Personal Safety

[Abington Rally]

I was watching the program "Time Warp" the other day and they had a segment which featured Rusty Haight, aka "The Human Crash Test Dummy" He has done hundreds of front impacts and noted that he usually wears shin pads like catchers in baseball wear. Although he rarely gets hurt to the upper body, he said that the legs tend to swing up and hit the underside of the dash in a front impact. Here is a link to a youtube video (http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=rusty++haight&emb=0&aq=f#) of one of his crashes.

Does anyone wear a shin pad of any variety? I was thinking of a soccer type shinguard under the driving suit, that way there is no flammable plastic on the outside of the suit. Or perhaps something like this, used in bike racing, it has the benefit of the knee pad, without limiting ankle movement.

http://www.gearbikes.com/images/BodyArmour661RaceKnee&ShinGuards04.jpg

[flatOVERcrest]

Does anyone wear a shin pad of any variety?

Dan,
I had a bit of a problem at Xgames on this landing:
http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/AndyBlackmore/NEWS/misc/xgames14.jpg

so I now wear a pair of padded shorts from Alpinestars under the racesuit, those ones:
http://www.starcycle-usa.com/catalog/astars_short_comp_300.jpg

[Abington Rally]

Dan,
I had a bit of a problem at Xgames on this landing:
http://ll.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/speedhunters.com/Images/AndyBlackmore/NEWS/misc/xgames14.jpg

so I now wear a pair of padded shorts from Alpinestars under the racesuit, those ones:
http://www.starcycle-usa.com/catalog/astars_short_comp_300.jpg

I remember seeing that on tv, quite a hit! It looks like those shorts do the thigh, do they offer protection and/or do you need protection for the shins? Also, have you ever had any issues with banging an elbow on the door bars?
Thanks,

[flatOVERcrest]

I remember seeing that on tv, quite a hit! It looks like those shorts do the thigh, do they offer protection and/or do you need protection for the shins? Also, have you ever had any issues with banging an elbow on the door bars?
Thanks,

Dan, they keep the private parts from "wondering around" and with the crotch belt that can be a problem and also they have a padding on the area of your backbone so some extra padding there on heavy landings.
Never had any issues with banging an elbow on the cross bar, but funny you mention that as my seat has been moved ~2 inches closer to the tunnel for the next event, just to keep a little bit further from those X bars and the B billar.

[dazed driver]

You dont want to wear those 661's while driving. I wear these biking: http://www.kursport.cz/images/product/Doplnky/BMX_FR_DH/Troy_Lee_Designs/TLD_Lopes_KneeGuards1.jpg

I've driven home in them before... not fun.