32 replies to this topic

[TSR]

it is one of the ten Miller-Ford V8 built for the 1935 Indy 500.

[SlotStox#53]

Very sweet looking ride.

[Dennis David]

Audi would be perfect for an attempt. Would bring back memories of Hans Stuck and the Grossglockner, yeah!

[idare2bdul]

I wish I had gone to Pikes Peak before it was all paved. Even with all pavement it is an impressive and unique event. 

 

Last year I went to the Reno air races for what may have been the last unlimited air race. The safety Nazi's at the FAA killed the class for this year which would have been the 50th anniversary race. What is and what is not an acceptable risk for an adult should be a personal decision in any free society. Last years pilots and crowd showed up and enjoyed themselves despite the previous years tragedy.

 

Pikes Peak and Bonneville are still on my list.

[TSR]

Mike,

Thank you for your post, the best I have ever seen from you. On this 4th of July, with so many of our personal liberties endangered by the narrow-minded fascist do-gooders in our society, we must defend what is left of our personal freedom before it vanishes away, for good.

Pikes Peak has been in constant danger from "environmental concerns" for many years, but so far those people have not succeeded in shutting it down. So far.

[SlotStox#53]

Having grown up in the UK and being a total motorsports nutcase I have always loved the aspect of Pikes Peak and other awesome events .

Plus being into old planes the air races have always grabbed my attention, fast and on the edge!

Long live these epic events combining man and machine in perfect harmony, one day I'm gonna make it to all of these out of body experiences!!

[Gator Bob]

Bob,

Sebastien is the most successful rally driver to date. He started around 1998, then was picked by the Peugeot "junior" team after success in regional rallies, then was promoted to the WRC team in 2003. He missed being world champ that year by a few points and that is the last time he lost one, winning the next NINE championship in absolutely crushing manner. His number of wins is now more than TWICE that of the second most successful driver. It will be tough to beat such records, but a new French driver, Sebastien Ogier, could theoretically do it as he is currently cleaning everyone's clock in the new VW rally car.

 

 

I don't follow the series very close but do enjoy it when I happen to catch it on the tube (tube? .. lol) I did see x-games has cars now, that was very cool...I like 'bump and grind' racing... timed events are ..well..OK.   Wasn't Travis Pastrana pretty good a Rally or was that another class?

 

Stand 21 is also the largest manufacturer of HANS devices  in the world and has engineered and now produces extremely advanced devices that unfortunately for American customers, are not available in the USA because of the licensing agreement with the patent holder HDI, now owned by Simpson Race Products.

 

 

(Isn't HANS a trademarked name for head and neck support device?)

 (So can't someone just buy one shipped in and wear the the damn thing if they want to?) 

Dokk...  "You Look Marvelous" and that is a cool old car too.

 

Today, many drivers, especially less athletic and older, die in their cars or shortly after existing them, from heart attacks due to a phenomenon called "Heat Stress", that has been identified and medically recognized by the best motor racing doctors. Heat stress in racing cars is caused by the rising temperature in cockpits while racing, and by inadequate breathe-ability of the material composing their fire protective garments. Stand 21 SEVEN layers drag-racing suits, rated by SFI as the safest they have ever tested, breathe so well that one can blow air right through the layers and if truly feels like there is no barrier at all. Why this is important? because of perspiration evacuation. When you drive those cars, you sweat a lot: one liter per hour is normal. Once the sweat has been wicked by the flame retardant underwear, if that underwear or the suit above it cannot evacuate the sweat by evaporation, you are set for trouble, and this is why year after year, over 150 racers die in racing cars all over the world from ailments related to heat stress.

 

 

I would loose 4 to 5 pounds in one night. I know..... Nomex head to toe, RCI then UltraShield both Proban on the outside ... then got this from a 'Sponsor'

 

 

Stand 21 engineered a truly breathable and fire retardant fabric in 1989, and the first drivers to use it were Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost and Emerson Fittipaldi, who won the "500" that year wearing one. it was  a revelation to all. Today, an evolution of this fabric is seen on the suit I wear, see above. it is literally a miracle.

 

 

Great Stuff ...  are they Made in the USA?

 

When Sebastien Loeb won his first world championship with Citroen, he was equipped by Stand 21 because he insisted on it. Then Puma showed up with a big fat check and Loeb no longer had a say in it.

 

 

Whorehouse wins!

 

[TSR]

(Isn't HANS a trademarked name for head and neck support device?)

 (So can't someone just buy one shipped in and wear the the damn thing if they want to?)

 

 

HDI owns the patent and the HANS trademark. The patent expires in 2019.

Stand 21 is one of only two licensees in the world and has the right to use the name and the entire world's market except the United States, where the Stand 21 American stores can only sell American made, HDI produced HANS devices.
Thing is, the only development in HANS technology have been made in France, with HDI asleep at the wheel for many years now. The other licensee, Schroth in Germany, is also in a technological coma.
 

However, many American customers have friends in Europe and buy their HANS from Stand 21 in Dijon, then have their friends shipping them to the USA.

 

HDI however has been very active in defending their patent, and just won a case against a copy called Nextgen. Nextgen then appealed and lost that appeal, meaning that they have little choice but go bankrupt. 

Other neck protection devices such as Hybrid, also owned by Simpson, have been declared "dangerous devices" by some of the finest engineers and medics in the USA and Europe, and while they meet SFI and have one size certified by FIA, will likely vanish now that Simpson has acquired HDI.

 

Now to address matters that you are involved with:

 

Bob,

a few things you should really know and should also let your friends know:

 

-Proban cotton is one of the most dangerous lies in the business. Treated cotton fails just about any real-life fire test, for two reasons:

1/ Cotton is one of the most flammable fabrics this side of Nylon and many such synthetic fabrics.

2/ The first time you wash a Proban treated garment, it loses more than half the little protection it may afford when new. The second time, it is gone for good.

The FIA specifically bans the use of any Proban material for underwear or racing suits. Only persons who are ignorant or care little about themselves buy such dangerous garments, marketed for years mostly in the UK. it is astounding that American retailers take such a liability risk in selling the fraud that Proban is.

 

-Flamecrusher suits meet the standard SFI/5  fire protection level generally used for road-racing garments, but have zero breathe-ability, meaning that, as many (most!) economically priced garments out there,  they are endangering the driver's health during racing by not allowing his perspiration to evaporate, causing his body temperature to rise and causing heart failures. Of the many who die from heart ailments in the cars or shortly after exiting their cars, ALL are wearing garments made of Nomex fiber that cannot breathe.

The Flamecrusher company simply does not have the technology to produce a material that can actually breathe while offering the needed fire protection.

It is a choice YOU have to make: what is more important, the car, or you.

You decide, I don't care.

 

 

Great Stuff ...  are they Made in the USA?

 

No, but they might be in the near future. At this time, the basic fiber is made in America, it is an Aramid synthetic made by Dupont. But the way it is woven and treated makes all the difference in the world in how the resulting fiber breathes or not, and how it reacts to flame.

in any case, be sure of one thing: cheap suits or cheap helmets DO NOT WORK.

Unfortunately garments and a helmet that can protect you are expensive, count on a $5000.00 budget to get the stuff that will save you hundreds of thousands in hospital bills in the burn ward or the major trauma ward.

This is why, at age 70 and still active, I wear an expensive suit that is a miracle of engineering, along with the corresponding underwear, socks, shoes and gloves, because I do have a little self-respect for what my body can endure or not.