How British Superbikes and MSV help make track riders safer: Stuart Higgs
‘It’s the most significant piece of safety kit since the crash helmet’
As Director of the British Superbike Championship, keeping riders safe during a race event is a huge part of Stuart Higgs’ remit…
“In 2011 there was a fatal accident at Cadwell Park, when young racer, Ben Gautrey, crashed at the top of the Mountain [and got hit by another bike]. And for all the advancements in track safety and barriers, that situation where a fallen rider is at risk of being hit by another bike is still one of the biggest safety concerns the sport has.
“Jonathan Palmer and I had just dealt with the incident that cost Ben his life and we thought, ‘what can we do?’ We refused to just shrug our shoulders and go ‘oh it’s just one of those things’. So as we had this new safety partnership with Dainese and we knew that they had the D-Air system, which was still in its infancy then and primarily just protected the shoulders, it got us thinking about whether there was something that we could do between us. So we jumped on a plane to Vincenza and met up with Lino Dainese, and explained to him about the accident. We asked him about D-Air and how they we’re planning to progress it. And the Dainese answer at the time was that they’d been having similar thoughts, but all the feedback from their riders was that they weren’t interested in anything that covered the thoracic area, because it restricted movement and added weight.
“But within an instant, a napkin was produced and Jonathan and Lino started sketching – I’ve still got the napkin at home – and the end result a few years later was basically what you see here [the D-Air racing airbag].
“It’s probably the most significant piece of safety equipment since the crash helmet – and airbags will be mandatory across all BSB classes from 2023.
“We know there’s a big difference between good kit and just tick-the-box kit, and we’re seeing that in the junior classes, it’s clear that people are a bit confused about what the right kit is because we’re seeing people trying to race in unknown brands of over-leather airbag vests – and this is in a regulated racing environment, god only knows what it’s like in the unregulated trackday world or club racing.
“Going on from that, from the MSV trackday perspective, we believe there should be an education campaign about wearing the right kit. There were two incidents last year where riders were seriously injured and left paralysed
– and neither were wearing back protectors, and that’s why MSV has now mandated that all trackday riders wear a back protector. And it was the same with lever guards, which is why we now require a lever guard to be fitted to all bikes on trackdays. We definitely believe that all riders need to be aware of the importance of proper kit.”