FIA seat with a back brace, or an FIA with a back brace is really the way to go. Lots of companies make these and they're fairly easy to find.
Lateral protection: Every organization requires a window net. These are cheap, but have to be mounted in a "quick release" manner and typically require adding brackets on to the cage. The two styles available are the mesh type, and the ribbon type. The mesh type offers significantly better visibility. For the passanger side protection, you typically need either a full containment seat, or a small triangular right side net. These are easy to install if you have a full roll cage as they attach to the main hoop, your harness bar, and your dash bar. This also must be quick release.
Clothing: This one is pretty self explanatory as you just buy the suit, gloves, and shoes that fit your rule book and budget. Again, G-Force racing will probably be your cheapest legal option, and prices will go up significantly from there. Again, NASA requires a 1 piece suit, versus others that allow two piece suits.
Fire extinguisher: You are required to have a fire extinguisher on board. It has to have a metal mount and be a quick release type. I would recommend have a fire system, however different budgets allow different things.
Roll bar padding: It needs to be SFI legal anywhere that your head might hit. I'd also suggest having said padding on the dash bar of your cage. Without it, that bar becomes the shin breaking bar.
Those are all of the basics for "safety stuff" to buy. I'd love to hear personal accounts of quality and non quality gear that people have experience with. I personally think that G-Force makes decent legal stuff for the inexpensive cost involved. Not necessarily the most comfortable, but at half the price, I'm typically okay with it. I'm picking up a new schroth harness though as I like them a lot better.
