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1976 Niki Lauda AGV Helmet: Seeking Historical Information


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#1 A7an

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Posted 07 February 2016 - 18:15

1976 Niki Lauda AGV Helmet

 

Seeking Historical Information:

 

The Niki Lauda AGV F1 helmet, in the attached Google photos link, was given to me by the senior legal & testing staff at Bell Helmets. In the early to mid 1990’s I was an industrial designer with Bell Helmets. During my early time with Bell the senior staff members came to understand Niki Lauda was a childhood hero of mine. The helmet was a birthday gift during my second year, of six+, with the company. 

 

What we do know about this helmet:

 

Niki Lauda submitted at least two of his AGV helmets to Bell for testing and evaluation upon signing with Bell Helmets for the 1977 season. My understanding is that one of the two helmets was destroyed during impact testing in the Bell Helmets test facility. 

 

We understand this helmet was used by Niki during on track testing.

We are not sure if the helmet was used in competition.

 

Questions: 

 

1) In the mid 1970’s how many helmets did F1 drivers typically use during the course of a season barring incident or damage?

 

2) Would there be any tech inspection markings on helmets used in competition during this era?

 

3) Are there any other ways to determine when this particular helmet may have been used in on track testing or competition?

 

 

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

 

The following is a link to my Google photos:

 

https://goo.gl/photo...M5uLHgEcctTKEH7

 
 


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#2 funformula

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Posted 07 February 2016 - 21:55

The Lauda helmet destroyed in impact testing you mentioned above remind me of a story I read many years ago (in an Bell helmet advertisment?) if my memory serves me right.

It must have been around 1977 when Emerson Fittipaldi visited the Bell factory, he was wearing AGV helmets that year. The Bell guys showed him the same type of AGV-F1 helmet Fittipaldi was wearing (probably the Lauda helmet you mentioned above) after the Bell testing procedere where they rammed an arrow-shaped weight onto the helmet shell.

The AGV helmet ended with a large hole in the shell whereas a Bell helmet had no significant damage after the same procedure.

As a former Bell employee you may confirm this story.

 

Wonder if that was the reason Fittipaldi was wearing Bell helmets the following year.



#3 Dale Harvey

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Posted 08 February 2016 - 06:00

I seem to remember there was a bit of an uproar to do with his helmet after Lauda's accident at the Nurburgring in 1976. He was wearing the AGV and I think it may have come off during the accident. I am happy to be corrected on this because I am not 100% sure but I think he never used that style helmet again.

Dale.



#4 funformula

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Posted 08 February 2016 - 08:13

Yes, Laudas helmet came off during the accident at the Nuerburgring, but he stayed true to his contract with AGV during 1976 and changend to Bell not before 1977.

If you watch footage of his comeback race at Monza 1976 you can clearly see him wearing the AGV-helmet. There are pictures you can see that they cut out large sections of the helmet padding due to Laudas burned face/right ear.



#5 Wirra

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Posted 08 February 2016 - 08:39

... The AGV helmet ended with a large hole in the shell whereas a Bell helmet had no significant damage after the same procedure....

 

One needs to be very careful in the conclusion one draws from such test, or the innuendo one implies Deformation is part of the impact attenuation attribute. A thick steel helmet would eliminate most penetrations but transmit all impact force to one's brain.



#6 chr1s

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Posted 13 February 2017 - 23:09

 he stayed true to his contract with AGV during 1976

 


 

Not entirely, Lauda preferred to wear a Bell helmet (with AGV stickers on it) and did so for the first four races of 1976.  He did use the AGV X1 in Belgium, Monaco and Sweden but for France he went back to the Bell. Apparently this was to do with the AGV moving around on high G force circuits. He used the AGV from Brands Hatch onwards until the end of the season, although the chin straps were modified after Germany.



#7 E1pix

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Posted 14 February 2017 - 18:56

I've long wondered what made Niki go back to the AGV after Germany.

Was he convinced a broken strap or mount was acceptable in such a crash? Was he honoring a contract? Or was he somehow assured it couldn't possibly happen again, maybe from a change in design?

#8 PCC

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Posted 14 February 2017 - 19:02

I've long wondered what made Niki go back to the AGV after Germany.

Was he convinced a broken strap or mount was acceptable in such a crash? Was he honoring a contract? Or was he somehow assured it couldn't possibly happen again, maybe from a change in design?

