Cameras may not be mounted to competitors’ helmets.

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Ascona73
But that said, I'd like to think that if it took me 10-12 seconds to unbelt and get the hell out of a wrecked car I'd be better off with a driving suit than without.

Modern rally cars. Remember that protector over your protector rule and why we don't race Pintos and why they don't allow flammable fluids in cockpit and why you can't have that little 1L surge tank and how you can't put a Mustang tank in the trunk of your Merkur and that you can't run NOS, etc.
At a hill climb in 2005 a RX7 powered by a Ford 2.3T breaks a fuel line and sprays gasoline everywhere under the hood igniting and starting a fire. My driver saw it in rear view when they pulled up behind us and jumped out with his extinguisher. They were getting out of the car when he got there and sprayed under the hood. They rolled down the windows, got towed back to service and were able to continue the next run.

Sure, it COULD happen and it really only takes a little bit of prevention, like $500-1000+ for most new decent looking suits. It's a drop in the bucket compared to most other things. <Except to the growing millions of Americans that think otherwise and choose instead to participate in sports they can do regularly for way less money>

I'm cool though with fire suits. If we didn't have those we'd have to compare who has the nicest designer jeans or dirtiest Carharts or funniest or coolest logo on our shirt or who has the limited edition Hoon shirt or who had the coolest kicks. Instead we have this nice and easy way to tell who just has money (Subaru and fancy suits and new tires), those who have money and sponsors (Subaru and fancy custom suits with cool logos and new tires) and those who have second mortgages on their way to bankruptcy chasing the dream (Subaru and fancy suit and used tires).
I'm just still annoyed cause mine has always fit like crap and the only one I've ever really liked the looks of was $1200. Is Nomex really that expensive or is it the certification process that drives that cost? I mean, a pair of slippy foot pajamas are like $30, can Nomex really be that much more expensive than cheap Chinese cotton?
Rain done, rant off, sanding and weed pulling on.

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Grant Hughes

Back in my early days of rally I had to start behind The F'ing Pom Nigle - thus I got to drive over many parts from his finely prepared cars. But give him credit the fish tank was not one of the parts I drove over.

This rule looks resonable to me. Far more fun to drive a rally than watch it on a camera anyways.

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In the long run reality always wins.

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HiTempguy

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NoCoast

There is no need for data. It's pretty common sense I would think.

I would think the same thing about co-driving in flip-flops.

I find it hard to believe that actually happened, I mean, what if you had a flat and dropped the tire on your foot? I've DONE that before, I couldn't imagine what it'd be like on a bare foot. Or had to push the car out of a ditch/off the road?

It's kind of like welding/grinding in flip-flops. It's plain stupid. Sure, you can typically get away with it; I can also get away with standing on top of a pump casing in a plant up north with no fall-protection harness on while changing an autosampler out with my arms extended over my head, but I DON'T.



In fact Anders, to associate time as knowledge is ridiculous. I meet people everyday who have done a job for 20 years and can go "why are you doing this? It makes no sense". Equating time = knowledge is false.

I did a 7 mile trail run last night with a guy that ran the whole thing bare foot! I would never do it but he seemed to get on just fine. Maybe some people are ok with dropping a tire on their foot or welding in flip flops because they have a higher threshold for the consequences. I don’t think that means they’re stupid.

Rally is one of the few motorsports where we get to race in cars that aren't race cars. Maybe we should go whole hog, triple layer suits, fire systems, full fire resistant coverage and then drive line hoops, tethers on suspension, windshield straps, helmets and suits for crew people.

So waddya do? Go with the best decisions you can live with. Saying that because we have some rules we must have all rules is a poor arguement to cover this issue. People might not be able to afford rally if the fire suits were required to be full systems but eliminating helmet cams doesn't add any burden. RA never said a camera couldn't be mounted in or on the car. Pretty sure the rule was for adding cameras willy nilly to helmets. I personally have tremendous respect for Hurst, his experience in motorsports and he is a very down to earth individual. I can see where having a helmet camera could in fact be a problem, maybe it never would I don't know. But as it is not a necesssary item to rally then I support the decision. I don't like all the rules, either NRS or RA or even the local county building codes. We're only here for a short time and I'm not going to spend what little I may have left pissing in the wind over helmet cams. If Bell thinks there is a huge need for helmet cams then I'm confident they'll integrate a system or provisions, have it certified and we'll move on.

Remember Hurst eliminated the shittiest absolutely worst rule I can think of...the wonderful SCCA VRP debacle.

Eric, I'm really glad you're able to argue this without thinking it is any more than a discussion. We both agree rules are needed. You want to wait until after someone becomes the reason for said rule, I'm fine with wanting to avoid that happening.

scca vrp?

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

Video Recce Problem?
Vehicle Recovery Point?
Velocity Reduction Penalty?

I'll admit that the acronym has me stumped as well.

Anders

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Grassroots rally. It's what I think about.

Vehicle Recovery Point (tow hooks)

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Don Kennedy

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imnotcrazy
Vehicle Recovery Point (tow hooks)

...back when the rule essentially required that the recovery point be mounted such that the car could be suspended from a crane.

for what its worth I use a helmet cam on a motorcycle and bicycle frequently but woudl not want to use it on my helmet in a rally car. This is one of the few new RA rules that I think make sense.

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Matt Smith

Racing in glorious black and red

My daily life is a Saab story (sold!)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2012 10:14AM by mothra.

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mothra

for what its worth I sue a helmet cam

I think this is one of the things RA is trying to avoid...

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HiTempguy

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mothra

for what its worth I sue a helmet cam

I think this is one of the things RA is trying to avoid...

Fixed.

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Matt Smith

Racing in glorious black and red

My daily life is a Saab story (sold!)

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mothra
This is one of the few new RA rules that I think make sense.

If you don't think a new RA rule makes sense, I am more than willing to explain new rules. E-mail me at alanp@snowmoose.com. You still might not agree that the rule was necessary, but maybe I can explain why we thought the rule was needed.

alan

More importantly, why is this thread still going?

How many of you HAVE helmet cams?

How many of you like and WANT them?

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Welcome to the cult of JVL drink the koolaid or be banned.

Bahhh, I dunno what you guys are talking about helmet mounted camera is by far my favorite in-car POV. Close second to strong left over the shoulder.

Rear on cage behind crew makes me want to gag myself.

Good audio is rad. Nobody cares about audio, even though it is more important than the visuals. Sometimes I double system a real audio recorder into the car with 2 channels. 1 for ambient and one for crew intercom. Mix later at will. But this is hard to do at real rally. But really, if you are going to the internet nobody gives a crap what the crew is saying unless they are going off hard and swearing.

One time I mounted a Fostex FR2-LE field recorder, 1 lav mic and a small omni in the car for audio. It is primo. I have this shoot next week where my goal was really good audio, so I am using 4 Zoom H1's all over the car and then do a surround mix from them later on, should be cool, but nobody is going to do that in a rally. Because you would need 1 media manager person per car.

So GoPro -> Line in intercom = cool.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2012 04:14PM by MattJohnston.

What about a hands free cell phone camera?



JVL, I'm gonna start a video blog and post it here just for you. Loads of drivel (refer to beginning of second page for Johns comment)

(maybe JVL will sponsor me for it)

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Gravel Spray
Does anyone (in the pnw) remember the mageta XR4Ti with the "aquraium cam" on the roof???

Yep. Neville Green

Ben