For the past three decades, leaps in bio-mechanical engineering and developments in composite design have allowed various boffins, with a passion for motor sports, to develop safety devices that have proven to dramatically reduce the severity of neck and spinal injuries in event of a crash. Racing professionals and enthusiasts from all over the world have thankfully realised the direct benefit from 30 odd years of H&NR development.
Only through the acknowledgement of all who have lost their lives or suffered long term effects from spinal injuries, can we now make informed decisions about our own safety. It’s not just the racing community that can benefit from this safety technology, H&NR are widely available, off the shelf, in variety of sizes and designs to meet almost all shapes and sizes.
They are available in four degree configurations,
Extreme Upright Seat – Some Sprint cars and slender drivers under 100 lbs
Upright Seat – Most drivers in most cars
Reclined Seat – Larger drivers in most cars or slender drivers in Formula cars
Extremely Reclined Seat - Some LSR and vintage formula cars. Call for assistance.
Now the Medical science bit…
The cervical spine is pretty much the same in every human, 7 vertebrae make up the upper most part of the spine, or C1 to C7 as they are individually named in the medical field. Research indicates the most injured parts in accidents are C1 and C2, these are the two smallest of bones, holding your head onto your spine. Whiplash injuries result from rapid acceleration and deceleration of the head with hyperextension and hyperflexion of the neck and are common in both motor vehicle and bike accidents.
There have been quite a few groundbreaking ‘new’ safety products hitting the shelves in recent years and H&NR are now widely available, dependent on your sporting passion. There are also quite a few brands and designs to choose from out in the market place.
Here we look at both HANS devices, designed for car racing and the new Leatt Neck Brace, a multi purpose design suitable for bikes, cars, ATVs, even water sports, and can be used both in competition or recreational sports.
History bit…
Way back in 1980, Dr. Robert Hubbard, a professor of biomechanical engineering and crash safety crash expert for General Motors, and his brother in law, IMSA racing driver Jim Downing, began designing the first products, after a close friend died from neck injuries in a race car accident. The patented HANS device developed by Hubbard, is a registered brand name for the design and company that manufactures the device. Interestingly the device was designed as an answer to a safety problem in the racing industry and was developed from a personal need by Downing although there was no immediate commercial market for this product. It was in 1996 when Formula 1 took notice of the product and in 2003 it was made a compulsory requirement for racing the championship.
The Product
Usually made from carbon fibre, HANS devices are now mandatory in most forms of top level competition car racing, such as Formula 1 and Nascar. HANS designs have been successfully licensed to other safety product manufacturers such as Schroth, allowing more popularity of the product. The HANS device was an accounting factor in saving the life of BMW Sauber driver Robert Kubica, who crashed into a concrete barrier at 227KPH and rolled the car several times at the Canadian F1 race in 2007, amazingly he was released from hospital the next day with no injuries.
Recently at Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, Swiss driver Natascha Gachnang, racing in the GT1 Matech Ford GT40, hit the barriers on turn 8 at 260 kph when her brakes failed, she suffered a fractured leg, serious neck injuries were prevented due to her effective HANS device, she escaped relatively unhurt thankfully.
In the event of a car crash, the drivers harness and seat normally keep the drivers torso from propelling forward, with only the neck itself left to restrain the head and helmet from being pulled from the body.
|
The device is secured by the body of the driver and not attached to the car.
The purpose of the device is to stop the head from whipping forward in a crash but to not restrict the movement of the neck; instead, when the body slides forward in a crash, the HANS device stays where it was on the belts with the friction of the rubber surface on its arms, the straps only becoming taut and coming into effect during the crash. This reduces the chances of head or neck tension in a crash from 45-70%.
Without HANS
|
With HANS
|
NASCAR lost three drivers in 2001 and has since mandated the wearing of a HANS device. Dale Earnhardts death at the Daytona 500 in 2001 was the catalyst for their intensive focus on safety and in particular neck saving technology. Over the past five years, NASCAR aren’t the only racing series to make the wearing of HANS devices mandatory, V8 Supercars, World Rally Championship, GP2, FIA GT, F2 and several others have all followed suit.
Schroth HANS device 30deg
In fact HANS devices have now been made a mandatory requirement in the Dubai based Gulf Radical Cup. Race organizer and owner of Gulf Sport LLC,
Barry Hope commented, “In line with the FIA’s directive on safety to the F1 teams in 2003, we have mandated the use of HANS devices since 1st January 2008 in the Gulf Radical Cup. Our technicians are HANS trained to fit these devices to helmets and we currently stock Schroth made HANS devices for around 3500aed”.
And if you’re a Moto X rider this should interest you….
