Track day helmet - Autosport show
Discussion
I need to buy my own helmet for the track days I've got planned for this year. I was going to head along to Autosport at the NEC next weekend as it seems a good opportunity to try all the different brands.
However the ticket price, £33 and the travel cost at £30 ish means I might be better off just going to a shop and paying RRP, while being able to take my time, get plenty of good advice etc against what I perceive may be quite a rushed environment at the show,
Having never been what might be the sort of discounts are suppliers offering on, say, a £300 helmet?
The only other thing I need are some better brake pads, such as DS2500/1144. Do any suppliers brings that sort of thing to the show?
Thanks.
However the ticket price, £33 and the travel cost at £30 ish means I might be better off just going to a shop and paying RRP, while being able to take my time, get plenty of good advice etc against what I perceive may be quite a rushed environment at the show,
Having never been what might be the sort of discounts are suppliers offering on, say, a £300 helmet?
The only other thing I need are some better brake pads, such as DS2500/1144. Do any suppliers brings that sort of thing to the show?
Thanks.
A good suggestion for sure and for the last few track days I've been using a mate's Schuberth bike helmet and that's been fine. I'd like to get rid of the visor though and go for a peak in the rally/touring style and I think that''s only an option for car helmets. Happy to be corrected though.
Thank you all.
DS2500s will be much better than I've got now, trust me. It's only an MG ZR not a GT3 so I'm not aiming to spend more than £75 per axle.
Re helmets, I can try on most brands at somewhere like GPR. The question is am I likely to make enough of a saving buying at the show to offset my costs of getting there and the entrance fee?
DS2500s will be much better than I've got now, trust me. It's only an MG ZR not a GT3 so I'm not aiming to spend more than £75 per axle.
Re helmets, I can try on most brands at somewhere like GPR. The question is am I likely to make enough of a saving buying at the show to offset my costs of getting there and the entrance fee?
Thank you all.
For what it's worth my ideal product would be a trackday helmet that can take both a visor and a touring peak and without HANS (since I am never going to do any racing) for about £200.
There seem to be lots of trackday helmets in the sub £100 bracket (Sparco Club X-1 for example) which I am sure would be fine, save for the inability to have a touring peak and potentially heavy. There's then a big gap before you get proper rated helmets with HANS in the £350 plus bracket and after that the sky is the limit of course.
I also heard it mentioned elsewhere that all the stock/bargains at the show have gone by the final day, which is the only day I can go. Would be a shame to make the 5 hour round trip and then come away empty handed.
As for brake pads, sadly Ferodo don't list/make their high performance pads for my front brakes (ZR 160), only for the lesser engine models so they aren't an option. Currently I can go Mintex 1144, but nobody has any stock or EBC Yellowstuff. Still don't know if either of these will be available to buy at the show.
For what it's worth my ideal product would be a trackday helmet that can take both a visor and a touring peak and without HANS (since I am never going to do any racing) for about £200.
There seem to be lots of trackday helmets in the sub £100 bracket (Sparco Club X-1 for example) which I am sure would be fine, save for the inability to have a touring peak and potentially heavy. There's then a big gap before you get proper rated helmets with HANS in the £350 plus bracket and after that the sky is the limit of course.
I also heard it mentioned elsewhere that all the stock/bargains at the show have gone by the final day, which is the only day I can go. Would be a shame to make the 5 hour round trip and then come away empty handed.
As for brake pads, sadly Ferodo don't list/make their high performance pads for my front brakes (ZR 160), only for the lesser engine models so they aren't an option. Currently I can go Mintex 1144, but nobody has any stock or EBC Yellowstuff. Still don't know if either of these will be available to buy at the show.
Just to bring this to a close, I didn't go to the show in the end for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, there just isn't a motorsport helmet in my budget of £200 and I was confident I wasn't going to get a 50% discount on the £400 stuff. Secondly half a day travelling and £75 costs and entrance fee wasn't good value for me.
So, earlier that week I visited two motorcycle retailers and tried on a number of helmets from Arai, Shark, Shoei and Schuberth and ended up with this Arai Axcess II for £199:
It's comfortable, light, and not too fussy. I personally think there's a gap in the market between the £70 trackday type helmets and the full on Snell rated helmets for £350+ for people like me who are tracking a totally standard road car (so don't need HANS or a fire proof lining) but who do want something light, comfortable, available with visor or peak and from a reputable manufacturer.
As for brake pads, I avoided EBC due to the inconsistency of reviews on here and elsewhere and went for Black Diamond Predators along with some of their fluid.
Next track day is Goodwood on the 13th Feb - looking forward to it.
Firstly, there just isn't a motorsport helmet in my budget of £200 and I was confident I wasn't going to get a 50% discount on the £400 stuff. Secondly half a day travelling and £75 costs and entrance fee wasn't good value for me.
So, earlier that week I visited two motorcycle retailers and tried on a number of helmets from Arai, Shark, Shoei and Schuberth and ended up with this Arai Axcess II for £199:
It's comfortable, light, and not too fussy. I personally think there's a gap in the market between the £70 trackday type helmets and the full on Snell rated helmets for £350+ for people like me who are tracking a totally standard road car (so don't need HANS or a fire proof lining) but who do want something light, comfortable, available with visor or peak and from a reputable manufacturer.
As for brake pads, I avoided EBC due to the inconsistency of reviews on here and elsewhere and went for Black Diamond Predators along with some of their fluid.
Next track day is Goodwood on the 13th Feb - looking forward to it.
I looked at that RRS model before the show but sadly only available in Small and X-Small presumably the last stock of the 2010 model.
Their 2015 model is then a bit more expensive, although not massively so, but shows as not available until June. Don't recall them being on the exhibitor list for the show either, but I might be wrong.
The cheapest full face Bell is a Sport 5, which is £370, but in all other respects would have been ideal. Adding a peak is then another £40 so getting further out of budget.
Their 2015 model is then a bit more expensive, although not massively so, but shows as not available until June. Don't recall them being on the exhibitor list for the show either, but I might be wrong.
The cheapest full face Bell is a Sport 5, which is £370, but in all other respects would have been ideal. Adding a peak is then another £40 so getting further out of budget.
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