Discussion
Hi, I'm considering doing my first track day and having now got a decent car, am thinking about helmets. All the trackdays I've seen require one, and most circuits will hire one out. However if these hire-helmets are anything like the smelly old helmets you get when karting then buying a cheap one sounds like a wise investment. I think i'd prefer an open faced model. Does anyone know of a good retailer in afordable helmets or have a make and model to recommend?
Thanks
Kristin.
Thanks
Kristin.
This looks OK, not open face but cheap!
www.motorsport-events.co.uk/helmets.htm
Or here, offering an open-face helmet for £55:
www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/
www.motorsport-events.co.uk/helmets.htm
Or here, offering an open-face helmet for £55:
www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/
I wouldn't recommend an open face, as when your face hits the steering wheel during an accident, you'lose all your teeth.
Try going round the local bike dealers, I recently bought a last season Ducati helmet for £90 with all the BS numbers, gold stickers and kite marks you need for trackdays. This years model costs £300 and doesn't have the right certification as the bike world has moved on a bit and the car world has yet to catch up.
Try going round the local bike dealers, I recently bought a last season Ducati helmet for £90 with all the BS numbers, gold stickers and kite marks you need for trackdays. This years model costs £300 and doesn't have the right certification as the bike world has moved on a bit and the car world has yet to catch up.
I recently hired a Cromwell open face helmet from Javelin Trackday organisers which was not at all smelly and almost new. Found it comfortable so took option to buy for £50 (hire cost was refunded). "Try before you buy" not a bad option. Retail price of this type of helmet about £100 I think so not a bad deal.
Don't stint on a helmet. How much are your looks worth? (
) Seriously, open face helmets are a recipe for disaster. You may think you look cool, but how cool will you look with a set of falsies or broken jaw? Definately get the best you can afford. Never buy a second hand one as they could have been dropped and damaged, proving useless in an accident.
PS Hope this hasn't put you off
) Seriously, open face helmets are a recipe for disaster. You may think you look cool, but how cool will you look with a set of falsies or broken jaw? Definately get the best you can afford. Never buy a second hand one as they could have been dropped and damaged, proving useless in an accident. PS Hope this hasn't put you off
Go to your local bike shop and see what they've got. I got a full-face helmet with the "gold Sticker" for £60, and a open-face scooter helmet for £50 which has the BSI kitemark.
Open face is excellent on track days as it is a lot cooler and you can talk to passengers easier. Im not so convinced you need a full face inside a car, especially if it has airbags, and all the instructors I've ever had have always been wearing open-face, so they're obviously not so concerned.
Open face is excellent on track days as it is a lot cooler and you can talk to passengers easier. Im not so convinced you need a full face inside a car, especially if it has airbags, and all the instructors I've ever had have always been wearing open-face, so they're obviously not so concerned.
355fiorano said:
I've always been of the opinion that the price of the helmet should be of comparable scale to the assets you are trying to protect with it. I'd recommend you get the best you can afford.
Lol.
You can't put it in a more subtle way.
I'm more blunt...
If you prize your 10 Euro head, buy a 10 Euro brain bucket and get 10 Euros worth of protection.
One thing though.. this cheapo helmet may actually be better than a loaner item of higher inital price that has no history.
If it has been dropped by someone of average height to the floor once or twice... it is going to fail when really needed.
Best to buy a good quality bucket and take care of it than rely on a loaner.
m
Providing that the correct kite and stamp marks are on the helmet, there is no guarantee that an expensive helmet will have any better protection than a cheaper one. They are built to a standard on head protection.
BUT
The more expensive helmets will fit better, and more importantly be lighter. If the worst should happen, then you will experience some pretty hefty acceleration forces. More importantly, your neck will have to resist forces which are directly proportional to the mass of the bits sat on it - i.e. head and hat.
I've had a couple of head on conversations with tyre walls at 80mph plus with no neck pains whatsoever this year, whilst wearing an Arai GP5k helmet. If I had a heavier lid, then I'm sure that this situation would be slightly different
So in summary, at the limit, a cheaper helmet will probably provide as much protection as a more expensive one. However, a more expensive helmet will result in less severe impacts having a smaller impact on your general health. They are also easier to see out of too
.
As has been said, you pays your money and ......
Chances of having any impact on track days are small. However, if you do, the chances are that it will be a reasonable bang, with insufficient damage to charriot to do serious damage to the occupants. It is in this situation that a better helmet will pay off.
Having said all that - make sure it fits and you are comfortable.
BUT
The more expensive helmets will fit better, and more importantly be lighter. If the worst should happen, then you will experience some pretty hefty acceleration forces. More importantly, your neck will have to resist forces which are directly proportional to the mass of the bits sat on it - i.e. head and hat.
