One of my more expensive purchases, but quite possibly the easiest to justify, is a HANS device. The Head And Neck Support (HANS) has been around for a while now, gaining traction in most motorsports following the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. at Daytona in 2001, who wasn’t using any support device. Nowadays most every sanctioning body requires a HANS (or similar device) for any wheel to wheel or timed events, even at the amateur level. Honestly when you think about it, a proper HANS setup costs less than a set of tires, a consumable item. I have put off purchasing one for this long because they require the use of shoulder harnesses, which my M-Coupe doesn’t have. The Spyder, on the other hand, has been equipped with a 6-point belt system. I called up Simpson again, since they now own HANS, to order a Sport II model. It’s not as light as the carbon fiber model, but at half the price it was hard to justify that amount for a 1lb of weight savings.
The helmet I purchased from Simpson was already pre-drilled for HANS posts, so the installation was pretty straight forward. A little photographic instruction manual explains the steps and all the required tools are included. The neck padding is pulled partially out to slide in the backing plate with a flat wrench, then the whole thing is tightened down with an allen wrench, while another smaller wrench keeps the post correctly aligned. Simple 5-minute job that could save your life.
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