open faced helmet wanted

[wingco]

I'm doing my first track day on Friday night at Donington and thus need a helmet. My big 'ed' is 58cm round which I think is a size Med. Anybody got one they are looking to move on at a mooocho good price!!!

Simon

 

[944turboS]

Simon,
If you don't get offered one then you can usually hire one from the organisers for a minimal fee.

 

[oliverjamesthomas]

Lining myself up to be shot here.......

I know people say buy a £50 helmet for a £50 head, but I've just bought a British standard, non fire rated OMP open face helmet for £68, including p&p. Did the job great and the cost is reasonable when you consider helmet hire is about £10 a time.

Here's the link:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/YBRACING_OMP-HELMETS_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ6QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Regards

 

[wingco]

cheers for the link

 

[Fred Hindle]

Apart from the obvious quality issues that you will be aware of check out the amount of 'side view - peripheral vision the helmet allows. Helmets designed for bike use allow less than a helmet designed for car use. Thats why bikers have to learn to move their heads from side to side, difficult at first but once you get the hang on it it is like riding a bike.[]
Cheers,

 

[edh]

I think this is a trackzone evening - don't think they do helmet hire

Might be worth considering full face though - handy for grabbing passenger rides in open cars, & more protection if you do hit something (like your steering wheel!)

You really need to try a few on to get a good fit - may be worth trying a good bike shop. Most bike helmets have got the right BS standard for cars - just don't have fire resistant lining.

 

[Mark_Bennett]

See this link:

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=46265

For links to information on allowable helmet standards etc

 

[lali]

I wouldnt buy a used helmet if my life depended on it!... oh wait.. it does..

 

[Guest]

ORIGINAL: oliverjamesthomas

Lining myself up to be shot here.......

I know people say buy a £50 helmet for a £50 head, but I've just bought a British standard, non fire rated OMP open face helmet for £68, including p&p. Did the job great and the cost is reasonable when you consider helmet hire is about £10 a time.

Here's the link:

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/YBRACING_OMP-HELMETS_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ6QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Regards

When you say it did the job great, I assume you mean you had a serious accident and got out of the wreckage unharmed.

I wouldn't buy a secondhand helment, and I also wouldn't buy a helmet unless I had tried it on to make sure that it fitted correctly.

 

[38F3E1]

The major decision on a helmet is the personal choice to go either open or closed. If you are go-carting or driving an open car it has to be closed face but for saloon cars open face is acceptable.

After that you have to physically try helmets before buying IMHO because they all fit differently.

You can get a perfectly good open face helmet for the suggested price of 60-70 quid. Sparco also do one at that price which I used to use for track days (Sparco Clubman I think) and it has all the correct BS and Type A spec so is up to the job. The fireproof version of the same helmet for competition use is about 160 quid.

And I agree never buy second hand. The MSA recommendation is to throw a helmet away if you either have an impact or drop the helmet. If you buy second hand you could be getting one of these.

Ian.

 

[oliverjamesthomas]

ORIGINAL: JamesH

When you say it did the job great, I assume you mean you had a serious accident and got out of the wreckage unharmed.

I wouldn't buy a secondhand helment, and I also wouldn't buy a helmet unless I had tried it on to make sure that it fitted correctly.

Sorry, perhaps I should explain......

It isn't a second hand helmet that I've bought and I was able to ensure correct fitment.

It did a great job because it wasn't uncomfortable, didn't impair my vision and I didn't end up paying a hire charge in order to wear something that god knows how many people have had on their head before me. Sadly, due to my vocation, I am all to aware of what people can carry upon their person and believe me, if the trackday companies do clean helmets, I would doubt very much they will use the type of things required to kill certain bugs and diseases. If they did, trackdays would become very much more expensive!

As for crashing, thankfully I didn't. But then, what's the difference between a £60 helmet and a god knows how many hundred pounds helmet when I, like most of us, don't wear a race suit, gloves and the rest of the gear and my car doesn't have a full cage and harnesses?

Regards

 

[SimonP]

I owe my life to an Arai GP2 race helmet....... at the time it was more than I could really afford, but I was racing single seaters at the time and it was the same helmet as Nigel Mansell wore in F1.

I took a flyer from my Kawasaki ZXR-750 at over 100mph, when I landed, I smashed the shell of the helmet, leading to filling the helmet with warm red stuff from my nose!
I was out cold for approx. 30 mins, one smashed ankle and a week in hospital had me on the road to recovery.

If I remenber, it cost me about £430.00 about ten years ago, the modern version is about £8-900.00, it is well worth it in my opinion.

I guess what I am saying is......
Don't save a few pennies and undervalue your head!

Simon

 

[wingco]

Cheers for all replies. Does anyone know a local place to Derby where I could try a few different types.

Simon