I've been seeing a lot of discussions on other forums lately, regarding various Head and Neck supports. Since's there's an increasing number of SPDA guys starting up in rally, and road racing, and such, I figured I'd start a topic here.

With all the great technology going into modern helmets, and rollcages, and other safety devices. The number one critical racing injuries are neck injuries. Which is why these devices are becoming more important, and becoming required in just about every major motorsport.

Rally America has announced that starting in 2008, H&N Devices will be mandatory. The word on the street is that CARS will follow suit (actually, it's been speculated that CARS could still mandate them for '07 if they wanted). So, I've done a lot of research on this topic in the past week. Before I started I had no idea that there was anything else available besides the HANS device. When I found out the HANS has a $1200 price tag, that's when I started researching alternatives. :-o

The HANS device is definately the most well known, and the most popular, www.hansdevice.com. It is required for F1, WRC, and NASCAR. It seems to provide the best protection in a frontal impact. However, it is somewhat poor in a side impact. And also, apparently it is notorious for the shoulder belts slipping off the sides of it, rendering it completely ineffective. Since it's rallying that I do, I'd prefer a device with better lateral protection (refer to my Defi crash).

On the CASC-OR board, there is some discussoin about the ISAAC Device. This one seems to have the best performance numbers of any of the available devices. However, due to it's design, it is not capable of passing SFI certification. Since Rally America has said that only H&N devices with SFI cert. will be allowed, and I can only assume CARS will rule the same way. That effectively makes the ISAAC useless, no matter how safe it is. So it's not an option unfortunately.

There are 3 different devices all made by the same company: The Hutchens, Hutchens Hybrid, and the R3, www.hutchensdevice.com. These ones get nothing but rave reviews. Unlike the HANS, and the ISAAC, these ones do not rely on the shoulder belts to work. Instead, they have a solid piece that runs down your back, along your spine, and have muliple straps that go around your chest and waist and shoulders. These are definately very good, very safe products. However, they are the most complicated and time consuming to put on and off. They also seem to be the most restrictive. Which is all bad for rallying. Since you are often getting in and out of the car, sometimes with the clock still ticking. If I were running any other motorsport, my first choice would either be an R3, or a Hutchens Hybrid.

The newest device available is the Leatt Brace, www.leatt-brace.com. It is a completely different design than all the others. Every other device either uses the shoulder straps, or your own body to brace itself, then attaches to your helmet via a set of tethers. The Leatt Brace however, does not. It is more like a very technically advanced neck collar. It was originally designed for motocross riders, and they have just recently released a new model for automobiles. This is the one that I am most inclined to choose. It has many advantages, particularly for rallying. It allows more freedom of movement than any other design. It has MUCH better lateral protection than the HANS. It is also the cheapest by a large margin. This would be a no-brainer choice for me, except for one thing: Out of all the SFI certified devices, this one scored the worst for Neck Tension. It is still well within the safety margin to pass certification and prevent injury, however all the other devices scored twice as good in that one category. And that seems to be the most important category also... :-(


Has anyone else done any looking into any of these devices? Have any thoughts or opinions?