I've had a couple of head on conversations with tyre walls at 80mph plus with no neck pains whatsoever this year, whilst wearing an Arai GP5k helmet. If I had a heavier lid, then I'm sure that this situation would be slightly different
So in summary, at the limit, a cheaper helmet will probably provide as much protection as a more expensive one. However, a more expensive helmet will result in less severe impacts having a smaller impact on your general health. They are also easier to see out of too
. As has been said, you pays your money and ......
Chances of having any impact on track days are small. However, if you do, the chances are that it will be a reasonable bang, with insufficient damage to charriot to do serious damage to the occupants. It is in this situation that a better helmet will pay off.
Having said all that - make sure it fits and you are comfortable.
55jnj said:
I've always been of the opinion that the price of the helmet should be of comparable scale to the assets you are trying to protect with it. I'd recommend you get the best you can afford.
100% agree.
Thing is I don't, as tests (on bike lids in bike mags) have proved that certain £50 helmets have had just as good protection & in some cases better protection than £500 jobbies in a variety of impact tests.
A lot of the features that make a bike lid more expensive- aerodymamics, wind noise, visor removal etc etc have no relevance for saloon cars, perhaps more so for Caterfields tho.
The lightness of the lid in a crash may be a good point tho as made in an earlier post.
However as I understand it there are differnt helmets especially made for car use anyway- better knock resistance against rollcages etc I think is one of a few factors, but you can be in the daft situation now that new £700 lid wont be allowed on a track day as it has the new euro rating & not BS stickers & gold stickers, but some battered old heap from years ago will be as it has the gold sticker & blue BS mark.
Personally I'd always go for full face for a car too, but I remove the visor for in car use it just gets in the way, but keep it in the car just in case you are offered a ride in a Caterfield etc
iguana said:
355fiorano said:
I've always been of the opinion that the price of the helmet should be of comparable scale to the assets you are trying to protect with it. I'd recommend you get the best you can afford.
100% agree.
Thing is I don't, as tests (on bike lids in bike mags) have proved that certain £50 helmets have had just as good protection & in some cases better protection than £500 jobbies in a variety of impact tests.
A lot of the features that make a bike lid more expensive- aerodymamics, wind noise, visor removal etc etc have no relevance for saloon cars, perhaps more so for Caterfields tho.
The lightness of the lid in a crash may be a good point tho as made in an earlier post.
However as I understand it there are differnt helmets especially made for car use anyway- better knock resistance against rollcages etc I think is one of a few factors, but you can be in the daft situation now that new £700 lid wont be allowed on a track day as it has the new euro rating & not BS stickers & gold stickers, but some battered old heap from years ago will be as it has the gold sticker & blue BS mark.
Personally I'd always go for full face for a car too, but I remove the visor for in car use it just gets in the way, but keep it in the car just in case you are offered a ride in a Caterfield etc
Sorry, didn't realise we were talking about bike lids. I have no experience & nothing to say on this issue.
Nomex is probably the biggest difference on a car lid - not really needed for a bike. If you want a degree of fire protection round the face as well as impact, then it has to be a full face car lid doesn't it ?
[quote=daydreamer]Providing that the correct kite and stamp marks are on the helmet, there is no guarantee that an expensive helmet will have any better protection than a cheaper one. They are built to a standard on head protection.
Or you could lift weights in your mouth for about 3 months to get a neck like Jason Leonard and you could wear a 15kg helmet and not notice!
Or you could lift weights in your mouth for about 3 months to get a neck like Jason Leonard and you could wear a 15kg helmet and not notice!
iguana said:
Thing is I don't, as tests (on bike lids in bike mags) have proved that certain £50 helmets have had just as good protection & in some cases better protection than £500 jobbies in a variety of impact tests.
A lot of the features that make a bike lid more expensive- aerodymamics, wind noise, visor removal etc etc have no relevance for saloon cars, perhaps more so for Caterfields tho.
The lightness of the lid in a crash may be a good point tho as made in an earlier post.
However as I understand it there are differnt helmets especially made for car use anyway- better knock resistance against rollcages etc I think is one of a few factors, but you can be in the daft situation now that new £700 lid wont be allowed on a track day as it has the new euro rating & not BS stickers & gold stickers, but some battered old heap from years ago will be as it has the gold sticker & blue BS mark.
Personally I'd always go for full face for a car too, but I remove the visor for in car use it just gets in the way, but keep it in the car just in case you are offered a ride in a Caterfield etc
I can't believe some of the rubbish that is discussed on here!