I can't remember the source, but I do recall reading somewhere that AGV had been very accommodating in customizing their helmet in order to make it wearable over his extremely tender injuries. If that's true, it may have been one factor.



#9 E1pix

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Posted 14 February 2017 - 19:15

Thanks Peter, I could imagine that being enough right there!

#10 PCC

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Posted 14 February 2017 - 20:36

Thanks Peter, I could imagine that being enough right there!

Unfortunately, I can't recall – or find – the source, so I don't know if it's true!



#11 D-Type

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Posted 15 February 2017 - 14:02

I've long wondered what made Niki go back to the AGV after Germany.

Was he convinced a broken strap or mount was acceptable in such a crash? Was he honoring a contract? Or was he somehow assured it couldn't possibly happen again, maybe from a change in design?

Could it be that under the particular circumstances of the Nurburgring accident a Bell helmet might also have come off?  

 

And, as with all accidents, once the facts were known all those involved (including AGV) would do their damnedest to ensure there wasn't a repeat.  A bit like the railway safety rule book acquiring a new chapter with each serious accident.



#12 E1pix

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Posted 15 February 2017 - 14:17

Fair point, Duncan. It was quite odd, though.

#13 Jon Saltinstall

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Posted 10 May 2017 - 05:48

I'm sure I recall reading in a contemporary race report that Lauda's helmet was knocked off by a catch fencing pole during his Nurburgring accident. I would need to find this again to check it out, but it does raise some questions if it's true; not least, if the retaining chin straps had been stronger, and the helmet hadn't been knocked off, then it would conceivably have broken his neck....



#14 Sterzo

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Posted 10 May 2017 - 20:45

...if the retaining chin straps had been stronger, and the helmet hadn't been knocked off, then it would conceivably have broken his neck....

 

Way back in the seventies I corresponded briefly with a helmet manufacturer's representative. (To my rage and shame, I can't remember which make). He told me that the retaining bolts for the straps were designed to break at a certain strain, for exactly the reason you state. As Wirra implies in his 2016 post, a helmet is a sacrificial item intended to sustain damage as a means of absorbing forces, rather than transmitting them to the head.

 

As to Lauda's 1976 accident, I too heard that the helmet had come off and there was a suggestion (whether justified I know not) that he'd used a size that was too big. Sounds unlikely but might have been a factor. Everything was much more haphazard in those days.



#15 PeterElleray

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Posted 10 May 2017 - 22:28

You can see that Niki is wearing only his balaclava in the video of the accident, this is after the impact wiith the  rock face and just before Lunger's Surtees rammed the Ferrari  further down the track. It was already on fire, but it was before  the flames had really developed. We know the helmet landed in his lap, along with his medical air supply, from the testimony of the driver's who pulled him out of the car. The only bit that i have been unable to work out is how it came to get burnt down there, Niki had no burns to his lower body or overalls. I think we discussed this at length some time ago, possibly in the thread on 'Rush'?



#16 Cirrus

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Posted 12 May 2017 - 11:11

Way back in the seventies I corresponded briefly with a helmet manufacturer's representative. (To my rage and shame, I can't remember which make). He told me that the retaining bolts for the straps were designed to break at a certain strain, for exactly the reason you state. As Wirra implies in his 2016 post, a helmet is a sacrificial item intended to sustain damage as a means of absorbing forces, rather than transmitting them to the head.

 

As to Lauda's 1976 accident, I too heard that the helmet had come off and there was a suggestion (whether justified I know not) that he'd used a size that was too big. Sounds unlikely but might have been a factor. Everything was much more haphazard in those days.

That would probably be Griffin Helmets. The straps weren't designed to break, it was the mounting bolts, described by Terrry Ogilvie-Hardy of Griffin as "frangible". When I worked for Gordon Spice (the distributor) I had a drawer full of non-frangible bolt kits for those people who bizarrely decided that they wanted to wear a helmet that didn't come off in an accident...

 

The story I heard at the time about Lauda's AVG X1 was that there was only one shell size for that helmet and the different sizes were obtained by adjusting the padding within the helmet. Lauda had a small head and therefore had a lot of padding. In addition, the chinstrap was quite near the front of the helmet so when the helmet hit the headrest, the padding compressed enough for the chinstrap to come off his chin - there was no actual breakage.


Edited by Cirrus, 12 May 2017 - 11:14.