Originally posted by Knestis@Sep 5 2005, 07:58 PM
...I don't know if the Isaac played any role in my not feeling any after effects of the roll. H&N systems really come into their won where big decelerations are involved and frankly, a roll like we had is really gentle by comparison.
I canNOT emphasize how much faith I put in my seat in this situation. (Sorry, by the way Jake.) I felt the wings keeping my noggin between them and, with my belts really tight like I always run them, I was almost comfortable going over....
K
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And from another poster, "Gregg Baker if you have any info on the later effects of wearing , or not wearing a H&N device that would be good information for others to consider..."
First, when I saw the thread title a few days ago I figured Kirk was making a tongue-in-cheek comment about Juan Pablo Montoya's recent F1 activity, so I skipped it.
Second, we've been spending a lot of time lately reviewing test data where the impacts are as high as 100Gs. We're talking crash sled impacts so violent that the dummy's arms are ripped from the sockets, so if my comments on rollovers sound flippant, please keep things in perspective.
As Kirk noted, a rollover with a good safety package can be no worse than a theme park ride on steroids. It may scare the hell out of you, but a rollover alone will seldom produce a head and neck injury--cage and seat being adequate.
The problems arise when there is a severe frontal or lateral component involved. The use of head and neck restraints, Isaac or otherwise, have been shown to provide significant protection in frontal impacts. Lateral impacts are another matter.
An Isaac system offers some protection in a lateral impact because one damper works in tension while the other works in compression. It ain't rocket surgery. How much is difficult to quantify because, unlike frontal impacts which can easily be tested on a crash sled, lateral impacts are dependent on seat and harness configurations. Nevertheless, we constantly receive reports from Isaac users about how much "support" they feel in corners, and how they have tossed their horse collars. Other posters here (Vaughan Scott, Adam Richman, et al) have noted severe lateral crashes with their Isaac systems with no head or neck injury.
This is all anecdotal, of course. Stay tuned for some real science.
Sounds like you guys need silver, gold and platinum status in your rollover club memberships.