Before i waffle on to my monologue I do want to say I did check and found nothing in the search for this question. I recently purchased a Megane 275 Cup-s with the intention of having a fun car for the road and a fast but manageable car for the track (and not because every car that seemed to overtake me at the Nurburgring was a Megane!) so onto my question - next year i will be looking at track days with my Megane and understand ill need to buy a helmet so which helmet would you recommend? My friend who Im going with has a helmet and said I can have any old cheap bike helmet, would that be a good idea for a noob or should i be looking at something a bit more expensive? any info on this would be much appreciated
A bike helmet appears to be the cheapest entry into the market, but there are some good prices around on car helmets too. Several companies do non-Snell/FIA helmets that are ok for track days. The most important thing I would stress is to get something that fits you well and is comfortable. There is nothing worse than an uncomfortable or ill-fitting helmet and it isn't safe either. It's better if you can try some on before you buy, but this isn't always easy if you don't live near to someone like Demon Tweeks who will have lots of options on the shelf. Plenty of reputable companies will allow you to return a helmet if it doesn't fit, so all is not lost. You need to choose between an open face or full face (I prefer open face) but everyone is different. If you plan on using the helmet in other cars that may not have a roof, then a full face is safer and I think some track day companies now insist on full face helmets in Caterham-type cars. Worth keeping it mind. I would advise caution on going too cheap though. A £40 bike helmet is tempting, but while you're pretty unlikely to get seriously injured on a track day, you do only get one head, so it's worth protecting. If you're after a car helmet, brands like Hedtec offer decent value, with SNELL2015 helmets available for less than £200. I think that's the current FIA standard, so should be more than up to the job!
Just buy an open face harley davidson helmet.done.picked mine up for 10 quid locally. Its like new and been used just a few times.
Thanks for the replies, while im not fortunate enough to live near Demon Tweeks, there are a number of bike shops around, I suppose i wont be the first person to go in there with this kinda request and since they are designed to protect you without a big metal cage im sure they would be up to the job. I hadnt considered open face as there is quite an obvious portion of your face not protected but then again if they are good enough for Rally Co-Drivers and Clarkson & Co. im sure they're good enough for me! (could even get some goggles to go for the full captain slow look )
I do prefer an open-face myself. Find full-face ones a bit claustrophobic and don't ever really go in open top cars so it's not really a problem for me.
You can hire a helmet at a trackday event, so you could try a full or open face helmet and make your own mind up and it's only going to cost you a tenner.
If you’ve never done trackdays before then consider just hiring one on the day just until you’re sure you enjoy trackdays. (That’s said I was given the above advice and ignored it cause I wanted my own hehe ) Trying some on is essential if you can. I do live close to demon tweaks I’m pleased to say so could spend an hour trying on and checking the fit. Surprising how they can feel comfy to start with but 5 mins later start to hurt. Out of the many helmets I tried I only really found one that was comfy, well fitted, and within budget. Personally I wouldn’t go cheap on a crash helmet. Hopefully never needed but it could well save you one day. I also found a good pair of gloves a real benefit.
Good advice. Of all the things you could save money on, the bucket where you keep your brain is probably not the place. The chances of hurting yourself are pretty low, but not worth it for £100-or-so in my view. The mention of gloves reminded me of another thing. A balaclava is a good shout. I find they give a bit of additional comfort.
Try as many as you can on, and spend as much as you can afford. Definitely get what you pay for in this instance. I'd also skip the bike helmet idea, they arn't really suitable and are tested and designed for different impacts and loads.
The most important thing with a helmet is ensuring it fits correctly. An incorrectly fitting £2k FIA spec helmet is worse than a perfect fitting £50 helmet. I had an absolute nightmare when buying my trackday helmet due to their being nowhere near that sold car helmets. In the end I think I ended up having a total of 7 or 8 helmets sent to my house. I'd order 1, recieve it, try it on, realise the fit was poor so send it back and try again. I'n the end I went down to the motorbike shop 2 minutes from my house, and with the help of the staff got a great fitting Bell motorbike helmet that's more than good enough for my needs. Regarding open v full face helmets it comes down to personal preference. I went full face as I owned an MX5 before my R26 and the roof was never up on track. Every UK trackday I've done have stated that in any soft/open top car both driver and passenger MUST wear full face helmets. The big advantages of open face helmets is being able to communicate easier between driver and passenger, and greater visibility.
I've got both an open and closed helmet. I also find the closed face very claustrophobic inside the car. If I take someone with me on a track day I give them the closed face. Bought both on EBay. Personally don't feel that i needed to spend loadsa money on a helmet to wear inside my car at a trackday. However if i was on a bike on road or track I would buy the very best i could afford. Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
Certainly alot to think about. the general theme here seems to be buy the best you can and make sure it fits correctly. with that in mind I would like to go to somewhere like a Demon Tweeks but as im in gods country im not going to leave just to try on a skid lid. is there anywhere else in the north ideally Yorkshire that anyone has been to, to try and buy a helmet for this purpose?
If you do go down the motorbike helmet route,make sure you get the best (safest, not most expensive) one you can. The vast majority of bike helmets are SHARP tested and rated out of 5 stars. Its quite worrying how poorly some models of big brand helmets score in the test. I made sure I got a 5 star helmet to help offset the fact it's a bike, not car helmet. Here's a link to the SHARP website https://sharp.dft.gov.uk
thanks for this, following on from this ive had a look at the 5 star helmets and found one that is a great price, is 5 stars and doesnt look like a storm trooper shat in it, its by a company called Caberg whom ive not heard of before but if its scored max it cant be bad.. right
The SHARP test is government funded and puts helmets that are to the current safety standards through more rigorous tests. Its a but like cars, all cars have to meet a certain safety standard, but some are a lot safer than others. If the bike helmets your looking at are 5 star rated then that's the best your going to get in the terms of a road bike helmet, though as already mentioned fit is key, get that wrong and you're in trouble if it all goes wrong.
I find it surprising that companies are not marketing that they have a 5 star safety rating on their helmets, before you mentioned it i had no idea (although tbh if it wasnt for the missus I would be wearing a 30 quid spesh from halfords)
The problem is people then see that they also have 2 star helmets too so nobody buys the lower rated ones. Quite a few online bike helmet sellers list the ratings or allow you to search by SHARP rating
on the flip side Renault makes 5 star NCAP cars.. and the twizzy which is a disgrace to humanity they still advertise their 5 star cars, same thing really?
