Car helmet - what do you use..

[Mat Jackson 1975]

I have a caged car with aeroscreen, so my son and I wear helmets on longer journeys.  We have bike helmets, but found they foul the seat headrest so you end up sitting in a weird position with your head forward.

 

As they are bike helmets, they have slight fins on the back making it worse (see photo)

 

What car helmets do people recommend?  Ideally looking for low cost, as it’s for simple wind / face protection not  on motorsport…

[Flying Carrot Steve]

 

Good point, I've yet to try my new carbon lid in the Westie. But this is what I normally wear. It definitely doesn't foul in my car, the back is nice and round,no fins etc

 

 

[Flying Carrot Steve]

 

It's a Shark Raw but the Shark Street  Drak looks almost identical. Plenty on eBay 

[Andrzej]

https://hedtec.co.uk/collections/helmets

 

[eggontoast]

8 hours ago, Andrzej said:

https://hedtec.co.uk/collections/helmets

 

This. I like my Hedtec lid. Got a glass- not carbon-fibre one. Isn't too heavy, possibly lighter than my motocross-rated downhill lid. 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

When buying my first motorsport safe helmet for the Westfield, I aske in the shop what the difference, aero aids aside was between bike and car helmets. Their answer was that they're designed for very different types of accident; bike helmets were designed to protect you if you came off, hit your head against the ground, or a vehicle, and then slid, with abrasion resistance being part of it. Whilst car helmets were designed to protect your head from bouncing off the roll cage - a potentially much higher psi impact force, because of the way smaller contact area, along with a cage being brutally unforgiving against something like your head. There was also a big difference in fire protection, again, with bikers expecting to have to survive being thrown clear, whilst car drivers would be strapped in until they could extricate themselves/be extracted.

 

That said, for just aeroscreened road use, if buying again, without having a cage, because I wear glasses, I'd probably go for a flip front helmet, which AFAIK, are only available in bike helmets?

[Flying Carrot Steve]

38 minutes ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) said:

When buying my first motorsport safe helmet for the Westfield, I aske in the shop what the difference, aero aids aside was between bike and car helmets. Their answer was that they're designed for very different types of accident; bike helmets were designed to protect you if you came off, hit your head against the ground, or a vehicle, and then slid, with abrasion resistance being part of it. Whilst car helmets were designed to protect your head from bouncing off the roll cage - a potentially much higher psi impact force, because of the way smaller contact area, along with a cage being brutally unforgiving against something like your head. There was also a big difference in fire protection, again, with bikers expecting to have to survive being thrown clear, whilst car drivers would be strapped in until they could extricate themselves/be extracted.

 

That said, for just aeroscreened road use, if buying again, without having a cage, because I wear glasses, I'd probably go for a flip front helmet, which AFAIK, are only available in bike helmets?

 

I've always wondered what the differences between car and bike helmets is. Good to know. 

 

Those Hedtec ones seem decent value too compared to some bike helmets I've seen. 

[Flying Carrot Steve]

1 hour ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) said:

 

 

That said, for just aeroscreened road use, if buying again, without having a cage, because I wear glasses, I'd probably go for a flip front helmet, which AFAIK, are only available in bike helmets?

 

 

Basically why I went for the Shark one, it's not a pivot flip-front but the whole face covering part is on elastic and just pulls forward and up so the face is completely open. Comes in handy if your specs steam up while stopped at lights etc that's for sure. 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

23 minutes ago, Flying Carrot Steve said:

Those Hedtec ones seem decent value too compared to some bike helmets I've seen. 

 

I know a few of the Speed Series  guys, back in the day used to use and recommend these; they were really popular with the new drivers just starting out, as well as the more experienced guys looking for good value.

[Rob Hunter - Club Secretary]

I normally use a Nolan N87 bike helmet on the road and a Zamp RZ65D carbon (with HANS device) on track. I was going to get a Hedtec for track until I found the Zamp at a bargain price. I chose the Nolan as it didnt have the extended rear aero so it didn't push my head forwards in the seat. I also have a cheap Shox Assault Evo bike helmet that I use for passengers.

 

It is really interesting how different the two types of helmet are to live with.

 

Bike helmets have a wider field of view with a larger visor aperture, plus built in drop down dark internal visor is great on the road, the pinlock visors (essentially double glazing) prevents steaming up, and they are made to accommodate intercoms if you wish. Another good feature is quick release chin straps in a bike helmet, where the Motorsport ones use fiddlier (but more secure) D ring fastening. Also, if you wear glasses, the bike helmets accommodate these more comfortably.

 

The Zamp is 3 times the price of the Nolan but is a lot lighter (about 1.4kg vs 1.7kg and 2.1kg for the Shox). The downside on the road of the FIA/Snell compliant helmet is that the visor aperture is noticeably narrower (a pain at T-junctions!), there is less ventilation, no pinlock visor, no quick release chin strap, and no internal flip down dark visor. Interestingly, despite the large chin spoiler I get far more helmet lift above 100mph in the Zamp than the Nolan, probably due in part to being so tall...

 

In short, I find the bike helmets more convenient and comfortable to live with on the road if you can find one without the extended rear aero.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

My understanding was that the wider visor openings vent differences etc were largely down to the fire ratings required for car motorsport compliance, though I have heard said the visor thing may also be partly down to more flying chunks of metal aimed at you in a big track "un-scheduled rapid disassembly situation" with a car, than you'd normally get on a bike!