Head and neck restraint for streamliner

[pofg]

The Mega upright one T-Man... 40 degs. But the guys from Stand 21 will meet you at any of the SCTA meetings and fit you in your car if u request. That's what I always do.
Cheers

[Tman]

Thanks Rick, I have not gotten that far yet, still looking and learning.

[JoshH]

FYI guys

HANS just released an adjustable angle version a month or so ago which will help take some of the mystery out of selecting the correct angle.

http://hansdevice.com/Hans-Device-Adjustable-Series

[Tman]

FWIW we originally started with an SS R3 Rage for our lakester that had been "modified" to apparently stay in the car.  It had a receiver "pad" that was mounted to the seat and the hard back piece velcro'd into it.  I guess you could either rip yourself out of the velco and leave the device on or you could unstrap it and come out of the car without it.  This configuration wound up pushing the driver forward some and it overall just didn't "feel right".  We wound up using a regular ol' HANS with no problems.

Nate, this is the unit we use in Tims pickup (I just remembered it re-reading your post). The velcro to the seat works great for the driver getting out. I may borrow Tims this winter and see how it works in the lakester

[NathanStewart]

You'd get laughed out of the paddock if you rocked up with one of those to a European race meeting and given the huge amount of money HANS/Mercedes/Formula 1 put into the HANS I just can't see how the rival stuff has been developed to the same degree.

I'll say it now... this is a little tongue in cheek but seriously, you'll get laughed out of the pits at Speed Week if you start too many stories with "you'd get laughed out of the paddock at a European race" or say things like  "huge amounts of money... HANS/Mercedes/Formula 1... I just can't fathom how they could be the same...".  Wrong crowd dude.  Also, if two different devices are both SFI/FIA rated then I guess those two organizations would seem to think they're the same.

[pofg]

Appreciate your comment Nate. But I'm not afraid of attracting a bit of ridicule here when I think peoples lives are at stake.

I personally would not wear any of the other SFI approved devices. Because while they are SFI approved, the majority aren't FIA approved. So you WOULD get laughed out of tech inspection if you showed up with them in Europe.

AND I am well aware how much cash was spent developing the HANS and I doubt that any of the other solutions have the same financial investment behind them.

Safety standards are different the World over. For example there is a British Standard for Crash Helmets. So to protect the British manufacturers you are allowed to wear these in UK races. If I showed up for tech with one on the Salt, Kiwi and Adam would take me to one side and ask me if I was "f*cking serious?". They are a total disgrace, one good tap with a hammer and they'll split in 2. So just because you are allowed to wear things, sometimes it doesn't mean you should.

Apologies if post is a bit feisty, but got into a big debate a few years ago with a circuit racer about the cost of a HANS. He was unable to accept that there was a development cost behind it and saw "just a bit of bent carbon" which was "f*cking uncomfortable" in the car because he was a big bloke.
Before the end of that season, he speared off the circuit and hit a marshalling post. A HANS would have saved him. He left a young wife and 2 small kids.

Rick

[doug odom]

Just measured our liner. The seat is 65 degrees lay down. Anyone found a good Hans for that?

Doug in big ditch

[NathanStewart]

I don't know about anything "home made" as we don't allow anything that isn't an engineered system, but one of the "trussed up like a turkey" systems you're probably thinking about is both SFI & FIA rated.  Ever hear the joke about the U.S. spending millions of dollars developing "space pens" that could write in any condition including zero gravity during the space-race years and the Soviets just used pencils.  Money doesn't always win and those only-SFI-rated devices have been proven to save lives as well as the HANS has. 

I'll keep from digging into a larger SFI vs FIA discussion but on a closing note, while I was inspecting the Gus Gus streamliner two years ago I was questioning some of the tech and safety stuff on their car as it wasn't really what we're used to seeing and some stranger comes up to me and says "well that's how they do it in Formula 1... that's how they do it in Indy..."  I looked at him and said "gee, I thought we were on the Bonneville salt flats...".  He said the same thing again later when I told them they'd need to change some things (mind you he wasn't with the Gus Gus team) and I looked at him and said that if he knew so much about Formula 1 and Indy then maybe he should do the tech inspection at which point he finally shut up and walked away.

[pofg]

Nate,
Completely valid point that we are building for the Salt and not F1 here.
But I do worry about the "alternative" head restraint solutions. I'm not saying they won't work, but I've been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with one of the guys who invented HANS and know the full story of the development process: not only the cash, but the time and the evolutions of the idea plus the experts who helped them: top medics from top race series plus top surgeons in the spinal field. Not to mention that because it was being put into F1, they got a large manufacturer who ran a series of (extremely expensive) crash tests for them. I really don't see this sort of depth of investment having been put into the other solutions so I would always choose the HANS personally, not for me, but because I have 3 little kids.
Clearly I should disclose here that my father-in-law is one of the approved manufacturers for HANS, but I have no financial interest, it is purely that I've been lucky enough to see the testing process, hear the stories and meet the people first hand. I could happily not care what people choose to screw their heads to their shoulders with, but I would like people to be informed in the choice they make.
Over and out!
Rick