First of all... good bike helmets are perfectly adequate for track day use in cars... however car race helmets are better suited for car use than bike helmets, particularly if it is for use in a low open top car such as a Caterham or Radical... the reason for that is, top of the range car race helmets (such as the Arai GP5 or GP5K) have 'bulletproof' visors made of 3.5mm Lexan, to prevent stones from blinding you!
Full-face car helmets usually have smaller apertures than bike helmets... in the event of a crash, this gives better protection against flying debris, and increases the overall strength of the shell.
Arai have been my choice of helmet for nearly 20 years, I don't think you can get better for both build quality or fit, and tests have proved them to be extremely effective in impacts.
Err.. bike helmets are NOT more expensive! Arai's top two car helmets are £420 + VAT (£493.50) for the GP5K and £690 + VAT (£810.75) for the GP5! And by the way, car track days are governed by the Motor Sports Association, who also set down the criteria for crash helmets... there is no way a race car helmet would be excluded from a track day because it doesn't have a kite mark!
Despite that I have to use one for instructing under some circunstances, I would NOT recommend using an open face helmet, for the simple reason someone has already covered... your face can hit the steering wheel in a head-on. Given the choice, I would always use a full-face helmet.
Without ANY doubt, you should by the best helmet available, or, the best one you can afford. I've said this before in another thread, but here it is again...
The minimum cost of doing a track day is around £600 at least if you you take into account the track day fee, fuel, tyres, travel / accomodation, insurance, wear and tear on the car (or car hire)... drop one track day a year and you can afford a decent helmet! Cutting costs on safety equipment is stupid!!!
Lets' get it in perspective... a driver, say, with a Porsche 968 Clubsport (£12,000?), on a Gold Track day (£275?), spending £70 round trip to get to the circuit, another £60 fuel on the track, using up £80 worth of tyre wear, £55 to stay in a Travelodge (or £120+ for a proper hotel), and, say £100 towards maintenace on his car... and he is reluctant to spend more that £50 on a (S/H) crash helmet that might just save his life???? Please take up golf, crown green bowling, or origami... your attitude is not compatible with motor sport... if you have such a low regard for your own safety, what regard do you have for others safety.
instructor said:
Thing is I don't, as tests (on bike lids in bike mags) have proved that certain £50 helmets have had just as good protection & in some cases better protection than £500 jobbies in a variety of impact tests.
A lot of the features that make a bike lid more expensive- aerodymamics, wind noise, visor removal etc etc have no relevance for saloon cars, perhaps more so for Caterfields tho.
The lightness of the lid in a crash may be a good point tho as made in an earlier post.
However as I understand it there are differnt helmets especially made for car use anyway- better knock resistance against rollcages etc I think is one of a few factors, but you can be in the daft situation now that new £700 lid wont be allowed on a track day as it has the new euro rating & not BS stickers & gold stickers, but some battered old heap from years ago will be as it has the gold sticker & blue BS mark.
Personally I'd always go for full face for a car too, but I remove the visor for in car use it just gets in the way, but keep it in the car just in case you are offered a ride in a Caterfield etc
I can't believe some of the rubbish that is discussed on here!
First of all... good bike helmets are perfectly adequate for track day use in cars... however car race helmets are better suited for car use than bike helmets, particularly if it is for use in a low open top car such as a Caterham or Radical... the reason for that is, top of the range car race helmets (such as the Arai GP5 or GP5K) have 'bulletproof' visors made of 3.5mm Lexan, to prevent stones from blinding you!
Full-face car helmets usually have smaller apertures than bike helmets... in the event of a crash, this gives better protection against flying debris, and increases the overall strength of the shell.
Arai have been my choice of helmet for nearly 20 years, I don't think you can get better for both build quality or fit, and tests have proved them to be extremely effective in impacts.
Err.. bike helmets are NOT more expensive! Arai's top two car helmets are £420 + VAT (£493.50) for the GP5K and £690 + VAT (£810.75) for the GP5! And by the way, car track days are governed by the Motor Sports Association, who also set down the criteria for crash helmets... there is no way a race car helmet would be excluded from a track day because it doesn't have a kite mark!
Despite that I have to use one for instructing under some circunstances, I would NOT recommend using an open face helmet, for the simple reason someone has already covered... your face can hit the steering wheel in a head-on. Given the choice, I would always use a full-face helmet.
Without ANY doubt, you should by the best helmet available, or, the best one you can afford. I've said this before in another thread, but here it is again...
The minimum cost of doing a track day is around £600 at least if you you take into account the track day fee, fuel, tyres, travel / accomodation, insurance, wear and tear on the car (or car hire)... drop one track day a year and you can afford a decent helmet! Cutting costs on safety equipment is stupid!!!
