The Racing Harness: Safety on the Track

In the race car industry, drivers are constantly taking extraordinary risks as they zoom down the raceway at incredible speeds in pursuit of that lusted-after trophy, record, etc. In light of the mightily high stakes involved in this sport, car designers and mechanical teams place a lot of priority on the safety issues in such cars; this attention has given rise to a wealth of different technologies of wide use, not only within the racing field.

The racing harness is perhaps the most significant safety mechanism inside a racing vehicle, and race car drivers effectively invest their hopes for survival on their personal driving talent and the integrity and functionality of their harness.

Over the course of time, many different kinds of racing harnesses have been invented and put into place in vehicles, without a single variety being designated as standard for the industry. As successive accidents and problems arose, designers and engineers discovered ever more valuable information about the nature of safety in a race car, and hence advanced the qualities of racing harnesses considerably to where they are today, which is quite advanced compared to even just twenty years ago.

Of the many differences that exist between racing harnesses and ordinary car seat belts the most significant is the fact that the former is bound to the car’s subframe or frame, and is not bound to the seat itself such as is the case for normal cars. Safety on-board for the driver is majorly increased through this sole innovation.

In the race car industry, it is common to see harnesses incorporating 4 or more straps; 6 straps is at this point basically the most common set up. As mentioned above about the cause for safety advances, it was the death of a famous racing driver–Dale Earnhardt in this case–that prompted the industry to make the leap from the 5-point to the 6-point harness. The additional strap on the 6-point harness is located between the legs.

Beyond the issue of the number of straps a harness may include, a big distinction of racing harnesses is the particular fastening mechanism being used. Just as with the straps, it is common to see quite different models and fastening mechanisms from one race car to the next, and in all cases the technology is quite significantly different than in ordinary car seat belt latches.

The necessity for a perfect balance between sturdiness and lightness is in this case (as with all other components of a race car) a driving factor, and it is no simple accomplishment. In the search for the perfect material in this regard, Carbon Fiber has received a lot of attention and is currently utilized by several principal manufacturers.

It is very important from a safety perspective that the harness’s lock be practically impossible to release while operating the car, and the cam lock buckle has presented excellent qualities in this sense. When you add to this design a rotational locking mechanism, it is all but impossible to unlock while driving, which is a major safety conquest. Further problems are avoided by making them dust proof and shockproof.

An interesting curiosity of the racing harness business is that many models developed and many lessons learned have been put into practice not only in the auto racing field, but furthermore on passenger and even military aircraft; the biggest racing harness suppliers are also major airplane seat buckle suppliers.

Byron Jonas knows that the racing harness is an important element of car racing safety. Which is why, as per with all his race gear, he only buys from GMP Racing Products