ITALIAN MANUFACTURER Dainese have launched the D-air Racing - a revolutionary airbag which protects riders during circuit racing.
The company claim the new system is able to protect the rider's body in areas that conventional protections leave exposed: shoulders, collarbones and neck.
Dainese also claim the tests performed at their laboratories have proved the system acts as a much better shock absorber than conventional composite protections systems.
The D-air Racing system is contained in a new and very special attachment on the rider's shoulders and back which takes the place of the traditional hump.It works totally independently from the motorcycle by a sophisticated system of accelerometers and rate gyros located inside the hump whose signals are processed by a data interpretation algorithm which decides whether or not to inflate the airbag. It can also differentiate between a lowside and a highside accident.
The trigger signal reaches a gas generator which inflates the bag in approximately 40 milliseconds.
Dainese are currently working on a street-based project, designed to protect motorcyclists on normal roads.
Does it work? I'm watching qualifying at Valencia right now, and a 125cc rider has just walked away from a fast lowside wearing an inflated D-air system. Julian Ryder almost wet himself with excitement. See a picture of the crash at the foot of the page.
Check out the series of images below to see the system in action:
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