Lets' get it in perspective... a driver, say, with a Porsche 968 Clubsport (£12,000?), on a Gold Track day (£275?), spending £70 round trip to get to the circuit, another £60 fuel on the track, using up £80 worth of tyre wear, £55 to stay in a Travelodge (or £120+ for a proper hotel), and, say £100 towards maintenace on his car... and he is reluctant to spend more that £50 on a (S/H) crash helmet that might just save his life???? Please take up golf, crown green bowling, or origami... your attitude is not compatible with motor sport... if you have such a low regard for your own safety, what regard do you have for others safety.
Makes a lot of sense to me. Buy the best you can afford. Been said before.
instructor said:
Thing is I don't, as tests (on bike lids in bike mags) have proved that certain £50 helmets have had just as good protection & in some cases better protection than £500 jobbies in a variety of impact tests.
A lot of the features that make a bike lid more expensive- aerodymamics, wind noise, visor removal etc etc have no relevance for saloon cars, perhaps more so for Caterfields tho.
The lightness of the lid in a crash may be a good point tho as made in an earlier post.
However as I understand it there are differnt helmets especially made for car use anyway- better knock resistance against rollcages etc I think is one of a few factors, but you can be in the daft situation now that new £700 lid wont be allowed on a track day as it has the new euro rating & not BS stickers & gold stickers, but some battered old heap from years ago will be as it has the gold sticker & blue BS mark.
Personally I'd always go for full face for a car too, but I remove the visor for in car use it just gets in the way, but keep it in the car just in case you are offered a ride in a Caterfield etc
I can't believe some of the rubbish that is discussed on here!
First of all... good bike helmets are perfectly adequate for track day use in cars... however car race helmets are better suited for car use than bike helmets, particularly if it is for use in a low open top car such as a Caterham or Radical... the reason for that is, top of the range car race helmets (such as the Arai GP5 or GP5K) have 'bulletproof' visors made of 3.5mm Lexan, to prevent stones from blinding you!
Full-face car helmets usually have smaller apertures than bike helmets... in the event of a crash, this gives better protection against flying debris, and increases the overall strength of the shell.
Arai have been my choice of helmet for nearly 20 years, I don't think you can get better for both build quality or fit, and tests have proved them to be extremely effective in impacts.
Err.. bike helmets are NOT more expensive! Arai's top two car helmets are £420 + VAT (£493.50) for the GP5K and £690 + VAT (£810.75) for the GP5! And by the way, car track days are governed by the Motor Sports Association, who also set down the criteria for crash helmets... there is no way a race car helmet would be excluded from a track day because it doesn't have a kite mark!
Despite that I have to use one for instructing under some circunstances, I would NOT recommend using an open face helmet, for the simple reason someone has already covered... your face can hit the steering wheel in a head-on. Given the choice, I would always use a full-face helmet.
Without ANY doubt, you should by the best helmet available, or, the best one you can afford. I've said this before in another thread, but here it is again...
The minimum cost of doing a track day is around £600 at least if you you take into account the track day fee, fuel, tyres, travel / accomodation, insurance, wear and tear on the car (or car hire)... drop one track day a year and you can afford a decent helmet! Cutting costs on safety equipment is stupid!!!
Lets' get it in perspective... a driver, say, with a Porsche 968 Clubsport (£12,000?), on a Gold Track day (£275?), spending £70 round trip to get to the circuit, another £60 fuel on the track, using up £80 worth of tyre wear, £55 to stay in a Travelodge (or £120+ for a proper hotel), and, say £100 towards maintenace on his car... and he is reluctant to spend more that £50 on a (S/H) crash helmet that might just save his life???? Please take up golf, crown green bowling, or origami... your attitude is not compatible with motor sport... if you have such a low regard for your own safety, what regard do you have for others safety.
Instructor- can you read?
I ask as it appears you've not actually read what ive said & inferred other things.
I was talking about bike lids- as most trackdayers rather than racers use them anyway & yes I do know car helmets 'can' be far far more expensive than bike lids thanks & people have been excluded from bike days for having euro approved lids not having the right BS sticker on, whereas on car days ive never known anyone check helmets yet.
iguana said:
Instructor- can you read?
I ask as it appears you've not actually read what ive said & inferred other things.
I was talking about bike lids- as most trackdayers rather than racers use them anyway & yes I do know car helmets 'can' be far far more expensive than bike lids thanks & people have been excluded from bike days for having euro approved lids not having the right BS sticker on, whereas on car days ive never known anyone check helmets yet.
Don't really know why your having a go at this guy, read his post, all he's doing is offering first class advice backed up by credible experience.
You get a lot of rubbish and heresay talked about here and this sets things straight. Nuff said
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