HPDE Safety Equipment

[gatorac]

After hearing of the news of the driver killed at an HPDE event at Road Atlanta, The management and Chief Instructors of the group I'm with put our heads together. The conversation was about what we could do to stay ahead of the curve on safety at our events. We all agreed there was a gap in coaching and education for the intermediate driver. There are often basic safety items that the intermediate driver just isn't aware of.

Given the recent discussion about safety I thought I would share some copy I put together on a basic safety item progression that makes sense for the type of accident we are most likely to see at an HPDE event. I wrote this so it represents my opinions only.

Basic Safety Recommendations for HPDE events

While many new drivers want to make modifications to their car, they often overlook some basic safety upgrades in lieu of performance upgrades. A newer driver will almost always benefit from more seat time and coaching then performance modifications. In an effort to help prevent new and intermediate drivers from making the same mistakes as I did, here is a list of safety items that you should consider investing in prior to performance upgrades. I am listing this in what I believe is a logical order of importance based on the types of incidents that are most probable at an HPDE.

1. Helmet. This seems like a no brainer since you already have to have one to get on track. Think about what helmet you would buy if you were planning on driving into a wall at 80 mph intentionally. Would you buy the cheapest one you could find? I didn’t think so. Talk with Ron at supporting vendor name removed and remember your Chin Wins discount.
2. HANS. It’s a well-known fact that basilar skull fractures were the leading cause of fatalities in auto racing for years. Your neck and skull weren’t designed to carry the extra weight of a helmet when your body is decelerating at a high rate. Most HANS devices are designed to be used with a 4,5 or 6 point harness. However, there is some benefit to using one with your stock seat belts. One thing is for sure, you don’t want the harness without the HANS so I’m listing this first. Search Google for “Head and Neck Restraints”, or talk to Ron at supporting vendor name removed.
   
