Burkland's Head Restraint system

[landracing]

If you have not read about Burklands head restraint system. Here is the link.

http://www.landracing.com/news/head.htm


Any discussion on system should follow this thread.

Its a real world example, after their wreck, they redesigned the head restraint system to function better. Good read Tom. Thanks for the article and your example that made yours better. Nice well thought out system....

Hmmm, any chance we can recruit you to help with the motorcycle rules??

Jon

[ack]

Tom:

One thing that I noticed on the video is the harness does not have a cross strap to hold the belts together in front of the torso.  The Stroud belts we use have a cross strap to hold them together.  It also looks like to me the straps were not very tight to begin with.  The tethers also appear to be extremely loose Hans recommends 1? of slack.  For an LRS application I would think almost no slack is what you want unless your driver wants to look at the scenery.  This video is from a website, which sells what they claim to be a better product, that always makes me skeptical.

The basic idea behind the Hans type devices is to keep to head from hyper extending during sudden forward impact preventing brain stem injuries.  I believe it is of limited value at Bonneville as there is nothing to hit (55 gallon steel drums being the exception).

One concern I have with the forward helmet restraint is if you look at the video and see how much the torso moves forward if you restrain the helmet and let the torso move forward it may cause compression fracture of the neck.  Similar to what happens when your head hits the windshield in a frontal car accident where the occupant is not well restrained.   The reason air bags are so effective is the fact that they restrain the torso and head equally.  Again I don?t see frontal impact as a great problem at Bonneville.

I am by no means an expert n this subject and you have been there and done that.  Just throwing out some food for thought

[JackD]

soon follow.
 But it is OK to think ahead.
A front impact will occur after the vehicle takes flight and tries to land back on earth
 without the flair that is well known to successful pilots. (place digit in rib here)
The chest belt can be effective to keep the shoulder straps in position but securing
 the ends to the frame will keep you in the protective shape of the seat better.
If a barrel is left in your possible path, you better be on nothing faster than a horse.
Soft track side equipment is a lot friendlier to the entrant and easier in the Insurance.

[landracing]

Good response Ack,

I hope Tom will post a resonse to your message so we all can see maybe his view on your comments.

Jon