Safety Equipment??

[Peter Mallett]

Helmets. If the two specs are equivalent you will be paying for Snell 95 anyway. There is a Sparco helmet which complies. Can't remember its name but as soon as the regs were clarified the price went up.

I use a Simpson LXp which was good value when the dollar rate was good. However the pound is down v the dollar so its probably not so good.

Belts.

As long as its FIA approved I would go for the four point in an upright situation.

What about seat?

[Dan Friel]

Seat....

A nice cheap(ish) Sparco will do me, as long as its FIA rated.

You add this lot up, and it's a lot of money!!! But then again, of you can spread the payments over several months.. it's not too bad.

If you look at the regs for sprinting my MG Midget road car, you need:

Helmet (BS6658 A)
Proban overalls..
Fire extinguisher 1.75 ltr
And some sort of roll bar..

That's quite a difference!!

Don't worry, I shall be getting more than just the basics.

[fogz]

I,m not sure but was told that 5 and 6 point harnesses were to be made compulsary here in australia some time in the future.
Regardless I would not race with anything else.
For a harness to work it must be done up very tight not so that they are comfortable.
This is so that if you have a big one the belts will stretch and reduce the impact shock to the body.
if the belts are not very tiight you will hit the belts this can be the difference between chest bruising and broken ribs and punctured lungs!
With this in mind it is almost impossible to do the shoulder straps tight enough without the hip straps riding up into the stomache unless you use crutch straps.
Crutch straps can also stop you from falling" öut" of the shoulder straps in the event of a heavy roll over if they are fitted correctly.
I would just like to leave you with often used quote
"If you have a ten dollar head buy a ten dollar helmet!"

[Peter Mallett]

Fogz,

Welcome to the forum. Do you race a single seater or a saloon? A FIA quality four point in a saloon is perfectly adequate because of the contours of the seat. I speak from bitter (unbruised) experience.

This doesn't apply to a single seater. However you are right if you want to take the "belt and braces" view.

[Tony Harman]

Just going to add a bit more to this topic - specifically helmet standards, I think you've sorted out the BS versus Snell question however be aware Snell standards are reviewed every five years so.... this year will see the publication of Snell 2000, so whats the importance of that, well I'll tell you, the FIA is dropping Snell 90 as of next year, it's keeping Snell 95 and of course will adopt Snell 2000 when published, so if you want your helmet to be legal for more than 5 years get one stamped Snell 2000 not 95.
Also I'll relay a tale from Spa scrutineering last week, I have a BS type A standard helmet (not FR, not Snell) and this is OK for Spa because it was a dual permit meeting, however the scrutineer wanted to fail my helmet because the manufacturing date was July 1990 so it was technically more than 10 years old (just, - but he did a separate inspection and OK'd it). I purchased it in 1994 so it was already over 3 years old then !!!, so be very careful and check the manufacturing date undere the lining on the helmet.

Also I agree with everyone - buy the best you can get, Andrews comment that 2 layers isn't necessarily better than 3 is also true - check the weight, and don't buy by post - try the stuff on, particularly the helmet - use the method shown in the blue book - i.e. trying to pull a fastened helemt over the top of your head, you'll be surprised how easy a slightly oversized one can be removed.