Re: HANS Specific belts; 20 questions
So, Mark, what’s the deal on the 2” wide HANS specific shoulder belts such as Schroth? (not the “F-1” double belts) I bought a set at the beginning of the year and they seem to work really well with the HANS for comfort and staying in place. However, I haven’t crashed with these belts yet, so sitting in the car and only pulling a couple of g’s in normal driving isn’t really the metric we’re interested in.
But since they are only 2” wide, will they not stretch more than normal 3” wide belts? Or are the 3 inch belts compromised by the HANS collar in that they are stressed unevenly because 1/3 of the belt width is hanging off the collar and isn’t under the same tension that the rest of the belt is? Does Schroth rely on polyester being less stretchy for acceptable performance?
We were debating this last winter. Someone called HANS and was told the 2-in. HANS specific belts were not approved or recommended. So I called them back to ask specifically if that meant that they recommended against the 2” belts. The answer I got was something like “No, we’re not saying that, we just haven’t tested the 2” belts, so we don’t know how well they work.” (I wonder if they were doing Hrant's suggested testing with airbags? :biggrin
So, that’s as far as we got. Many of us use Schroth 2” belts (I heard Simpson was working on a set), and simply trust that Schroth has a reason why 2” works fine without a double thickness. Are we kidding ourselves? What’s the current official blather and what's the real end-user scoop?
So, Mark, what’s the deal on the 2” wide HANS specific shoulder belts such as Schroth? (not the “F-1” double belts) I bought a set at the beginning of the year and they seem to work really well with the HANS for comfort and staying in place. However, I haven’t crashed with these belts yet, so sitting in the car and only pulling a couple of g’s in normal driving isn’t really the metric we’re interested in.
But since they are only 2” wide, will they not stretch more than normal 3” wide belts? Or are the 3 inch belts compromised by the HANS collar in that they are stressed unevenly because 1/3 of the belt width is hanging off the collar and isn’t under the same tension that the rest of the belt is? Does Schroth rely on polyester being less stretchy for acceptable performance?
We were debating this last winter. Someone called HANS and was told the 2-in. HANS specific belts were not approved or recommended. So I called them back to ask specifically if that meant that they recommended against the 2” belts. The answer I got was something like “No, we’re not saying that, we just haven’t tested the 2” belts, so we don’t know how well they work.” (I wonder if they were doing Hrant's suggested testing with airbags? :biggrin
So, that’s as far as we got. Many of us use Schroth 2” belts (I heard Simpson was working on a set), and simply trust that Schroth has a reason why 2” works fine without a double thickness. Are we kidding ourselves? What’s the current official blather and what's the real end-user scoop?