Full carbon fibre helmet - worth it?

[Trackdayer]

As title, I'm contemplating a new helmet in full CF

Is the weight saving significant over non-CF?

Is it worth it in terms of saving your neck muscles?

[E-bmw]

Surely google/manufacturers web sites are the way to find the weight difference by comparing an actual cf to non cf helmet.

Unless you are doing 70 laps in an F1 car at a time, and pulling 5+ g, I would think not.

[anonymous-user]

Unless you’re driving something very, very serious indeed I can’t see how you’d need to worry about your neck muscles with any helmet to be honest, you just won’t be pulling enough sustained cornering g for it to matter.

What car are you using?

[Mars]

I have a carbon and kevlar Stand 21 lid. It was expensive but I had money to buy it at the time and it was my first (and still only) helmet. It wasn't until I had cause to borrow another helmet sometime later that I realised just how lightweight mine is.

It's unnecessary in terms of neck muscle saving even though it is genuinely more comfortable to wear but I believe the kevlar might be handy to prevent penetration injuries.

[fossilfuelled]

I think fit is far more important than material if just using for Trackdays. Sadly the only helmet that fit me perfectly was the aria carbon. I race, and my mates still take the piss out of my f1 quality helmet, but it’s bloody comfortable and feels substantially heavier than all other helmets I’ve ever used. If you’ve got the money, then just get the best. You won’t regret it.

[Caddyshack]

I imagine there is a safety benefit of a lighter lid, if you crash then there is less weight to transfer (hopefully your head does not travel as far?)

[PGNSagaris]

Trackdayer said:

As title, I'm contemplating a new helmet in full CF

Is the weight saving significant over non-CF?

Is it worth it in terms of saving your neck muscles?

It’s obviously lighter.

They look cool.

Will make zero difference to your neck muscles. For what you are doing on track it’s spending for the sake of it. Which I have no problem with. They look cool and will make you happy.

[MOTK]

Surely the point of a carbon helmet is not really to do with saving your neck muscles whilst driving in anything remotely normal. Let's ambitiously say most road based track cars might pull 1.5 g lateral and maybe a bit more in deceleration, so any weight difference is hardly going to be noticed.
However when you hit the wall with what could quite easily be something like a 30g impact I reckon your neck will be most grateful of any weight you saved on the helmet.
Should really be wearing a HANS device of course which would kind of negate that advantage...
Slopes off to actually buy one.... I've been meaning to for a while...

[CedricN]

Compare weights, it's VERY significant in case of impact without hans or similar. That's why some regulations have weight limits for helmets if you don't have hans. Buy the lightest helmet that your wallet feels comfortable with.

[Trackdayer]

I have a Simpson hybrid

[MOTK]

In that case I can't see the value personally, but I'm not pulling mega G so I can't really comment how it affects a slick shod/heavy aero car. Do you have an issue with your current one?

[Trackdayer]

MOTK said:

In that case I can't see the value personally, but I'm not pulling mega G so I can't really comment how it affects a slick shod/heavy aero car. Do you have an issue with your current one?

I have just upgraded to the Simpson hybrid and my old helmet has no HANS posts. So I need a new one.

So I'm debating cost-benefits of going for a carbon one or not. It's hard to imagine if 500g or so would leave you feeling any less fatigued after a long track day.

[PGNSagaris]

It won’t

[nickfrog]

Trackdayer said:

So I'm debating cost-benefits of going for a carbon one or not. It's hard to imagine if 500g or so would leave you feeling any less fatigued after a long track day.

Zero measurable difference. Not enough Gs in a road car.

[shirt]

fossilfuelled said:

I think fit is far more important than material if just using for Trackdays. Sadly the only helmet that fit me perfectly was the aria carbon. I race, and my mates still take the piss out of my f1 quality helmet, but it’s bloody comfortable and feels substantially heavier than all other helmets I’ve ever used. If you’ve got the money, then just get the best. You won’t regret it.

I agree as I also took this approach when buying a lid for trackdays and club racing. Didn’t have a budget in mind other than knowing I’d go for lower spec racewear in order to buy a better helmet and hans. Ended up trying virtually everything in stock at demon tweeks and walked away with a GRP stilo gt5 as it was by far the most comfortable without being overly spendy.

[Trackdayer]

In the end I bought a lovely Simpson carbon lid. The weight difference is noticeable! Highly recommended.

[fred bloggs]

I use a carbon crash helmet commuting on a 125 bike.
It’s significantly more comfortable having a lighter lid.

I do value my head though.

[HustleRussell]

I don’t think I’ve met a racing driver with a carbon lid. There is significant variance in the weight of GRP lids.

[HustleRussell]

Trackdayer said:

So I'm debating cost-benefits of going for a carbon one or not. It's hard to imagine if 500g or so would leave you feeling any less fatigued after a long track day.

Is the difference between a GRP and a carbon shell, like-for-like, as much as that?

[Trackdayer]

HustleRussell said:

Is the difference between a GRP and a carbon shell, like-for-like, as much as that?

Judging by the manufacturers specs, yes. And certainly feels noticeably lighter on my head.