3. Properly Installed Harness. A poorly installed harness will provide less protection than your factory seat belts in an accident. So always make sure to follow the manufacturers install guidelines for installation. For a 4 point harness, it must have ASM technology built into it or your body will slide out from under it in an accident. Scroth is one of the leading manufacturer of this type of 4 point harness and sells them as direct fit for many makes and models. Search Google for “Scroth ASM”. A 5 or 6 point harness is even better but may require a different seat, harness bar, roll cage or all 3. Again, make sure they are installed properly. I’ve seen many people install a 5 point harness with no sub belt. I will not ride in a car set up like that. In an accident, your shoulders move forward and the lap belt slides up. This squishes your guts and crushes your back. A harness will most likely not be DOT approved so keeping your factory belts for street driving should be considered.
4. Harness bar. A harness bar is available for many of today’s performance cars. These typically install in the seat belt shoulder strap mounting holes and provide a firm mount for a 4-5 or 6 point harness. Many instructors and drivers are wary of using a harness bar without a roll bar. The thought is that in a roll-over, the harness will hold you upright and you have nothing but the factor roll-over protection from crushing the roof in on your head. In a side impact on the street, it is unknown how the harness bar will perform. The possibility exist that it may "fold" in one direction or the other. The direction it may fold may not be ideal. My opinion is that we are far more likely in an HPDE setting to hit something hard head on or with the side of the car then we are to roll over. I would much rather hit something head on with a proper harness and HANS than the factory 3 point belt. Make your own decision based on what’s important to you. If you have a convertible with no factory roll over protection, the choice is pretty clear to get a roll bar with a harness bar. Searching the Autocross-HPDE section on your cars internet forum is a great place to get some more info on harness bars that may be available for your car.
5. Race Seat. A race seat could also be consider a performance upgrade as well as a safety item. The extra support keeps you from bracing yourself with the steering wheel or knees. It enhances the entire driving experience as the G-forces and feedback from the car can be felt through the seat of the pants much better. As with the harness bar there are some differing opinions on what’s acceptable for mounting a seat. The correct way would be to have it mounted directly to the cage in a fixed position with the back support from the roll bar. This may not be realistic for many of our street cars. Be aware that while you can mount the seat to the factory sliders, this could be a compromise of ultimate safety. Also consider the fact that you may lose your side airbags or altar their performance if your street car has them. My seat is mounted to factory rails.
6. Roll bar. A roll bar is a step up from the harness bar and eliminates the discussion about roll-over protection vs having a 5 point harness. With a roll bar it is imperative that the bar be padded with SFI spec padding on any tube that may come in contact with your head. In even a minor wreck your helmet could wack the steel tubing and cause some real damage to your head and brains. Seriously this is important. The crappy foam stuff that’s used to cover plumbing pipes is no good. It doesn’t provide enough resistance and your helmet would still contact the tubing. SFI spec padding feels like it’s as hard as wood. It’s made that way for a reason. Don’t skimp on this or I may hunt you down and spray paint “dork” on your helmet. If this is a daily driven street car and your head can reach the bar, well, it's gonna suck if your head hits that bar with no helmet on even with SFI padding on it.
7. Roll Cage. at this point in the recommendation we are well beyond what would be considered acceptable for a street car while driving on the street. A roll cage is the ultimate in safety and really completes the package of protecting the driver in the event the car impacts or is impacted by something. Proper design and installation is important and is best left to a race shop such as Sick Sideways to fabricate and install. Like with #6, it is imperative that the bars be padded anywhere there is the slightest possibility of driver contact with the bar. Don’t make me come over there with my spray paint.
8. 8. Fire System. On onboard fire system will give you the peace of mind knowing you have a solution on the outside chance your car should catch on fire. A blown engine or other oil leak can quickly turn into a fire that you may not even notice until you come to a stop and the car is completely engulfed. Ron at supporting vendor name removed has systems available and would be happy to help you choose what makes sense for your car.
9. Spec E30 or similar race prepped car. At some point in your driving career, you may find yourself coming to the realization that you enjoy driving a car on the very limits of its capability but you don’t want to assume the risk of going “too” fast. Spec E30, Spec Miata or other similarly prepared race cars, are a great option for this. They are inexpensive, safe, reliable and can transfer into racing should you ever decide to try wheel to wheel competition. If you like to wrench yourself, the knowledge base on the internet of these cars is extensive. Rest assured you won’t find yourself with a problem no one has had before. If you prefer to have someone else take care of your car, there are several race shops such as supporting vendor name removed that will prep, maintain and even transport it to the track for you.

In conclusion I want to leave you with a few points to consider as you move your way through the hobby. We always mention that you are in control of your safety. Keep in mind though that the situation that puts you in danger may not be something you can control. Think about a car that blows an engine in front of you and puts down oil on the track. If you hit that oil you will lose control of your car. That’s a fact Jack. We cannot escape the laws of physics. So the control that we must take in our own safety is realizing that situation could present itself. Making sure that the top speed we are going at any point on the track is within the limits of the car and our safety gear to protect us. We must also be diligent about driving within our ability. This is a place where we see the intermediate driver often start have issues. They are unaware of the mistakes they are making, what they really need to work on to get faster and begin to push too hard. I urge you to recognize when this is happening to you, bring yourself back under control and ask for some coaching. Chin Motorsports is set up so that we regularly have instructors available for advanced coaching for a session as a benefit to our regular intermediate drivers. Another thing to consider while upgrading our safety equipment is the impact that may have on the street safety of the car. Some upgrades may compromise the factory safety equipment, void a warranty or even have issues with your insurance company in the event of a wreck. Make educated decisions based on what's important to you.

Drive Well.
Jim Pomroy

[CSG Mike]

And, welcome to making a car COMPLETELY unsafe for street use. You just outlined a car that is essentially a race prepped car, that is no longer streetable.

The idea, while great, is not feasible for the general public that wants to just get some seat time at the track. Someone who has to seriously ask themselves if they want to invest in a set of race pads and brake fluid for a track day will only be turned off by a recommendation for $6000+ in safety equipment.

[gatorac]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

And, welcome to making a car COMPLETELY unsafe for street use. You just outlined a car that is essentially a race prepped car, that is no longer streetable.

The idea, while great, is not feasible for the general public that wants to just get some seat time at the track.

