Thought a dedicated thread would be appropriate. (Maybe a good start for a “Safety Gear” folder) that way it can be easily searched
I have been playing around with rear helmet spoilers. Vs no spoiler, they seem to pull my head back firmly into the headrest. I think I might have had it too high on the helmet and am going to try it lower down. Helmet is a Bell RS7.
Good thread idea!
My old Bell M4 had significant lift... I had to make sure I was facing perfectly forward on straights too, or it would try to twist my head off.
I talked with Spring Mountain, and they recommended the Stilo (Carbon version, naturally) saying that their members found them to work well.
I added spoilers to the Bell with limited success and finally had enough when I came in from a session and noticed that my chin spoiler was gone. It must have blown off in the wind. I went over to the race shop at Sebring, and they had the Stilo in my size in composite (about half the cost of the carbon). I used the Stilo at my last track session in late April, and it was great. No lift, no twist.
I tried many things in my Prosport. My home track is Road Atlanta which is pretty fast. I ended up putting a Gurney lip on my windscreen to deflect the air. That is the only thing that worked.
I have used the Bell GTX.3 for awhile with no issues of lifting. I used in my Radical and an open wheel car. My head was well above the cockpit in the open wheel car. My Radical has a plastic lip in front of the cockpit so not sure if that changes anything.
Great idea Neal about creating a Safety gear section. I will create it and move this post over there.
Here are my 2 cents on the helmet (taken from another post). I use a Bell GTX.3 Carbon and really like it. I found that adding a spoiler to my helmet helped reduce buffeting, but the biggest help was to add ~1" of Lexan to the front of the cockpit. It is a very effective method for diverting the airflow around the driver. It is surprising how much of a difference that little strip of plastic makes. The first one I had was purchased from Spring Mountain. After a couple of years it developed a crack so I purchased some Lexan from Home depot and made my own. Here are a few pictures of the plastic "Gurney strip" and a picture of test fitting my helmet spoiler prior to final installation.
Charley
My first helmet (no duckbill or spoiler) also had a decent amount of lift, even with the gurney lip.
I switched to a Pyrotech Ultra-Sport Duckbill helmet and that has completely removed any lifting effect I had.
Great idea Neal about creating a Safety gear section. I will create it and move this post over there.
Here are my 2 cents on the helmet (taken from another post). I use a Bell GTX.3 Carbon and really like it. I found that adding a spoiler to my helmet helped reduce buffeting, but the biggest help was to add ~1" of Lexan to the front of the cockpit. It is a very effective method for diverting the airflow around the driver. It is surprising how much of a difference that little strip of plastic makes. The first one I had was purchased from Spring Mountain. After a couple of years it developed a crack so I purchased some Lexan from Home depot and made my own. Here are a few pictures of the plastic "Gurney strip" and a picture of test fitting my helmet spoiler prior to final installation.
Charley
Charley, do you have a few quick instructions on what you bought and did to make/attach the Lexan gurney strip, esp for someone who is very novice like me? Much appreciated!
Great idea Neal about creating a Safety gear section. I will create it and move this post over there.
Here are my 2 cents on the helmet (taken from another post). I use a Bell GTX.3 Carbon and really like it. I found that adding a spoiler to my helmet helped reduce buffeting, but the biggest help was to add ~1" of Lexan to the front of the cockpit. It is a very effective method for diverting the airflow around the driver. It is surprising how much of a difference that little strip of plastic makes. The first one I had was purchased from Spring Mountain. After a couple of years it developed a crack so I purchased some Lexan from Home depot and made my own. Here are a few pictures of the plastic "Gurney strip" and a picture of test fitting my helmet spoiler prior to final installation.
Charley
Charley, do you have a few quick instructions on what you bought and did to make/attach the Lexan gurney strip, esp for someone who is very novice like me? Much appreciated!
There are a couple of ways to do it. The easiest way is to call Spring Mountain and have them send you one. You will then need to drill out some holes and pop rivet it in place (use aluminum rivets with aluminum shafts). If you are handy with Fiberglass it is beneficial to add a layer of glass to the back of the section where it is attached... But this step isn't mandatory. It just gives you a little more thickness to attach to.
If you are handy you can make one your self. Here is a pdf file with a pattern. I got an 11" x 14" sheet of .093" thick Lexan Polycarbonate from Home Depot which gave me enough material to make multiple parts. I found that they do break in time so it is handy to have extra material. For some reason the PDF file needs to be scaled up a little bit. The measurement from tip to tip on the bottom should be ~12 3/8"
Charley
@charleyhradicalsportscarregistry-com
Charley you are a saint. Thank you so much!
My plan is to initially see what the helmet spoilers do, then do the lexan. That way I can say what works vs what doesn't. Will keep you posted. Thanks again.
@charleyhradicalsportscarregistry-com
I wanted to thank you for the excellent advice. My buddy and I ordered a couple from Spring Mountain, and we installed it using screws, washers and lock nuts (Spring Mountain advised against riveting). It works wonderfully; lift is virtually non-existent with the deflector and my helmet spoiler. I really appreciate the help!
@archfarseer I am glad to hear it worked for you. It is amazing how much of a difference a small piece of lexan makes.
Installing with screws, washers and Lock nuts is a good idea because it will put less stress on the fiberglass you are mounting it to.
Charley
Thought i I would update my findings so far.
off the shelf spoiler pulled my head back into the headrest too much.
so I tapped a 5” section of 1/4” rope to the back of the helmet at first it didn’t seem to help. Then I moved it up 2”. That pulled my head back slightly. Next session I lowered it back down 1”, bingo! My head feels very neutral now.
It goes to show how sensitive the aero is
It is amazing how such minor aerodynamic changes can make such a big difference!
Charley
Just moved from a Simpson Bandit...........yeah I know it was from my tin top days to a carbon Bell GTX.3. Lift with my Simpson was really bad as you might expect. The GTX.3 has totally eliminated it.
Was concerned I couldn't fit my driving glasses into the smaller aperture but they work fine. Like John, if you need a new helmet I'd recommend the GTX.3.
