9 replies to this topic

[TNSFH]

Because of this latest fatality in Motor Sports I hope that the HANS device (head and neck restraint)is mandated quickly for all drivers. Some of the CART teams are already using it and has help some of them avoid serious injury.
It drives me nuts to see the NASCAR good old boys still using 3/4 helments instead of full face.
The helmet manufacturers need to get onboard with the HANS and make their helmets compatible with this device.
I am also of the opinion that NASCAR should now mandate a Carbonfiber drivers bucket that surrounds the entire compartment to absorb impact,rollbars just don't cut it any longer.

[JaqFan]

HANS will help prevent neck injury etc, but won't it be a bit of a bother to the drivers (when they want to lean into corners)? I know it's better to be a bit annoyed than to be seriously injured, but still...

[gilles27]

I agree with your feelings about the HANS system. You are inaccurate, however, in the generalization of NASCAR drivers. Very few (in fact I can't think of any) still wear open-face varieties. They may even have been regulated against, though I can't guarantee that. Also, as was evident this past Friday by the tragic death of Kenny Irwin, the system does nothing to counter the effects of "sudden deceleration syndrome". It can prevent the neck from snapping, but trauma from the brain and other organs slamming against the front of the body is not preventable. He wasn't using the system, but it wouldn't have been able to save him in this freak circumstance.

[Ray Bell]

Alfisti has started a thread on this subject, about which he is pretty passionate, in Reader's Comments.. might find some interesting responses there... it's titled 'I repeat, there must be something better to hit'... have a look.

[Mobile_Chicane]

Isn't it going to be compulsory in F1 next year?

[TNSFH]

Sorry about that all, I posted this topic then had computer problems and couldn't respond.

Anyway,
gilles27, A few of them still wear the 3/4 helmets, Dale Earnhart is one. I didn't mean to genralize but I can't see why anyone wouldn't wear a full face.

From what I understand of the HANS device is that it does not limit side to side movement, just forward movement, so your head doesn't become a projectile.

The CART home page has extensive coverage of drivers using the devise.

I'm going to Readers Comments to check out what Alfisti has to say.

[andy_bee]

It does limit the movement from side to side a little but not much. As I remember a strap runs from the device (which is held in place by the belts) through the helmet and back out to the device in a horizontal direction, so if a driver moves his head, the helmet would effecitvely slide along the strap.

[tak]

TNSFH-
The notion that NASCAR needs carbon fiber crash cells is not correct--steel roll structures are still best safety for that particular class of racing.

Carbon Fiber Composit layups, while very strong, are good for 1 impact. In absorbing energy from impact, the composite structure cracks up and delaminates, surrendering the vast majority of it's strength. This is fine for F1, where most impacts are simple, single impacts.

In Nascar, where cars are apt to hit the wall (and each other) several times, they need a ductile metal that will absorb impact energy by bending without breaking. Mild steel tubing and aluminum tubing fit that description perfectly. Since you have to stress relieve aluminum weldments to get them strong and ductile (and car size ovens are rare!), Nascars get mild steel roll cages/tube frames. Note that aircraft grade tubular steels (4130 and the like) are a bad choice because they will not deform as far before breaking....

Also realize that Champ cars and IRL cars have a significant amount of Aluminum Honeycomb in their structure--so they can retain some strength for the secondary impacts.

[Yelnats]

NASCAR desperatly needs the HANS system more than any other major racing series. Due to the high minimum weight limits, the crash cages of these machines can be made immensly stiff and provide almost no energy dissapation in many collisions. This subjects the drivers to much higher loads that the more sophistocated energy absorbent structures
used in road vehicles and some race cars.

F1 has taken a different approach by mandating controlled crushability in frontal, side and rear collisions to limit stresses on drivers, primarily the head/neck area. NASCAR has oversimplified driver protection by assuming a driver can survive if the chassis remains intact. This is costing lives and NASCAR needs to do somthing before more tragedies occur.

[Ross Stonefeld]

The report I heard was that on Adam Petty's initial contact his head moved forward out of the natural head restraints and there was a second almost instantaneous impact at the rear of the car that snapped his head sideways and broke his neck. The severity of the neck breakage caused bone fragments to expand outward and cut the blood lines in his neck, and he bled to death. The common opinion is that if he had been wearing a HANS device he'd still be alive, sadly ironic as his father Kyle is a firm supporter of the HANS system.

Ross Stonefeld
Aztec Group Motorsport