ltc

I remember some time ago a discussion regarding Schroth's HANS specific harness, which IIRC, was thought to be the only HANS specific harness.

Willans now offers a HANS specific 3"-2" harness:
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pro...2379-001&y=b42

Interesting, since Willans is a highly respected harness manufacturer and H&D have stated that a standard 3" shoulder belt harness is fine, no need for a HANS specific harness.

kurt M

I can't say if they work any better as I have not "field tested" them yet but my 3/2 belts are easer to line up amd feel that they are in place than my old 3 inch belts were. They are made by folding the sides of a 3 inch belt over and stiching them in place. This makes them a little stiffer in the Hans area and easer for me to fit into place by feel with the helmet on. IMO if they do not otherwise have any reduction in function of the system this alone makes them better.

jakermc

Sparco also offers a HANS specific harness

LPM911

my willans 3" belts have been working just fine with my HANS. i can see how the 2" might be easier to line up but I haven't had any issues with the 3". However, one thing to consider for DEs, although you should ask a PCA tech person for sure, I think with 2" belts you HAVE to wear a HANS. In other words, if you have the 2" shoulder straps in your passenger seat, your passenger has to wear a HANS. I could be mistaken on that though.

38D

I used to have 3" Schroth and now have the 3/2 Schroth. I would agree that while the 3" seemed to work fine, the 3/2s seem easier to get over the HANS.

Bryan Watts

I much prefer the 2" shoulder belts.

And if you haven't tried them yet, the 2" lap belts that Schroth offers are a HUGE upgrade as well.

}{arlequin

two incher is better than three? hmmm...

Veloce Raptor

Pipe down, Liberace.

}{arlequin

that's Liber-ACE!


it's all in the perspective

Circuit Motorsports

When I was at PRI it was a Willans rep who said the biggest reason teh 3/2 harnesses were out was because people were buying them. Since that was what people wanted, that was what they made. I bet the big reason behind Willans having the harness on the market is because they were losing business to those that did have a 3/2 harness.

As I know I've said a few times. I can see in many cars where an ideal mounting of harnesses is very difficult and a 3/2 harness could be a better setup. In my FC car since the belts mount right behind me and I can dictate teh separation of the shoulder harnesses I can get them close enough together like HANS reccomends.

Darren

Are you suggesting that, all things being equal, most people should buy the 3" instead of the 2/3?

Circuit Motorsports

I'll say that HANS reccommends the 3" belt and that when you can properly mount the shoulder harnesses (like you can easily in a car like my formula car) the way the 3" harness fits over the HANS device is very nice. I just walked through the paddock of a SCCA national last week and out of all the cars there less than 10% of the cars that I saw drivers wearing a HANS had their shoulder belts mounted to the geometry that HANS recommends in their quickstart guide.

When the mount of your shoulder belts is less than ideal I can see where a 2 inch belt would feel like it fits better over a HANS device.

Circuit Motorsports

If you look at the bottom picture you can see how the harness goes up the side of the collar. Most people's harness setup doesn't get this to happen and I think that is where the problem may be showing up.

Darren

Thanks for pointing that out. My cars all had the cage designed with the seat in my driving position and the harness bars are very close to the seat, so 8" is no problem. Like you said, it seems like a very high percentage of cars have things with the seat/belt/cage that are not correct according to manufacturers instructions.

In a regular car, how do you keep under that 3" belt seperation? I guess I could get my cage installer to run 2 more tubes vertically from the harness bar to the main hoop behind the seat.

Circuit Motorsports

It's something I haven't had to worry about since I've only owned a formula car since I bought a HANS.

I am pretty sure I'll be learning a lot more about it in the next couple of years when I do an IT build to start running some enduros on the east coast. I have a feeling the cage builder/designer will learn to love/hate me before the end of it. My current plan is to find the perfect seat and then build the cage/car around it. Most likely this would involve modifying the steering wheel location with spacers rearward and maybe the same with the pedals.

The other issue I've wondered about but haven't really sat down and looked at is the holes in race seats. Are there certain ones that have a better distance between the shoulder holes that would allow the closer mounting. At a certain point I see the harness contacting the inside edge of the hole and that being a limiting factor.