Uh what? I'm either a really bad writer or you missed something. Ok, I know I'm a bad writer but I still think you missed something. Until you get to number 6, I don't see an unsafe street car. A 4 point ASM harness with a HANS isn't feasable? Seriously? $1000 is too much to spend on safety equipment on a $26k car with $5k of performance upgrades? A harness bar makes your car dangerous on the street?

Thanks for the feedback though. I will add a sentence about a roll bar being an issue on the street if your head can contact it.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by gatorac

Uh what? I'm either a really bad writer or you missed something. Ok, I know I'm a bad writer but I still think you missed something. Until you get to number 6, I don't see an unsafe street car. A 4 point ASM harness with a HANS isn't feasable? Seriously? $1000 is too much to spend on safety equipment on a $26k car with $5k of performance upgrades? A harness bar makes your car dangerous on the street?

Thanks for the feedback though. I will add a sentence about a roll bar being an issue on the street if your head can contact it.

Have you ever seen what happens when a car gets t-boned on the street, with a harness bar? That bar's gonna bend and it's gotta go somewhere. Sometimes, it goes places you don't want it to go.

Race seat - deletes side airbag. If you get into an accident, good luck getting insurance to cover your medical bills, after they find out you deleted a core safety component of the car.

Roll bar - Depends on the person, but still a risk

Harness - Absolutely , 100%, illegal on the streets (we're not debating the merits in terms of safety, but legality). Also, see above regarding insurance and an accident


Just how you're trying to prepare HPDE drivers for a worst case scenario at the track, I'm comparing that prepped car against the worst case scenario on the street.

I absolutely agree that safety equipment is important on the track, but track/racing safety equipment does NOT belong in a street car.

[gatorac]

Well you don't wear the 4 point while driving on the street. That's the beauty of it. You don't have to remove your factory belts. I'd be interested to see some pics of a t-boned car with a harness bar.

Not everybody is just bringing their daily driver to the track. At least not at the events I'm seeing. Heck, not even in my journey through the hobby. I had a car in a trailer by year 2. For example, last event at Sebring I had a check ride in a 350z for an intermediate driver. This car was devoid of most of its interior, had a roll bar and some race seats in it. He had harnesses in the car with no sub belt. He had no HANS. This was after I wrote the copy above and I refused to ride in the car. He had no idea the danger he was in.

This was aimed at the intermediate driver.

[CSG Mike]

Keep in mind that motorsports in general cost far more on the east coast, than on the west coast. We have $80 track days here, and on any given weekend, in SoCal, there are typically 4-7 events going on where you can drive.

At the HPDE level out here, I'd say over 90% are driving street cars that see regular street use.

[gatorac]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Keep in mind that motorsports in general cost far more on the east coast, than on the west coast. We have $80 track days here, and on any given weekend, in SoCal, there are typically 4-7 events going on where you can drive.

At the HPDE level out here, I'd say over 90% are driving street cars that see regular street use.

It's a different world over there for sure. Come to think of it, not only have I not been to SoCal this year, I haven't been there ever. This year I only got as far West as COTA, South as far as Homestead and North as far as Palmer. Or maybe Watkins Glen or Road America is farther North? IDK, I'm too lazy to look at a map right now.

I think a qualifier about when you begin to possibly compromise street safety could be added. The driver needs to decide what's important to them. I've had cars that I drove on the street but drove them on the track more. For me the track safety was more important.

[gatorac]

I added/edited to include some information on how some upgrades may impact street driving. I appreciate your insight.

The recent wreck at Road Atlanta was an intermediate driver with no instructor. From what I heard the car had a factory seat and belt. It was the opinion of the shop that loaded the car up after the event that if it had a race seat, harness and HANS, the driver may not have given his life for the hobby he clearly loved. My understanding of the incident may be completely wrong. I still felt compelled to share information with the 1000's of drivers I touch at events throughout the year. At the end of first intermediate meeting I did, 2 drivers wanted to know where they could buy a HANS right now. Obviously they had a harness in their car. They had no idea of the real risks.

