Safety Apparel + HANs Seminar - May 3rd

[shinoo]

Stand 21 and SCORE are holding a Safety Seminar at Eibach
May 3rd from 9am -1pm

Stand21 is one of the premier manufacturers of safety apparel. Their gear is used in all top levels of racing. They produce everything you need from Helmets to Boots. Stand21's President, R&D Manager and a Professor they work with will be presenting the following topics:
1. Helmets
2. HANs
3. Firesuits
4. Heat Stress

The event will be at Eibach: 264 Mariah Circle, Corona 92879

I've reserved a few spots so pls RSVP by April 28. Come on out and learn more about safety considerations when you track your Atom. Eibach will be providing a tour of their shop as well. SCORE is an offroad racing org but the topics covered will apply to us on-road junkies.

PM or email me direct so I can get you on our list.

[twebb]

Shinoo:

How'd you get envolved with Stand21.  I have been using their products for a number of years.  I'm on my second Stand21 driver's suit and now use one of their ST21 Double Duty helmets.  Very nice piece of work.

I had a suit made last year, ST3000.  It feels like I'm wearing pajamas.  In the hot days of summer in Oklahoma, Texas, et al, there is no better suit.

Say hello to Gildas for me.

Tim Webb

[shinoo]

Hey Tim!  I've been eyeing their gear.  Thx for your testimonial.  I'm now sold!

[shinoo]

Fiesty & I hung out with a bunch of off-roaders and learn a ton.  Get a HANs!  The data supports their use.  We'll hold another Safety Seminar at our shop later this year.

[fiestycolumbian]

Yes absolutely agree, get a HANS everyone!

They have a sliding tether option for those who fear not being able to move the head a lot. Seeing the crash footage and testing of the HANS and without it, its quite scary. Having a HANS restricts not only your neck and spine, but prevents your head from hitting anything in the cockpit. I use to drive with it only on the highways/tracks, but I will now drive it on the street as well. It makes total sense guys.

Shinoo pulled his car in the factory and simulated his seating postition with the HANS and the helmet and had the engineers from Stand 21, who actually design and test all things related to driver safety breakdown the atom. He tried my 30L HANS, which is perfect for the Sparco seats btw, and they had a lot to say about the driver belts. Since Shinoo sits lower in the car, his belts anchors are too high and they dont provide the proper tension and force on the HANS to work correctly. This is a problem for shorter drivers and drivers who have small torsos. Moving the anchors to the bulkhead was highly reccommended by Stand 21.

A few other big things I learned.
1- Make sure you take off any belt pads, they completely take the effectiveness of the HANS, because thee HANS needs friction with the belt material, and the pads will just allow HANS to slip in any impact, rendering useless. I was running the pads and HANS, pretty stupid of me
2- Head/neck collars are completely useless and actually a higher liability in any impact. They do nothing to protect the neck whiplash or any of the bones/muscles surrounding the neck. They add to the weight the spine has to take in an impact, so it actually increases the severity of an impact. Collars are good for karting and any racing not having belt harnesses, not for the atom!!!
3- We need to look at head restraints that are integrated in the seats and really strong ones, that dont fold on impact with the helmet/head, aluminum ones are useless, it was amazing to see how easy they fold on impact. Recaros make really good seats, whether they fit in the atom remains to be seen. Which leads me to my next point.
4. Since most of us cant add head restraints, we should definitely add safety nets for the drivers head. The amount of head protection these provide were astounding. Adding one on both sides of the driver and passenger is a must. Its a very cheap solution and can be bolted because we have the roll bar in the back and support bars in front. Easy solution in my opinion and a must have for safety. They showed rally drivers who banged their heads really hard against each other because they did not have any safety nets between them. IN the atom passengers sit even closer to the driver!!
5. FIA rated helmets are the only ones the recommend with the HANS, because the FIA rating proves they have tested the actual helmet. Dont get anything without this rating. Stand21 has a brand new line of CF FIA rated helmets which are amazingly light and strong.

I learnt a bunch more, really too much too list, but this is the big stuff, hopefully they might come out to Shinoo's factory later this year. Its a must for everyone to learn.

fiesty

[Bruce Fielding]

Another good tip is, before getting into your Atom, wrap yourself from head to toe in at least 10cm thickness of cotton wool. And only drive at speeds up to 12mph as the human body is incapable of withstanding higher velocities.

[Alec]

After riding motorcycles since the 1960s, and having one bad accident on them, I see the Atom itself as the safety equipment.