I was looking for some information on the FIA site, and stumbled over this. It’s a chest and rib protection combo device that will be mandatory starting next year for apparently everyone.
Lol wut? For grown ups? I am not against and it looks like a Bengio anyways. But there will be salt.
This is an important step as this protection is designed to prevent three forms of injury: impact with flat or curved structures; impact with steering wheel or edge of seat; and impact with the steering column. It can withstand 60J of energy to the chest and 100J of energy to the ribs, which ensures that the force transmitted to the body is no more than 1kN during an impact.
The Bengio doesn’t offer chest protection, that’s the main thing that this is implementing, as you have previously seen on junior/cadet drivers.
Shouldn’t really affect us here, as almost no series here is following CIK/FIA rulesets. Though I could see some series making it mandatory over time.
Mandatory to FIA competition. So that’s only the big events… for now. I’ve heard rumours of drop down side bumpers too, but that could be nonsense. I wasn’t aware there was an issue with chest injury risk, but hey ho. Once someone has put it out there as a safety thing it’ll get put in pretty sharpish. I think we’d have high back seats (which would have evolved into roll cages and belts) if it wasn’t for Steve Tillett’s intervention to be honest.
I’ll retail at around $350 your side of the pond. Not sure what the FIA mean by affordability.
Just for this OMP one though. Hopefully there will be more budget-friendly options. Though I will say $350 is a lot for a rib protector.
and the bengio is about the same price.
we’ll see what happens with other manufacturers.
This is FIA karting youre talking about. I dont think $350 is a big hit to any of them. Now, itll be a pretty big problem if that rule makes it down to us. I cant afford more expensive safety gear.
Look up the Bengio AB7 I believe.
Interesting. Without any knowledge of what the FIA is doing, I made something like this myself using my Ribtect rib protector as the basis. I think it’s actually saved my chest from some wear and tear a few times, as well as emboldens me to keep the throttle open at times. 
Bengio has an FIA approved rib/chest protector that just came out AB7
I should be getting a few in stock
if you need one please give me a call 805-358-1328 to reserve one as there will be a very limited supply as they are all handmade in Italy.
Bengio is $585… holy crap
Gotta love those ‘grassroots’ prices.
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That’s wild.
This would be a rare instance where I am glad we don’t follow CIK’s lead.
Bengio is a hard to get controlled substance. That looks great.
I am right there with you on this one TJ. Besides, my daughter is the driver and not sure how the chest piece would feel for any of the female karters out there.
That’s actually a really good point I hadn’t thought about. The rib vests alone are already uncomfortable for them, at least according to some of the girls I know in karting. I can’t imagine having a full chest piece on will be comfortable at all for the female drivers.
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One would assume the FIA’s commitment to due diligence would have factored this into to developing the homologation procedure. Obviously we know that their focus on keeping these new mandated protectors at grassroots prices was exemplary.
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Mandating long life tyres, and driving on the track rather than the infield would avoid the need for these devices.
Granted, when my daughter was in cadet, she had to wear a chest protector and we used an Armadillo, but that was also before she started puberty. When we bought a rib protector, we got the Tillet P1 since they have a woman’s cut, and I wasn’t able to get the Bengio Woman’s when I tried.