Helmet
In Formula 1 and every high level class, every helmet is a uniqly tailored to the respective driver. Driver's head is scanned to create a life-size model, and in the next step the model head is wrapped, layer by layer, with 120 mats of the high performance carbon fiber T 800, where every thread consists of about 12,000 microthreads, each of which is about 15 times thinner than a human hair. The total length of all the threads processed in one helmet is approximately 16,000km.
Schuberth develops and manufactures high-tech helmets that are also preferred by many Formula 1 teams and drivers. Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher and Nick Heidfeld rely on the individual and tailor-made helmets.
Scaning Barichelo head for new helmet
For tailor-made manufacturing, the 3D digitizing system records the shape of the racing driver's head. The result: A polygonal network which completely describes the shape of the head in detail. Then, using CAD, the helmet is constructed around the digitalized head.
In case of suggestions regarding optimization - e.g. from the wind tunnel - it is possible to immediately check, if all minimum distances between helmet and head are met. Due to the Schuberth technology and the GOM measuring system, Rubens Barrichello's helmet just weighs 1050 grams and thus is about 500 g lighter than his old helmet. That way, during a race, the muscles of the neck are essentially relieved. The slender form of the helmet results in less air resistance and better streaming to the air box. Therefore, an increased power of 10 HP is available.
The exact composition of the about 20 layers is a well-guarded secret for every manufacturer. Only three main substances are known: carbon fiber for the rigidity, fire-resistant aramide and polyethylene, known as Kevlar, which is also used for bullet-proof vests and is intended to make the helmet impenetrable. Helmet has an outside shell of carbon composite and a very cleverly designed inside part of the shell, which spreads the loads. Added to these three are aluminium, magnesium and, as a binding agent, epoxy resin. The helmets are extremely durable, but with a weight of about 1 - 1,5kg they are still relatively light and so reduce the strain on the neck and shoulder muscles of the drivers on tracks with particularly high g-force loads.
In the autoclave, the individual layers are bonded to one another and hardened under high pressure and at a constant temperature of 132°C. Parts subject to exceptional loads, such as the underside and the visor cut-out, are additionally reinforced using aluminium and titanium. The interior padding consists of two layers of fireproof Nomex.
Interior pading of Massa
Schubert 2007 helmet
The ventilation system is designed to allow about 10 liters of fresh air to flow into the helmets interior. A filter cleans the air of even the finest motor oil, carbon and brake dust particles.
The three millimeter thick helmet visor made of fire-resistant polycarbonate ensures that the driver can always see clearly. The visor's tint, on some more advanced helmets, adjusts in fractions of a second to changes in the lighting conditions, such as in the famous tunnel in Monaco.
Given all this high technology, it is hardly surprising that the visor is heated.
On the visor, drivers always apply 4 to 5 tin transparent plastic of tear-off layers. When first layer start to be dirty, driver simply tear off this layer to regain clear vision again.
As with all aspects of the sport's safety, the FIA sets the standard, and the governing body's most recent evolution of their helmet regulations, FIA 8860-2004, was developed over an eight-year period. Drafted by UK testing facility, Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), the new criteria were adopted by the three main Formula One helmet manufacturers, Arai, Bell and Schuberth, and the resulting homologated helmets were made compulsory by the World Motor Sport Council in 2004.
Before the FIA grants its approval for a helmet to be used by an F1 driver, it has to pass a number of different crash tests. During the so-called 'penetration test' a 3kg, pointed metal object is dropped from a height of three meters onto the helmet, which must remain unruptured. Subjected to a load of 38kg, the chin strap may not stretch by more than 30mm. The visor is bombarded with projectiles traveling at approximately 500km/h. The points of impact may be no deeper than 2.5mm. Helmet is then subjected to an 800°C flame for 45 seconds in the fire test. During this time, temperatures inside the helmet may not exceed 70°C.