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by gatorac

The recent wreck at Road Atlanta was an intermediate driver with no instructor. From what I heard the car had a factory seat and belt. It was the opinion of the shop that loaded the car up after the event that if it had a race seat, harness and HANS, the driver may not have given his life for the hobby he clearly loved. My understanding of the incident may be completely wrong. I still felt compelled to share information with the 1000's of drivers I touch at events throughout the year. At the end of first intermediate meeting I did, 2 drivers wanted to know where they could buy a HANS right now. Obviously they had a harness in their car. They had no idea of the real risks.

Thanks for starting this thread. As an intermediate/advanced HPDE driver, I found it informative to see the different types of safety equipment listed out like that. I don't think this has really been a point of emphasis in the classroom sessions I've attended, so it was useful.

About the incident at Road Atlanta, I've heard it was caused by a mechanical failure on the driver's SN95 Mustang. Do you have any data on whether most crashes are caused by mechanical failures vs. driver error? Just wondering whether a stronger emphasis should be placed on preventative vehicle upkeep/maintenance (instead or in addition to driver training and track safety equipment).

[GSpeed]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

Just wondering whether a stronger emphasis should be placed on preventative vehicle upkeep/maintenance.

Based on what we see, absolutely. It's more rare than it should be for a customer to come to us and ask for a nut/bolt between races. They're probably not doing it themselves, given the condition of the car when it finally returns to us with a failure that was 100% preventable. Hence the term "preventative maintenance."

I would argue that it's equally important to remove airbags in a car that's running harnesses. I'm sure we've all seen the Honda commercial that shows how critical airbag deployment timing is in an accident. Safety systems are just that, systems. But as we all know, people compromise and ignore safety recommendations in the name of cost. Every time our driver goes on track in our BRZ he's in a full suit, gloves, HANS device, and EJECT helmet removal system. When the 4-point goes in, the airbag comes out.

You will not see our car half-assing safety. It's either a street car, or a track car. Some things shouldn't be compromised, however inconvenient it may be.

[Sleepless]

Nice list OP and good words of wisdom from @CSG Mike and @PST.

I'm looking forward to the next @Beastronix / @86Nanny unit that allows me to turn off the airbags at the track

[smbstyle]

Also for head and neck restraints, I've picked up the Simpson Hybrid Sport since I routinely hop into street cars on the track, and it is a bit better of a system for OEM belts than the HANS (I've always got my HANS though when running a harness).

For those of you with HANS posts on your helmets, that do the same (street car to track car routinely at the same events), the Hybrid posts are the same as the HANS posts, so you can switch back and forth without changing the helmet posts; just make sure you order it with "Post clip tethers and post anchors".

[gatorac]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

About the incident at Road Atlanta, I've heard it was caused by a mechanical failure on the driver's SN95 Mustang. Do you have any data on whether most crashes are caused by mechanical failures vs. driver error? Just wondering whether a stronger emphasis should be placed on preventative vehicle upkeep/maintenance (instead or in addition to driver training and track safety equipment).

I heard the same thing. You know, there's so many things that deserve stronger emphasis when we consider safety on the track. Car prep is most certainly one of the things that the driver/car owner has the most control over. When we think about how we can mitigate the risks we take on the track, car prep is high on the list.

I don't have exact statistics to share on causes of accidents. It may be difficult to separate the two. I've seen an incident that the driver swears something must have broken when no evidence of it can be found. I've seen a driver use his experience and skill to not crash after a mechanical failure.

[smbstyle]

Originally Posted by DarkSunrise

Thanks for starting this thread. As an intermediate/advanced HPDE driver, I found it informative to see the different types of safety equipment listed out like that. I don't think this has really been a point of emphasis in the classroom sessions I've attended, so it was useful.

About the incident at Road Atlanta, I've heard it was caused by a mechanical failure on the driver's SN95 Mustang. Do you have any data on whether most crashes are caused by mechanical failures vs. driver error? Just wondering whether a stronger emphasis should be placed on preventative vehicle upkeep/maintenance (instead or in addition to driver training and track safety equipment).

To an extent, sometimes it goes hand-in-hand, and how you recover from a mechanical failure...