Let's see pics of your helmets
 

So, who/what inspired your helmet design?

I talked to a guy yesterday about wrapping mine like this.... without the BBS and swapping the red for silver.

http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/3310/helmet154pj4.jpg

infini IV, is that a Blowsion paint job?

lol my helmet is white with little black scuff marks all over it. Does that count?

Nah, its an Axcel job. I'm getting my other done from www.censportgfx.com

I see your avatar.. do you do much karting?

I was recommended an open face helmet to stay cool, and I dislike the visor getting all foggy. Any downsides to open face besides the obvious open face?

Thinking about this one:
http://static.summitracing.com/globa...403lrgbk_w.jpg



Gonna be my first year with my own helmet, no more rentals at the track/event. Since you are all going to post pics of your dome-protector can you say why you like it too? Might give me more insight.

entry level hemet or spend the cash on a pricey one?

One of 5 helmets. All Arai GP5's... All done by LuckyDesign out of Italy...

If I ever get around to painting this one it will be inspired by Jim Downing's helmet. :D



http://www.ludwigmotorsports.com/Mit...ninghelmet.JPG

^^ niiiice!

pheonix: I was looking at that one too. A little pricey but eh, I hated the full face rentals at autocrosses. My head is small as fuck though.

I race a Birel, TAG with a 125 Leopard. Actually went yesterday afternoon to break in a rebuilt engine. Part of the track was underwater, so we ended up cutting through a run off road. Still a whole lot of fun. Found myself sitting on the couch this morning smiling and wanting more.

G-Force or Pyrotect helmets are fine. I've got a Pyrotect and I like it. They're SA2005 rated so will be safe. With a full face helmet you obviously get some added safety from face protection. With an open face it might be possible to smash your face on the wheel or something, which is bad. It also gives some protection from flying debris, which can be an issue with a convertible. I'd go with a full face helmet unless maybe it was a 100% autocross helmet, then I might consider it.

On the track you always have to be concerned with debris being thrown up in your face, even in an enclosed car. An instructor once mentioned to me that one of his students (IIRC) caught a tire marble in the face when it came in the drivers side window. It got kicked up by a passing car I believe.

I wear a full face helmet and I tend the keep the visor at least 80-90% closed on the track.

-bill

Can't beat the light weight, or appearance of the Arai's... IMO :)

Blatant rip-off of Sam Hornish - unashamed as well!

My own design. Painted by a friend of mine at school.

http://www.anthonycioffidesign.com/images/helmet_07.jpg

http://www.anthonycioffidesign.com/images/helmet_08.jpg

http://www.anthonycioffidesign.com/images/helmet_09.jpg

http://www.anthonycioffidesign.com/images/helmet_10.jpg

What everyone else said. Lots stuff flys into a car on a race track. I have felt it even with my full face visor cracked open just a little bit. At the end of a race weekend my car is FULL of tire marbles, rocks and pieces of grass.

Use RainX anti-fog on the inside of the visor and you shouldn't have a issue with a foggy visor. I do this once a weekend and it works well.

As far as keeping your head cool, I use a Bell M2 force air helmet that I have plumbed to a small blower. This also helps with visor fogging and keep me cooler. Allot of the full face helmets have good ventilation so as a dealer what they prefer

About the only non-full face I would consider is a Bell SR-Pro. Worn with goggles they offer good protection and are fairly cool in the summer.

Cool, I just started racing a Tony Kart Rotax :)

Nice helmets people! If you couldn't tell already, my design is inspired by the late and great Ayrton Senna.

Keep them coming!

Hey, I have the same design! plus some custom lettering work with a sharpie on the back.

:D

-bill

Mine is just a plain black, full face Pyrotech with a big Vortech Supercharged sticker on the left side.

We went with this one, thanks for all the ideas/help!

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...Raceday017.jpg

It's white right now but we'll be adding to it little by little.

My helmet

I used to send all my helmets sent overseas to be done by luckydesign in Italy, but there is a great painter here in the states for CHEAP!!

http://www.ballistic-designs.com/index.html

Check is out...

Which do you like best? I'm thinking of getting an Easy Kart...

Easykarts are junk IMO. I think tuning wise most chassis are the same, but if you are new, I think the MRP/Birel team will give you the most factory support...

http://www.msprotege.com/members/Natey/helmet1.jpg
woot?

I raced a Margay many moons ago. My current Birel is a great chassis, though I have been regularly beaten by both Italkart, Sodikarts.

I did have one incident which really made me think twice if I will buy another Birel. A little background, in 2007 I was racing a 2006 kart, which I had bought new from the local dealer. Talking in the neighborhood of $6,800. I had a bad enough crash last year in which I bent the frame to were it was not repairable. The local dealer contacts the North American Birel distributor, wanting to purchase just a frame. As all the other parts were fine/salvageable from my kart. The distributor says they do not sell just frames, I would have to buy the complete kart.

A couple of days later, the chief mechanic of the local distributors kart team, calls the distributor and works a back door deal. The distributor has a 2006 floor model, that they will disassemble and sell just the frame. I say GREAT! Two weeks go by, no frame. We call the distributor, their response" We are backed up and will get to it this week". Two more weeks go by, no frame. This is in the middle of the racing season. Finally after six weeks total of waiting for them to "get to it". The local distributor finds out the owner of the North American distributor put the kibosh on selling just the frame, though failed to tell us. So we ended up waiting six weeks for nothing. The local distributor see's how bad this makes the manufacturer look, and sells me one of his personal frames.

I ended up missing four races and finished second in the local championship for my class. So in a couple of years when I will be in the market for a new kart, I will look at other manufacturers. In my opinion, you can not tell a paying client you will provide a service or product and then just not perform.

I had a Birel chassis with a KT-100 for a short period of time... until one of my buddies smashed into a light pole with it and bent the frame. A new frame was going to cost more than what I had paid for the kart, so sold it to some rednecks who wanted to turn it into a dirt track kart :dunno:

So I have a bit of karting experience but not much. I raced a friend's kart once but I can't remember what brand it was as it was several years ago. I believe he went on to buy an Easy Kart (have they gone up in price recently?)

I keep hearing that Tony karts are the best thing out there, but they are rather expensive.

I want some kind of TAG kart. I want something that is very low maintenance and competitive without spending a ton of money. I'm not looking for a shifter right now. A 125cc or even 100cc kart would be fine. Any suggestions on what to look at would be greatly appreciated.

you guys seen this little thing?:
Turn the volume up and listen to them talk about this kart
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/207768...g_engine_test/

how fast do you guys get in your karts?

I have driven, a number of Birels, one Margay and one Italkart. I dont really know if any are demonstrably better than any other. Locally, I have seen CRG's, Swiss Hutless, Birels, Italkarts, and Sodikarts win races.

Speeds are dependent upon gearing and the track. Top speed at the sprint tracks I run on are about 70mph. There was an unlimited class that road raced here in Portland about 15+ years ago. I know they were doing 150+ mph at Portland International Raceway.

150+? damn.

I am beiver of you going to scratch your helmet any way.... why bother made it nice... unless some one sponser you ;)

nice hood

they work fine for me

Really cool...love the colors!!

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...4&d=1200729661

Thank you :)

Vinyl on a G-Force Pro Force Aero. I had a fairly complex multi-color "rolling flag" checkerboard pattern in mind and spent quite a bit of time laying it out over and over on the helmet. I realized I couldn't accomplish what I wanted with vinyl so I punted and instead applied a tongue and some slobber. I plan to add more slobber ;) I also plan to experiment with airburshing on my old helmets and maybe get brave enough to paint a new helmet in the future.

^^^ That is funny