As a dealer for the NecksGen and Zamp/Z-tech lines of frontal head and neck restraints I find a lot of parents make decisions based on pricing, but not so much about functionality. What I want to cover is the two brands I handle for the very young youth market. With new parents with very young racers getting involved in the sport, some as young as 5 years old, now being required to wear a frontal restraint how do these two brands compare in the smaller sizes?
All the restraints, no matter what brand you choose, meet the SFI 38.1 standard, but just meeting the standard isnt the end of the deal. Its a whole system including seatbelt location and anchorage points, but thats another story. (Check out the recent video from JKR Racing Products to learn more). Zamp has the Z-tech 2A and the 6A that are fully adjustable models, but they only adjust down so small. They also accept a 3” belt like in a big car, but a 2” junior belt will work as well. This also means there is more room on top of the device for belt movement with a 2” belt though. It’s not the end of the world but as you can see in the pictures, while both the NecksGen Rev small and the Z-tech 2A both have a 5” neck opening, the 2A is much wider overall. The 2A comes in at around 12.75” outside to outside when at its smallest adjustment. The NecksGen meanwhile is about 11.5” outside to outside and is made to only accept a 2” or 1.75” wide belt.
When placed on the scale the 2A weighs almost two pounds and the Rev is just over a pound.
Again, not a big deal on an older, stronger, driver, but for a youth, even for a smaller 10-year old driver as pictured, the “one size fits all” 2A would potentially place the belts far out on the shoulders.
This is magnified when someone buys a car that their child can “grow into”, resulting in the driver not being properly restrained and allowed to move from side to side in the car. The 2A would also hang out over this drivers shoulders as well and could create some interference in the cockpit.
Again this is just my opinion, but the measurements speak for themselves. It is one of the reasons I like to discuss options with my customers prior to a sale, especially something as important as youth safety. The Z-tech line has great price points and is very adjustable. The NecksGen Rev small is not adjustable and is a little more expensive, coming in at $399 vs $269 for the 2A, but is more compact. I am more than happy to sell either brand, but as the onslaught of sales nears I wanted to show some comparisons.
I hope this helps keep some parents from a disappointing purchase and maybe somehow keeps their children safer.
www.marschanmotorsports.com
Facebook @Mar-Schan Motorsports LLC Race Car Shop
