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HANS
simes43 - 3/11/11 at 07:21 PM

It was great to see so many HANS devices
being used at the Birkett last weekend.

However, I noticed that many drivers
have not changed the harness anchorage
points, rendering the HANS pretty useless
if the worst were to happen.

Luckily it's not a massive job to do if
you know a welder.

steveiow - 3/11/11 at 10:14 PM

Having just bought a Hans after seeing Vicky's crash at Donington, this post interests me.

We only had to make one small change to my car to comply with the Stand21 fitting instructions. I bought the Club Hans device from Merlin.

Instructions etc are here: http://www.stand21.co.uk/hans.r-49/hans-fitting.f-170.html

eddie99 - 3/11/11 at 10:17 PM

I havent been running a HANS this year but with 2 cars out next year and hopefully a fair bit more racing, Also seeing Steve's RGB crash i think i will be purchasing one soon before they become compulsory and the price goes up even more.

simes43 - 3/11/11 at 11:12 PM

quote:
Originally posted by steveiow
Having just bought a Hans after seeing Vicky's crash at Donington, this post interests me.

We only had to make one small change to my car to comply with the Stand21 fitting instructions. I bought the Club Hans device from Merlin.

Instructions etc are here: http://www.stand21.co.uk/hans.r-49/hans-fitting.f-170.html




The scuits pick my HANS up everytime, look for something (which they never find) and then put
it down again, without ever checking that my car is actually compatable for using the device in
the first place.

Nick DV - 4/11/11 at 10:07 AM

quote:
Originally posted by eddie99 Also seeing Steve's RGB crash i think i will be purchasing one soon before they become compulsory and the price goes up even more.


Price up even more eh Eddie, I agree with that point! I cannot argue that the HANS device is probably one of the best safety items in recent years for competitors, but why is it that safety kit is so expensive?
Before you shoot me down in flames, I appreciate some of the cost is down to development, setting up manufacture etc, and I am sure some will say "what price can you put on life" (the suppliers know this!!) but as a piece of life saving kit, why is it priced out of many competitors budgets? (This applies to many items of safety kit!) I am sure there are a lot of racers that struggle to make the grid each race meeting - especially in these difficult times - and will opt for a spare part to get there rather than £350+ for a HANS device!
I am convinced that the HANS along with other items of safety kit be much cheaper, and the suppliers would still be quids in.

Just my opinion of course

Cheers, Nick

Neville Jones - 4/11/11 at 10:54 AM

A HANS device has no more than £30 worth of carbon in it, about £50 worth of labour(maybe), and the tooling costs are near to £500 for the moulds, plus the patterns at twice that. The moulds should be good for 100 items, so the cost per item is near £95. Factory sells for £190, retailer £380, so £350 is 'cheap' as the retailer would have you believe. What the factory has to pay to the patent holder I don't know, but I bet he's not a poor man today.

Profits in motorsport are one of my soapbox issues. And yes, the safety stuff is the most expensive, because the retailers know you must have it; captive market. Gears and 'boxes are way over priced(straight cut gears with dogs are the cheapest gear of any to make!), as is everything else.

Cheers,
Nev.

Nick DV - 4/11/11 at 11:57 AM

Hi Nev, at least someone agrees with me I was on about the cheap 'Sport' version of the HANS at £350+, and I think the carbon one i.e. FIA spec is £700+

Cheers, Nick

P.S. Sorry to get you on your soapbox!!

[Edited on 4/11/11 by Nick DV]

timhoverd - 7/11/11 at 03:51 PM

quote:
Originally posted by simes43
It was great to see so many HANS devices
being used at the Birkett last weekend.

However, I noticed that many drivers
have not changed the harness anchorage
points, rendering the HANS pretty useless
if the worst were to happen.


Bear in mind that you don't have to change the mounting, only if using them puts your belts in a position that doesn't comply with the recommendations from the HANS supplier. (In my case Schroth.) On my J15 the mountings are in a satisfactory position, with me sitting in the sear wearing the HANS. That is, there's the correct angle of dangle on the rear bit of the shoulder straps and the buckles are in the right place.

Mind you, I checked all this while I was building the car pretty carefully.

If people out there are planning on buying a HANS then you might also like to look at using a HANS specific harness which makes things a bit easier. I use a Schroth harness which has 2" shoulder straps that go over the HANS itself which helps the location.

Tim

simes43 - 8/11/11 at 07:39 PM

Some of the drivers installs were way out of tolerance and in
a couple of cases close to dangerous.

I spent nearly three weekends fitting a wrap seat and
adding the correct location points for the HANS belts in my
FIA MGB over the winter. It took 5 minutes to get right
on my Locost.

.