While I've seen many of the more experienced students and most of the instructors wearing helmet support "donuts" or even HANS devices, I've rarely seen novice and first-time students show up with or even show an awareness of them. I'm beginning to think that the club should at least strongly encourage their use by all students. (I don't think mandating their use is necessary, as yet.)
Dan Martin gave me the heads-up on an incident at Watkins Glenn last weekend. During a PCA school, a green group student, who was signed-off ran into a tire wall at ~70mph. While cause of death hasn't been officially determined AFAIK, it appears that he suffered severe neck trauma and no other damage. He wasn't wearing any sort of helmet or neck support... (Read the full post here, in an Audi webforum and more info on a Porsche board.)
Starting at around $30, there's no real excuse for why every driver at an NCCBMWCCA event shouldn't show up wearing one (or something better -- including an SFI 38.1-rated head and neck restraint).
I'd hate to see something like this happen at a BMWCCA event (or any other event, for that matter).
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