Helmet is the most important part in driver's safety, and plays an important role in the car's aerodynamics. The helmet area is one of the most turbulent places of an F1 car, and it is the aim of helmet designers like Schubert, Arei and Bell to decrease that unwanted side-effect. Modern helmet is designed with spoilers that guides more air into the airbox above the driver's head, and in this way it may increase engine power, and overall speed. If helmet is not designed properly, it can create real problems for driver during the race. Because of its round design, helmet can develop uplift and start to pull driver head with force. That's what happened to Masa during race in Suzuka 2002, because one of helmet spoilers was broken and fall off.
Helmet designers should not forget to incorporate helmet ventilation change possibilities, space and opening to allow a straw reach the driver's mouth for drinking during the race.
The following illustration shows all important parts of what may become a standard F1 helmet. The mouthpiece is similar to that of a fighter pilot and will enable driver to breathe as the helmet will be sealed in order to muffle the noise.
Helmet is designed by Schubert for Michael Schumacher. Still in prototype faze, and never used in race.
1. Interior Mask
2. Helmet Shell With
Interior Battery
3. Silencer Element
4. Bolting Device
5. Titanium Locking Pin
6. Titanium Locking Pin
7. Interior Mask
8. Resonance Muffler
9. Ventilation Connector
Heated Fog Free Visor
SebastianVettel wearing an Arai helmet was seen in the wet Jerez tests with this heated Visor. Not new to F1, as Schuberth Helmet wearers raced a similar solution a few years ago. The wires leading into the visor, pass a current to a heated film inside the visor to prevent fogging in the cold and wet conditions.
Quote from my 2008 Monaco GP technical review on Autosport.com
“One feature not seen in a race before was a novel anti-fog visor used by the Schuberth-helmeted drivers (including the Ferrari drivers and Nico Rosberg). We have seen drivers struggling to stop the inside of the visor from misting during previous wet races, as the hot breath from the drivers’ exertion condenses on the cold visor.
Some drivers prop open the visor a little to let air pass inside, or use a double-glazing like inner visor. Schuberth’s solution was to place an electric element inside the visor, to heat the visor slightly.
Much like the demisting element in car windscreen, this prevents the breath forming a mist inside the visor. At the moment the visor is an add-on to the standard RF1 helmet, so the electric cable feeding the element runs exposed down the side of the driver’s element to connect via a plug into the car’s electrical loom.”
Super Visor - Formula One helmets become even safer, 30 Mar 2011
Black, mean and no-nonsense - the helmet pictured here is the zenith of driver head protection. A mere 1,200 gram carbon-fibre shell that can withstand the crushing force of a 55-tonne tank without deforming, and an 800 degree Celsius fire for 30 seconds without its interior rising above 70 degrees Celsius. This FIA-prescribed 8860 racing helmet reached such a peak after years of research and development led by the FIA Institute and leading helmet manufacturers.
And this season all 8860 helmets will feature a new refinement, a Zylon strip across the top of the visor (also indicated on picture but in prototype carbon-fibre form) that will significantly enhance protection in one of its unavoidably weaker areas - the visor, a polycarbonate medium that of necessity isn’t as strong as the overall shell.
The vulnerability of the visor area was exposed at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, when the helmet of Ferrari driver Felipe Massa was struck by 750gram spring that had become detached from the Rubens Barrichello Brown Racing car ahead. The spring hit Massa’s helmet at precisely the point where visor and helmet shell meet at speed of 260 km/h (160 mph). Massa suffered a serious head injury and, while he has made a full recovery, the incident prompted drivers to ask whether further safety enhancements to the visor area could be made.
The Zylon strip, 50mm tall across the full width of the visor, is the answer. It overlaps the top 25mm of the visor itself and extends 25mm above the helmet shell edge - dimensions that ensure extra protection without further restricting driver vision. It’s a neat arrangement, occupying as it does the area currently covered by advertising strips, so there’s no commercial downside to improved driver protection.
Andy Mellor, the FIA Institute technical adviser, explains that Zylon is subtly different from the carbon fibre used elsewhere in the helmet shell: “In tests we found that Zylon was better than carbon fibre for this application as it offers better energy-absorbing qualities. Our goal for the visor was to get the best performance-to-weight ratio for whatever material we chose. We’ve added about 70 grams to the visor, but we have doubled its impact performance.”
