Knowing that helmet cameras are unilaterally banned for racing in the US… What about the adhesive brackets themselves?
Reason I ask is that I’d like to run a helmet cam on test days and non competition sanctioned events… but I don’t want to put the legality of my new helmet at risk.
I’d suggest a chinbar strap mount
I thought I saw these alright I’ll look those up. Do you have a recommendation?
So something I do is just put a layer of clear packing tape down on the helmet first. Just a small piece slightly larger than the size of the GoPro mount. Then stick the mount to the tape. The packing tape is not going to peel off and the GoPro mount sticks to it super strong like it would stick to the helmet directly. The trick thing is that it is 1000% easier to peel up the packing tape to remove the GoPro mount than it is to pry up the GoPro mount if it were stuck to the helmet directly.
I’ve never had an issue with this setup even with the mount on my chin.
That said, I’ve never had an issue with having just the adhesive mount on my helmet in sanctioned races. The chin strap mounts work but they are fiddly and pretty heavy IMO.
That’s kind of sneaky. Great idea.
Just be sure to use strong high quality packing tape that wont just shred when you go to peel it up. Ask me how I know haha
Not sure that’s completely true. Maybe national events. Our local tracks have allowed them. I haven’t shopped for brackets in a while but this is what I use.
Interesting because I thought the directive came from underwriters. What insurer is on the wristbands?
My original adhesive GoPro mount must have lasted 13 years before it came off one winter.
What chest mount or if you dont want scratch your new helmet like a headband strap.
James that is a good question and I really don’t know the answer. Maybe it isn’t allowed but it hasn’t been an issue…yet! Our next race is a few weeks away so I will have to wait on that.
My belief is this became a problem with top-mounted cameras. If it were about a concern of it coming off that is more likely to happen when its mounted to the kart, or at least just as likely.
Chest mount is going to be too low in the kart. All you will see is the steering wheel.
I believe the “concern” of cameras attached to helmets is the idea that they may cause traumatic forces on the head and neck in the event of a crash. A GoPro mounted to his helmet is what some people attribute to be the cause of Michael Schumacher’s traumatic brain injury while skiing. I don’t know if there is any actual scientific research which substantiates this claim however. It is pretty weird to me that karting and auto racing has pretty much unilaterally banned helmet cams meanwhile they are ubiquitous across professional motocross, skiing, snowboarding, BMX, mountain biking, sky diving, etc. Basically all other action spots haha.
I have a friend that used to race MX and he had a top mount go pro. He unfortunately went
OTB and landed on his head. He is convinced this nearly killed him as it made his helmet a spear. Whereas a helmet only may have slid or at least deflected. With that said a chin mount like we use would avoid this. Unfortunately if insurance companies are behind the ban, no helmet mounts is a clearer directive. Does anyone know how European karters handle helmet cams?
I’ve never had any problems with this, although it does seem to be a dropshipping thing which probably means it’s made super cheaply. I’ve probably had about 7 hours of seat time with it
Correct me if I’m wrong, but this is what also caused Michael’s head trauma. A camera mount, which was mounted with screws to the helmet, and the screws went through the helmet when he hit the rock.
Edit: Corrected
Indeed. The camera mount was attached with screws in Schumacher’s case. Absolutely no problem sticking a camera to your lid. Obviously, don’t secure it with screws.
At NTK, they do not allow helmet mounted cameras and at DKC they do. A lot of folks run both tracks and just leave the adhesive pad on their helmets when running NTK. It has never been brought up and when I am sitting on grid at NTK wearing a White helmet with Black GoPro pad right on top you would think if it was and issue they would say something.
Yeah, I would rather beg for forgiveness than ask for permission, unless its being specifically addressed at the drivers meeting I would play dumb (which is easy for me most of the time).