HJC Si-12 Helmet - Flat Black
Those of us that spend time on the track know that the only thing harder than deciding on what new car you want to buy is what new helmet to buy. Having tried out just about every brand of helmet out there on the market doesn’t seem to help. Having yet to find the perfect helmet, a list of features was assembled to make the decision easier. First, it has to meet all safety standards. What good is a helmet if you are always second-guessing its protection ability? Second is comfort, if you can?t wear it for extended periods of time without getting distracted by “hot spots” or pinching, it’s going to slow you down. Third, lightweight helmets are worth their non-weight in gold. A Pound here or there doesn’t sound like much, but at the end of a day of +1 G cornering and more importantly way more than 1 G braking, all those ounces add up. Fourth, it’s got to have great ventilation, you can’t keep your mental cool, if you aren’t physically cool. Lastly, it absolutely has to look cool. Who wants to drop $700 on a helmet and be embarrassed to be wearing the bucket outside your car?
The HJC si-12 meets all of our qualifications of a great helmet. It exceeds all of SNELL SA2005 testing standards and comes predrilled for HANS Device mounting posts. It’s one of the lightest helmets on the market, weighing in at less than 3 lbs. It is actually lighter than a couple of the open face helmets we have tested. On the inside of the helmet is a CAD designed padding and liner system that spreads the weight of the helmet all around your skull instead of feeling like its pogo sticking on a few unfortunate spots. The padding is firm enough you don’t feel the helmet moving around but supple enough to conform to skull irregularities.
Ventilation is handled by air channels that run front to back all the way under the shell. The large titanium vent at the top of the helmet is wide and low, meaning it doesn’t use up valuable headroom in the car, but is a big enough opening to get flow going. Two inlets in the chin and two outlets in the rear of the helmet keep everything moving around your cranium.
Lastly, this helmet looks super cool. It is available in flat black or shiny white. We obviously went with the black; it’s the rat-rodder in us I guess. HJC uses a rubber gasket for their visors unlike the foam in most helmets. The look is a lot cleaner and whistles a lot less at speed. All the hardware is top-notch and will certainly outlast the life of the helmet. We bought several extra shields with our helmet to compliment the clear piece provided with the helmet. We are surprised with the clarity of HJC’s visors, there are no wavy or cloudy areas, even near the edges of the visor.
So far, we have only used the helmet in closed cockpit cars. We don’t imagine this would be the best helmet for open cockpit cars as there are no aero devices on the outside. We have been told there are add-on devices available, but without testing we can’t tell you how well they work.
Retail Price on the Si-12 is $699, but we have seen them online for as low as $629. That seems like a pretty big investment, but as the saying goes; what’s your head worth.
HJC Helmets
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