Thread: Let's talk helmets.

Wes, I just reread this and I think it makes sense. I would also add that a closed helmet also provides better fire protection, should an issue occur. I've seen people with nomex suits, boots and gloves (even socks and underwear!) and an open face helmet. Beats the purpose IMO. I mean, what good is it if you get burns nowhere, except on the face...

Yep, I do. I use a Bieffe GR.1500 XLarge (its an older model). It fits my large head just fine, and I wear glasses too (its a full face helmet). Bieffe seems to do a good job with the larger head sizes. They've got an XXL if your head is freak of nature huge too.

Bieffe FTW. I have a rather large head and my Bieffe was by far the most comfortable. Not to expensive i think i paid around $500

EDIT:

Nevermind, picture was too big

I'm bringing this one back from the dead.

While driving around on the track with my full faced helmet I found the gauges extremely hard to read. I had to actually move my head down to look at the tach, and then move it back up to look at the track. Normally I'll just move my eyes down to glance quickly at the gauges.
This was not something I'd expected. Thinking about it now, moving my seat-back might have helped some but as it stood the chin protection was directly blocking my factory gauges.

I'll be heavily considering an open face helmet for the future.

Edit: I found out I was wearing the helmet wrong. once pulled down on my head properly, I could see just fine.

What helmet are you using? Consider the size of the eyeport. Many helmets have notoriously narrower eyeports than others, this will likely solve your problem. I am currently using an Impact Super Sport and have not had that issue, granted it also depends on driving position.

I just am not a fan of open faced helmets at track days. Autocross sure, no problem at most venue's, but track days too much can go wrong to not have that protection.

I'll find out what type of helmet I have. I'm pretty sure it's mainly the sitting position though. I'm short/compact and with the seat very close and seat back up quite a bit my chest is still an easy 10" away from the steering wheel however the angle to the dash in pretty extreme.

I use a gforce open face for autox and HPDE instructing. I have the chatterbox communicator in mine. For that it great. Easy to use and if I am a little hard on it getting in and out of students cars thats okay with me. As soon as the SA2010 helmets come out I am goin go to pick up an ARAI Gp5-w. This has the wide eye port. I tried the regular Gp5 and I have trouble seeing my guages as well. Big eyeport solved that Still cant see nearly as well at my open face. Im going to keep it for autoxes.

something SA2005 will be ideal if you can get one

this is what i got a few days ago

I just bought a full-face Simpson from Summit Racing. Nice wide eyeport. Looks a lot like the picture above. SA2005. $250.