Nizer

And shorts and t-shirts....

That stuff was a menace.

indaville

No offense but this is one of the dumbest things I had seen on this forum. If you can't afford the Hans before X-mas then you really can't afford to do the DE's.

Keep in mind that these comments are coming from a guy who three weeks ago during a test session (which was being run under DE rules) had suspension failure sending me head first into a concrete wall at around 90 mph. Without a Hans I probably (we will never know) don't survive without at least some serious injuries.

Skipping just one DE would most likely save enough money to pay for the Hans.

Matt

hf1

Don't use harnesses without a hans. Standard belts are safer.
But get a hans, asap. Don't roll a dice before you know the stakes involved.

A.Wayne

Wow , imagine all those years driving without a hans , ABS, TC, cool suits, telemetry, et al ..



What were we thinking .....

baddogz28

I'm not offended... And it has nothing to do with being able to afford it or not. You're entitled to your opinion, even if it's a little strong. From what I've seen, the overwhelming majority of people participating in HPDE's don't run a HANS device.

By your logic, every person running an HPDE should be wearing Nomex too... I understand that you had an accident and I'm glad that you came out OK, but let's keep everything in perspective- the HANS is a relatively new safety device in the world of racing, and there are plenty of people that ran and crashed without them prior to their being invented.

hf1

You don't have to imagine anything. Here are some facts:

For consistency, you should also be laughing at anything newer than this:

hf1

I don't think you would dismiss it as easily if you knew more about what it does, and how easy it is to suffer major injury after even a low speed accident while wearing harnesses without it. Take a look at this video, and how the driver's head has to be held up by the co-driver (who's wearing a hans) after the hit:

baddogz28

I don't have harnesses in a dead-stock 997 and I am plenty familiar with what a HANS device does.

I'd like to see a list of people who have suffered a basilar skull fracture in an HPDE.

I also don't know how mentioning that I am, in fact, getting a HANS device is dismissive. Seems to me that some of you guys should relax.

hf1

baddogz28, I'm relaxed. All is good.

chrenan

I have a halo seat / roll bar / HANS in my track car, used for time attack and lapping. Its still driven to and from the track, I definitely get strange looks at events as its a bit over the top in terms of safety equipment relative to the others I'm on track with here, and my car certainly isn't one of the fastest, not even close. However, I've seen 2 cars go into the walls this summer, and know of one other for sure. This wasn't at wheel-to-wheel racing events, these were either lapping or time attack. That's in one summer, and those are just the ones I've seen or am aware of. Part of that is due to a new track opening with a higher risk layout than the old track that closed last season. I'd say towards the end of this summer I've got less questions about my "over the top" safety equipment than before.

vr4henry

I think, in general, folks on this forum are well-meaning people who want to keep "safe" information foremost on these kind of discussions.

I'm sure there are newcomers that will scroll this thread, while trying to decide if they need a HANS yet and think, "hey, here's a guy who's not too concerned about it.. maybe I can hold off, too?"

Personally, I have a welded in half cage, 3 layer nomex, 6 pt harnesses, fixed back seats, and a HANS. I'm not even remotely fast on track I'm actually looking at some sort of fire suppression system now, too. I'm sure people laugh at all my gear or when they see me suit up for HPDE.

One less thing to think about while I'm trying to learn how to drive.

MRW

Who cares if people laugh? You're smart to be as safe as you can be while on track. baddogz- your 997 is faster than 60% of the cars at your average club race, and your car doesn't know if your racing or doing a DE when you screw up or something breaks and you hit something. The Chicago Region PCA has a huge DE at Road America every Memorial Day weekend, and I swear, the first session every year someone wads up a street GT3. We're all responsible for ourselves, so do what makes you comfortable. Understand that there are some people here that have a lot of experience and have experienced some bad stuff on race tracks, myself included, and just like to see people be as safe as possible. YMMV.

mark kibort

No armchair quarterbacks here Dave, just folks trying to analyze the situation and learn from it. hey, if you can watch my complete brake failure and save and discount how I did it..... good for you. good luck with trusting that some barrier will save you at 135mph impact. and by the way..... do you really think he was going 136mph at impact. you clearly have been drinking!
Didn't say he was an idiot, just saying he needed to drop a couple of gears for which he had 100 to 200ft to slow the car with engine braking.
just like that AIX video. no downshift means no use of some available slowing power. all he accomplished was a few S turns.

thank the track folks for spending the cash on those barriers. whatever the speed, and it was fast, anything stopping the car faster, would have been injury for the driver.

remember, I had a blown brake line too! no brakes! yet was able to make turn 2 at laguna only because I did brake or attempt to brake a a little early to find out I had an issue, and dropped a gear as soon as I could. its amazing how much decal force engine braking can provide. had I not suspected a failure, the downshift sill would have only put me in the middle of the sand pits.

Circuit Motorsports

Just watched the LS video. Total brake failure and you kept driving on track? Okey dokey.

mark kibort

I think most give you rear brakes if the front line goes, but I don't see it. crack a line, jack up the rear of the car and see if brake pressure, with line cracked on a tube to a bottle, can stop the rear wheels even with the pedal going to the floor. (which is what will happen). there is supposed to be a line that gets some pressure to apply brakes, but I haven't seen it work with a blown front brake line.