Although I’ve been riding road bikes for donkeys years, it wasn’t until I started to go on early morning desert trips on my CRF250 with a few self-confessed moto-x junkies did I realise how in the balance my life could be should I have an accident. Every Friday morning, up at 4am rubbing the crust from my eyes, making my way to the car and checking I had all the safety essentials, helmet–check, boots–check, goggles–check, body armour–check, hydration pack–check, Neck Brace–ermm Nope !
A new multi-purpose device that has crept up on the sports industry recently dubbed the “Helmet for your Neck” is designed to work with all types of helmet wearing sports. The device was developed in 2005 by South African neurosurgeon, Dr Chris Leatt. After witnessing a friend succumb to neck injuries at an enduro event. He was compelled to use his experience both as an rider himself and as a medical professional to develop the device
The ‘Leatt Brace’, comes in youth and adult sizes and has two different designs for either cars (Moto-R for restrained belted drivers) and bikes (Moto-GPX for unrestrained drivers/riders). It comes in two different weights either Sport or Pro and is made of glass reinforced nylon and carbon fibre.
The Leatt brace is starting to be used in road racing series in Superstock racing in South Africa, it can be worn with full race leathers if a small incision is made for the hump on the back. The brace is not physically attached to the helmet, unlike a HANS device and so is easily transferable to different sports activities and can be fitted and maintained easily. Shaped to fit round the neck, with a catch on the each side that removes the front part easily to take on and off.
The design rationale behind the Leatt device is to bring the head to a controlled stop and curtail neck and spine injuries. This is achieved by providing a structure that acts as an alternate load path for neck forces. Helmet impacts otherwise transmitted from the helmet to skull and then to the neck are re-directed from the helmet to the brace to other body structures in a safe way. The unique design prevents the helmet/head from projecting over the brace itself. This was proven to happen in research studies with softer compound devices such as foam collars for karting, which are satisfactory for lower speed and lighter impacts but not for greater speeds.
Leatt Brace - MOTO GPX model
The Leatt brace has been thoroughly tested by BMW Motorrad testing facility in Munich, and is widely used by a long list of factory riders. James (Bubba) Stewart and Ricky Carmichael have recently started to test in AMA Supercross competitions, stating that they “feel that they owe it to themselves and their fellow riders – past and present – to at least give the Leatt brace a tryout and consider using it in the future”.
It is endorsed by the SABS (South African Bureau of Standards), MSA (Motorsport South Africa and carries the International industry test standard of SFI 38.1 from a leading safety institute who are tasked with setting minimum performance standards for the automotive aftermarket and motor sport safety industries.
More science.
All Head and Neck Restraints have to conform to a strict international test standard, SFI 38.1. The restraint has to pass a 70G, 30 degree angular frontal impact, followed by three straight frontal 70G impacts below 4000 newtons of neck tension. An accident that delivers 70G to the driver is an absolutely enormous impact and will probably mean an accident big enough to disintegrate a car. These tests use forces way above what’s survivable in a normal road car as road cars are designed to crumple on impact to absorb force. Research has also shown that by wearing a helmet in the first place we add more weight to the head, so in event of a collision causes greater inertia in acceleration and deceleration instances.
Now for the Maths bit…..
One newton can accelerate a kilo weight at a rate of 1 meter per second. That is, a one Newton force on a 1 kg object results in an acceleration of 1 m/s^2.
So, 4000 newtons on an 80 kilogram person results in an acceleration of 50 meters per second squared. 1G is 9.8m/s^2. So, 4000 newtons on an 80 kg person results in an acceleration force of around 5G on the person.
These tests don’t just measure 4000 newtons on the persons body, they measure it on the neck, and the neck/head weighs a lot less than a person, so 4000 newtons on just the head/helmet will accelerate it by a much higher G than 5G. Lets say your head weighs 5kgs then 4000 newtons will accelerate it by around 80G if it was free to move.
Still with me….good….
If these stats don’t speak for themselves then I can advise you to all watch David Bailey’s heartfelt plea that can be viewed on Youtube. He openly endorses the Leatt Brace, unpaid by the company as a marketer, but encourages all fellow enthusiasts to use such devices. David was a former professional AMA Motocrosser before he endured horrific spinal injuries crashing in 1987, confining him now to a wheelchair as a paraplegic. He openly admits that had he been wearing such a neck device back then he wouldn’t be giving us this advice from his bed side.
OK so we don’t all ride to Ricky Carmichael’s level or race in Formula One but we all have a neck and spine, (well most of us anyways) so its encouraging to know that this can be used for recreational use aswell as top level sports competition.
There are some occasions where all the safety equipment in the world wont save you, but its better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it !
Editors Note– Leatt Braces can be purchased and advised upon from various stockists in the UAE, from leading off road specialists Gecko Motorcycles – www.Gecko-moto.com (+971 4 341 3550) and Sandstorm Motorcycles (call Jonathan +971 4 3395608)
HANS as mentioned can be purchased through Gulf Sport in Dubai.+971 4 341 5438, www.gulf-sport.com
