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RaceQuip is fairly inexpensive, but I found that they didn’t fit me well at all. I ended up going with a Simpson Bandit and it fits very well. But that’s what fits me. You need to go find what fits you.
As said, no substitute for trying them on. We have a summit racing some close which carried Simpson, G-Force, Bell. Expected to leave with a Simpson, but ended up with a G-Force.
One consideration though - I went for a full face helmet and got some tinted visors, thinking that was best with my Boxster GTS. I am now looking for an open face as I kept the visor up anyway with sunglasses during autocross, and didn’t appreciate how hot full face can get (motorcyclists will probably correct me here).plus in a 992 open face should be more than ok.
If this is your first time tracking and you want to keep costs down, go with and Open Face. Bell makes a great helmet that retails for about $350 If the track bug takes ahold of you, then get a Stilo full face!! Best wishes and have fun, listen to the instructors, they'll help you a bunch!!!
Since I am a motorcycle guy I use my Arai full face motorcycle Snell approved helmet with a lightly tinted shield that I can leave up if its overcast or lower it back down if it is sunny outside. These helmets are very well vented so not too hot inside either. About $1000 these days. For autocross open face would probably suffice but at high speed tracks like Road Atlanta, I just have to have a full face helmet on. Nobody thinks they are going to crash but you never know, so at high speed, I want all the protection I can have. I have crashed road racing motorcycles at over 140mph with a Arai full face helmet on and Arai has saved my life more than once. YMMV.
Since I am a motorcycle guy I use my Arai full face motorcycle Snell approved helmet with a lightly tinted shield that I can leave up if its overcast or lower it back down if it is sunny outside. These helmets are very well vented so not too hot inside either. About $1000 these days. For autocross open face would probably suffice but at high speed tracks like Road Atlanta, I just have to have a full face helmet on. Nobody thinks they are going to crash but you never know, so at high speed, I want all the protection I can have. I have crashed road racing motorcycles at over 140mph with a Arai full face helmet on and Arai has saved my life more than once. YMMV.
I don’t know what the modern Snell rating is on motorcycle helmets, but in my area PCA doesn’t allow these for hpde because they aren’t fire resistant.
But realistically for HPDE's requiring a SA helmet is overkill. The fire protection a race helmet gives is of almost zero value and a significant amount of organizations and groups are 100% ok with M rated helmets. Burn times on full interior cars before fire penetrates the cabin is a long time. 10+ minutes in my experience. if you need the fire rating on your helmet you're probably dead anyway since it only provides seconds of safety not minutes.
The point where you should wear a SA helmet is if you have a cage involved, if the interior is gutted in anyway, aftermarket fuel cell or mucked with the fueling on the car in anyway by moving stuff outside of stock positions. Someone may bring up windows being down as fire being able to enter the cabin quickly and that doesn't actually factor in.
No one is going to be able to argue their way past organization requirements though, so if you got an M helmet and you're allowed to use it, I'd stick with that especially if it's ultra light weight and $$$, but if you have to buy a helmet, get a cheap SA helmet with hans potential. I dont see anything inherently wrong with the cheap entry level helmets for safety from impact, but they do weigh more than a lot of high end helmets and making your head heavier in an impact is not a good thing... but cheap helmet + HANS is my solution and I've put an open wheel car into a cement wall hard before and felt like a million bucks since then thx to a hans. So I'd say if you stick with the track day stuff, get a hans asap if you're looking to get safety equipment that actually does a lot for you.
SA Rating has a fire resistant liner and is designed for one large impact.
M Rating (motorcycle) is designed for multiple impacts - head hitting the blacktop several times
The requirement for an SA rated helmet at the level of doing track days is silly, because you are not wearing nomex! Nonetheless, you show up with an M rated helmet and they require SA, you won't be driving that day unless you can borrow someones nasty backup lid. Full face is better in actual collisions, especially if a deer comes through the windshield, which happens more than you would think on East Coast tracks. 3/4 Open Face is better for communications, especially for Instructors with comms units. I used to drag one of each to the track.
A group of us once went to VIR on a brutally hot summer weekend for a DE event. We all wore T-shirts and shorts, then we got there and discovered they (VIR track management) had changed the track rules. Everyone had to have long sleeves and the material had to be 100% cotton as it was more "Fire Resistant". SERIOUSLY? "Yep, you boyz can't drive until you comply". Ahhh..you rat-bas...... so we all piled into a couple of four door M3's went into town to the Wal Mart and we all bought men's pajamas. They were long sleeve and cotton, and of course we bought the most outrageous patterns we could find. Polka Dots were the big hit. And we drove the weekend in Wal Mart PJ's we were quite the sensation in the pits.
That's hysterical. I thought you were going to say you all took turns sharing the only 2 long sleeve shirts in the group! But your story has better imagery.
04-05-2024, 10:14 PM
