[Mulv]

Guys

Motorcycle helmets are absolutely not what you want to be wearing in a car. You might as well not wear a helmet at all if you are using bike stuff. The motorcycle helmet shell is much smaller and less padded than a car helmet, allowing for less sacrificial material. Generally the eyeport is larger on a bike helmet as well to facillitate seeing whilst travelling in multi direction traffic, which allows fairly large objects to enter the shell. The forces you experience while using a bike helmet as it is designed are far less than the forces you receive in a car, as when racing , the speeds on motorcycles are quite low, particularily cornering speeds. You tend to decelerate quite a lot before you whack your head in a bike crash as well. In a car you impact some interior part (or the roll cage) at essentially the full speed of the impact.

Now I know this will generate a lot of comment from the poorly informed, but it is true. F1 motorcycles would be lapped by F1 cars at most of the venues about every 6 laps and when they crash, the biker is almost always grinding a limb or torso as he whistles into the sand pit effectively losing speed through friction.

In any case, no sanctioning body or open track group of any repute will let you use a bike helmet in a track event, so the issue is not a real one.

Buy a car helmet and get the most expensive one you can afford. It is the one piece of safety equipment that is really critical to your survival. Remember racing is a blood sport -it is wise to prepare.

On a more upbeat note, a good helmet is a great thing - go for carbon fibre, your neck will thank you

Steve