SundayDriver

From JustRacing. I have spoken to Joe and he knows his stuff. I am sure this will be well worth attending...

Noted racing and track safety export Joe Marko of HMS Motorsport has graciously agreed to appear on an upcoming JustRacing Seminar to talk about racing and track safety. In addition to being the BMW Club Racing National Safety Steward, Joe is a member of the SCCA National Safety Committee and also works with over half of the NEXTEL Cup and ChampCar teams in the area of safety.

JustRacing Seminars are interactive, so you can easily submit questions to Joe, and are viewable with just a web browser and an Internet connection. A free JustRacing.com registration is required to take part.

Joe will be live on JustRacing.com on Wednesday, February 15th, 2006 at 6pm PST. There is no cost to take part in this Seminar.

More info, including Joe's background, here:
Info

If you visit that page as a logged-in user beginning 10 minutes before the seminar starts, you'll get the chat applet and can take part.

Please feel free to pass the word to anyone interested in racetrack safety at races, open track events, and driving schools. Safety is important and Joe has spent countless hours researching and educating people on this topic. We're proud to have him join us online.

Thanks!

Rick

Mark,

Thanks for the note; I'll be on-line for this.

Cheers,

Rick

strangeengine

BTW, we just added a subsequent Seminar on March 8 at 6pm featuring Larry Webster, Technical Editor of Car and Driver Magazine. Larry is a fascinating guy who's got experience racing and driving a ton of different cars. We're really looking forward to chatting with him.

http://www.justracing.com/seminar

- Mark
Check out my JustRacing home page at:
http://www.justracing.com/homepage/mdadgar

strangeengine

Just a reminder that this Safety Seminar is this evening at 6pm PST.

See you all online.

- Mark

Check out my JustRacing Home Page at:
http://www.justracing.com/homepage/mdadgar

sjanes

thanks for the heads-up Mark. There was some good stuff in that seminar.

fatbillybob

I missed it. Any great perels of wisdom?

sjanes

transcript can be found here: http://www.justracing.com/seminar_ar...wtopic.php?t=5

You may have to sign up to see it, not sure.

SundayDriver

One of the most interesting things was a comment about HANS vs. other H&N. My gut has always told me to use the device that has significant real world testing. Joe pointed out that the crash test dummies have a much stiffer chest and back than the human body and that is one reason that sled results do not completely correlate to the real world.

Also, he commented on belt strecth/slip with 3 bar mounts. The Schroth 2 bar is much better when used as instructed.

sjanes

That was one comment that I found interesting. I had recently purchased the Schroth Hybrid II belts and noticed the slider on the lap, and was suprised that it wasn't a sewn in connector.

Also, when the H&N single release requirement of SFI 38.1 came up, his concern was not getting yourself out of the car in a timely manner, but the difficulty of training emergency/corner workers to deal with additional release.

mitch236

I have a question, he says that in a car with airbags, I should use a full face helmet without a shield. Does that mean the clear facesheild? I always use the faceshield to protect myself from flying junk. What do you think he meant? Or should I just eliminate the airbag? I wish I had seen this before so I could have asked him myself.

sjanes

I took it to mean: Without any shield or sunvisor attached to the helmet (things the airbag can grab). Glasses were OK though.

RedlineMan

Hmmm....

My take on it is visors only. If you have a shield, and wear it closed, then it will not snag an airbag. However, an open shield, or having a visor, gives a projecting airbag a surface to impact, and this might cause your head to be grabbed and taken a long with it. NOT GOOD! It seems to me a closed shield would be a distinct advantage against burns, debris, etc.

Wreck Me Otter

I'd eliminate the airbag if this is a pure track car.

sjanes

His exact comment was:
"joemarko: At the last SCCA Conventtion two weeks ago, Hubert Gramling from FIA showed the research from my testing and also from additional followup testing. THe end result is that if the car has airbags, we recommend a full face helmet without a visor. If you use an open face helmet

joemarko: we recommend the there is no sun visor on the top. Anything that could catch the airbag and push it into your eyes is bad. Also there is no problem with the helmet and eyeglasses for our 4 eyed friends"

I assumed he meant a visor that was either open or partially open. You could still ask him:
justracing: Joe also answers questions in the Ask Joe! forum in the Driver Safety area at JustRacing.com:
justracing: http://www.justracing.com/driver_safety/

I don't have an airbag, so I didn't bother to ask for more specifics.

RedlineMan

Ummm...

A visor meaning a SUN visor. The thing in front of your face that you look through is a shield. That's the way I see it. Semantics.