Zylon, a synthetic polymer, is already used widely in high-profile applications, such as ballistics-resistant body armour, snowmobile drive belts and the rigging on racing yachts. It is also a familiar material to motorsport engineers - since 2007 the cockpits of Formula One cars have been Zylon-clad and their wheel tethers can be made from Zylon.
The introduction of the strip marks only the first phase of planned enhancements to visor safety. The FIA Institute and helmet manufacturers are currently researching the use of high-performance optical materials - transparent ceramics - as the main visor medium.
Helmet paintwork
Best known helmet paintwork design company is British "JLF Design" Established In 1991 by Jason Fowler, JLF Designs have become the leading helmet paintwork specialists, with an enviable reputation for innovation and high quality artwork. Customer list includes some of the biggest names in Formula 1, GP2, DTM, MotoGP and Karting.
Another well known helmet paintwork design company is Italian "Lucky Designe" Established by Luca Dalia. After years of experience as an art designer in ceramic firms, decides in 1992 to build up a flourishing business, where he concentrates all his passion for the design and for colors, that through the aerograph bring on the driver helmets. Again, customer list includes some of the biggest names in Formula 1, GP2, DTM, MotoGP and Karting.
CHAPTER III - DRIVERS' EQUIPMENT
1. Helmets
1.1 Standards
All drivers competing in circuit events, hill-climbs or rally special stages, entered on the FIA Calendar, must wear crash helmets which meet one of the standards listed in technical list N° 25 of Appendix J.
Drivers of open cockpit cars must wear full face helmets, of which the chin bar is an integral part of the helmet structure and is tested to an FIA approved standard. This measure is recommended for historic open cockpit cars and Autocross Division 3/3A.
Drivers in the Formula One World Championship must wear helmets which meet the FIA Standard 8860-2004 - Advanced Helmet Test Specification. (1)
It is strongly recommended that drivers in those international series for which the technical regulations include crash structure requirements from the FIA Formula One or F3000 technical regulations wear helmets which meet the FIA Standard 8860-2004.
(1) Helmets certified to the FIA 8860 Standard will be mandatory in FIA WTCC and GT Championships and in the international series for GP2 and F3 from 1.1.2009.
1.2 Modifications
No helmet may be modified from its specification as manufactured, except in compliance with instructions approved by the manufacturer and one of the FIA listed standards organisations, which certified the model concerned. Any other modification will render the helmet unacceptable for the requirements of the present article.
1.3 Maximum weight and communications systems
- helmet weights may be checked at any time during an event and must not exceed 1800 gr. for a full-face type or 1400gr. for an open-face type, including all accessories and attachments.
- helmet-mounted radio speakers are prohibited in all circuit and hillclimb events (earplug-type transducers are allowed).
Applications for waivers, on medical grounds only, may be made through the driver's ASN Medical Commission.
The fitting of microphones may be done only in respect of paragraph 1.2 above.
1.4 Decoration
Paint can react with helmet shell material and affect its protective capacity, therefore, where a manufacturer provides guidelines or restrictions on the painting or decoration of helmets, these must be followed, using only paint specified by them (air drying acrylic, polyurethane enamel or others) and preferably a painter having their approval. This is particularly important for injection-moulded shells which are not usually suitable for painting.
The shell being painted should be efficiently masked as paint penetrating the interior can affect the performance of the helmet liner.
Paints requiring heat curing should not be used and any process should not exceed the maximum temperature of conditioning of the helmet in the standard to which it is approved.
The manufacturer's instructions should also be consulted for any considerations on the use of stickers and transfers.
Helmet trough history
Juan Manuel Fangio helmet made of pressed animal skin
Dan Gurney, 1964, GP of France
James Hunt (GBR) Wolf WR7 Brazilian Grand Prix, Interlagos, Brazil, 4 February 1979
John Watson (GBR) McLaren M29,
wears a distinctive Bell
twin window helmet. Italian Grand Prix, Monza, Italy, 9 September 1979
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Schumacher 2004 Schuberth helmet with HANS and drinking tube |
Jenson Button Silverstone 2008 helmet, Designed by fan's - Bell |
Fisichella 200 race anniversary helmet - Arai |
Vitantonio Liuzzi helmet in carbon fiber color
