ltc

I recall that when Leatt announced their H&N restraint products, the general concensus was that they looked like a toilet seat. Agreed.

That having been said, this past weekend at Moroso, my son decided to go where few have gone before and actually test his Leatt brace.

He rolled/nosed in/flipped his kart and ended up helmet down wtih 225# kart on top of his head. Haven't downloaded the data, but he was probably doing 50mph at the time.
(No, fortunately, his mother was NOT in attendance)

He suffered "only" 2 fractures (closed and non displaced), left shoulder and left foot. He is going to see an orthopedic this week to check the involvement of the fractures with his growth plates.

He had/has zero head/neck pain of any kind, which after watching the crash and knowing how they can sometimes turn out, I was amazed and greatful.
(As an aside, out of a grid of a couple hundred karts, I could count on one hand how many kids wore Leatt braces......as a matter of fact, this year the rules were changed to allow Senior competitors to wear NOTHING, not even the foam collar)

And of course being a kid, his first comments were:
1. I can't believe they cut me out of my driving suit (factory suit from Italy)
2. How bad is my helmet (new helmet/custom paint for this season) and once he saw it, Can I get a new one?
3. Do you think I'll make the March race?

sechsgang

what a champ...you must be a proud father!!!!

DanR

glad top hear he is OK. Racing can be danagerous so why not wear the best safety you can get?

BostonDMD

Lewis, I am glad that CJ is OK.....

As far as the Italian suit and custom helmet..... eh... it is only money....

Great job in making sure he wears H&N restrain, I am sure he will be flying around in a kart very soon....

gbaker

Glad he's okay, Lewis! Great story; kids are a hoot.

(That product should work well in compression.)

Chaos

Please reply after "Hey Mom Guess What" plays out.

gbaker

You shoulda seen me Mom! There I was, flying through the air upside down at 50 mph!! I landed on my head!!! It was really cool!!!!

ltc

Definitely one of the most memorable phone calls I've ever made.

Of course back when he first started karting, we'd call her from the track (she hardly ever watches him race and the few times she does, she paces like a female tiger protecting her cub) and ask her "Quick, what is CJ's blood type" or "we can't hear you, the med flight helicopter is landing".......

When I called her to let her know what hospital we were being taken to, she said "if this is another one of your jokes, you're both dead".

She was fine right up until she saw him coming out of the airport in a wheelchair after midnight on Sunday.....after that my memory is a bit 'fuzzy' after she "gave me a hug".

ltc

Compression (225# kart, 100# kid) was always my biggest concern of injury, not so much flexion/tension.
These smaller kids simply can't move their kart off the track after an incident, let alone get out from under one.

K964

Hey Lewis,

Glad he is ok!!! Hope the recovery process is quick and relatively pain free.
Mike

bgiere

Wow Lewis, I'm glad he is OK...sounds like a scary day at the track!

MTosi

Good to hear you sons okay. Sounds like you have a true racer on your hands judging by his comments. Im interested to hear how it happened or setup? In all my years of karting fortunatley the most I evr did was destroy a hay bail. I did witness a few nasty ones when I was doing one of the Red Bull Driver Search finals, the leader spun in the middle of a bending strait at 80 mph and launched second place about 8 feet in the air (thank god mom wasnt there or I would never have karted again). The kid who spun broke his feet and ankles and the kid who go launched fell out of the kart (as they say is suppose to happen karting) and was fortunately okay.

ltc

Happened on lap 1, front straight, after Turn 13 heading towards start/finish.
My son was behind another kart (JICA class), passing a slower kart (about 2 seconds off pole), kart in front cleared slower kart, driver of slower kart didn't appreciate pass, so as my son (almost) cleared him, he turned into him to force him into the grass.
Unfortunatley, it wasn't grass, but a 3' tall banked dirt banking between track surface and access road/fence.
My son started to barrel roll, front nose dug in, roll turned into end over end flip, went airborne, landed upside down on access road about 1' from fence.
End of day.

MTosi

Ouch!!! I realy wish alot of track owners (karts and cars) would pay more attention to the condition of the runoff inside and out. Sounds remenisce of joey hand in the M3. Im sure you must do this already but make sure you use this to reinforce to him the fact you ALWAYS walk a track before you drive it, sometimes you pick up on small things like that sometimes you dont but its always helpful, and can be a lifesaver.

DrJupeman

Lewis, glad all is well, relatively speaking. We'll be running with Leatts...