We now have a requirement for lateral head restraints which limit the
side to side head movement to less than 2 inches on each side. In my
case that was pretty doable. I purchased the 45.2 SFI foam from ISP and
the owner told me how to mold and shape it to fit my car. That seemed
to have worked out well for me. Longitudinal head restraint is what we
have all been chattering away at ala the Head And Neck Support or HANS
device. I know there are places where I can purchase just the lanyards
which attach to my helmet and then to some sort of structure. Those
work but in our particular scenarios, may themselves cause some isues.
For instance, in the case of a fire in the cockpit, I could envision a
situation where the release straps themselves are burned off to the
point where a panicky driver could not find the release lanyards or get
out of the cage because he could not get his head out as it is tethered
to structure. Even those which have the back board strapped to the
driver may not offer enough forward movement to get out in the lanyards
are not released.
Now, how about a latching mechanism ala our seat belts? Our lap
restraints in our street vehcilels have belts with inertia mechanisms
which lock up when a load (impact) happens. Could somehing like that be
adapted to prevent forward whip lash by ataching to the helmet? I could
see something like this with a bit of development. Also there are
inertia switches on virtually every new car made today to kill the fuel
pump for the EFI. Could that switch be adapted to latch a head restraint
in the event of impact and then release so many seconds after that?
This also seens to be a configuration which is doable.
The reason I hate to have my head restraints be unuseable by me in
getting out of the car is the same reason given for the use of an SFI
/20 fore suit. The time it takes for the safety crews to get to me. I
have to be self sufficient for some amount of time. That means if I am
trapped in the cage, on fire with the release sraps damaged to the
pooint where I cannot find or use them, I may in fact burn to death in
the car. That would be a bad day. On the various venues where the track
is roughly circular the time for safety to arrive is significantly
shortened and that is of less concern. So, are there alternatives to
the HANS device that might be useable? I think the BNI and USFRA should
take the lead in researching this issue, because they have the longest
venues (11 miles?) and then perhaps issuing some requests to companies
for development of a device specific to our sport.
Any additional thoughts?
mayf, rested up now, headed back to the front yard to whip the jungle
into shape...
_______________________________________________
Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
Land-speed mailing list
http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/land-speed
|