SAFETY

The development of touring car requirements has taken place over the last forty years and is clearly demonstrated by the levels of safety and preparation that the majority of racing cars (club or professional) attain before an event.  In the beginning (in this case we call “the beginning” the 1960’s) the safety regulations concerning touring cars were fairly loose to say the least.  The closest we came to safety was to put a crash helmet on the driver and hope that would save him or her.  There weren’t even any strict regulations for the grade of helmet and this meant that motorcycle crash helmets were used.  Changes were needed even then. 

This is Doc Merrifield.  Note the lack of rollover protection.  Also the helmet is somewhat lightweight it hardly looks like it would protect the driver’s head if he walked into a door.

Picture by Fred Scatley

The consequences of an accident in those days were somewhat scary to say the least.

The driver as can be seen walked away.

 Picture by Fred Scatley

Around the time that “roll bars” were introduced into single seaters the idea of a rollcage was considered for Saloon and Touring cars.  This raised its own problems though because now the car could roll over and the structure would remain in place but our driver could be thrown around like the proverbial egg in a box.  It should also be noted that these rollcages were in fact just a single braced roll “hoop” located by the “B” post of the car.

The late Tom Pryce in an Escort Mexico in 1973.  Note the helmet, rollcage and you can just make out the right shoulder strap of a harness.

 Also note the crash helmet.  It now sports a chin guard (although open face helmets are still allowed). Picture by Andrew Kitson

Now we had the rollcages, something else was needed in order to prevent the inevitable contact with the structure.

Enter full harness seat belts.

These were three, four (as in the above picture) or five point harnesses designed to pin the driver into the seat in the event of an accident.  The harness sported two shoulder straps and a lap strap and were a totally different configuration to the triangulated “road going” seat belt.  Crash helmets were still mandatory because contact with the rollcage in an accident was almost inevitable.  In other words the rollcage made the habitical smaller and therefore increased the chances of a head injury.

Well, we now had our rollcages and our full harness seat belts and even good helmets (of which more later) but there was something missing.  It was found that drivers were still suffering injuries (some sadly fatal) because they were being thrown about in their harnesses and therefore could still suffer trauma.  Some were strangled due to “submarining” in an accident.  This is where the driver slides down under the lap strap and becomes strangled by the very piece of equipment designed to protect him or her.

This is the FIA Approved Sparco Pro Race seat.

The most famous of UK brands in the 1970’s was the Corbeau GT seat.  At that time there were no strict regulations for the construction of the seat but it was generally a partially “wrap around” design which served to restrict the body’s movement in both lateral and longitudinal directions.

As can be seen in the foregoing picture these seats “wrap around” and serve to restrict the movement of the driver’s legs and body in an accident.  Some even have an additional head restraint bar that wraps around the driver’s helmet and restricts whiplash.

In order to comply with FIA and MSA regulations the driver must wear an approved helmet.  These come in various configurations including full face and open face versions.  The FIA requires the helmet to be renewed at a maximum of every five years and in any event if there is any damage due to wear and tear, dropping or an accident.  In fact Scrutineers are entitled to impound a helmet that does not comply with the FIA regulations.

Of all the testing bodies for helmets the most widely known is the Snell Foundation and this is their story as taken from the Snell Foundation website FAQs.

Who/What is Snell? 

William "Pete" Snell was an amateur auto racer. He died needlessly in a racing event in 1956 when his then state-of- the-art helmet failed utterly to protect him. His friends, including Dr George Snively, formed the Snell Memorial Foundation to remember Pete Snell and to encourage the development and use of truly protective helmets.

Why wear a helmet?

Auto racing, motorcycling, bicycling, skiing and any activity that incorporates speed, agility and a head, all impose risks of head injury leading to death or permanent disability. Helmets are the single most effective means of preventing these injuries.

What are the differences between the SA and M standards?

SA Standard was designed for auto racing while M Standard was for motorcycling and other motorsport. There are three major differences between them: 

SA standard requires flammability test while the M standard does not; 

SA standard allows narrower visual field than M standard (Some SA helmets may not be street legal);

SA standard has rollbar impact test while M standard does not.

When the cages were first developed the car builders used them for what they were, a protective device.  There was a lot of resistance to the installation of cages because they served to increase the weight of the car and raise the roll centre thus increasing the likelihood of a roll over accident. 

People soon discovered the advantages of a full rollcage in terms of chassis stiffness and now it is the norm for the rollcage to be welded into the car or at the very least bolted into the bodywork by means of weld nuts and bolts, which serves to increase the chassis stiffness and improve the handling performance of the car.

These rollcages are just that.  They generally include a main hoop (by the “B” post of the car) a front hoop that follows the windscreen line and the “A” post.  Door bars and cross bracing.  In the case of the writer’s car extra bars have been added to reinforce the suspension points and support the shoulder straps of the harness.

Because the rollcage reduces the overall volume of the habitical there are regulations concerning the distance from the top of the driver’s helmet to the main and front bars and any longitudinal bars in the cage.  The FIA recognises the need for a suite of safety equipment, which includes the following: 

a.      Rollcage

b.      Full Harness Seat Belt

c.      Racing Seat

d.      Fire extinguisher

e.      Electrical cut out switches

f.       Fire Proof overalls.

g.      Helmet