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Alpinestars is once again leading the way in
developing rider safety. Having pioneered countless
innovations in boots, suits and gloves, notably the
development of external protection on road race
boots in the early 80’s and more recently employing
the philosophy on its leather suits, they are now
introducing a new dimension into race suit
technology – a fully autonomous, multiple field data
acquisition system. The Advanced Safety Technology
suit (AST).
Fitting telemetry and acquiring data from race bikes
and cars has been common practice for some years,
however, acquiring data directly from the body of
the rider/driver has not and Alpinestars is
developing technology to allow technicians the
ability to analyze the gravitational and impact
forces, as well as the physiological effects
experienced by a human when pushing the limits of a
high performance race machine.
During the weekend of the German Grand Prix at the
Sachsenring, MotoGP rider John Hopkins wore a
leather suit equipped with the new A.S.T. system.
Although indistinguishable from his usual race suit,
John’s body was constantly monitored by a series of
accelerometers, impact and physiological sensors.
The impact sensors are mounted on both external and
internal surfaces of the suits protectors to measure
the loads sustained and absorbed in a fall, without
impeding or endangering the rider in any way. The
sensors record the maximum impact value subjected to
the rider, providing real situation data, above and
beyond the test simulations currently conducted in
the Alpinestars laboratory.
The custom data processor and solid-state memory,
encased in an impact resistant structure and hidden
in the back hump on John’s suit, acquire data
throughout each session which can be downloaded
immediately into a laptop plugged into a connector
on the suit. The information can then be studied to
analyze pressure point values, lateral G loads
experienced, the rider’s pulse and the suit’s
cooling performance.
The benefit of developing such technology is the
tremendous amount of information that can be
gathered about the stresses borne by a rider and the
performance of safety equipment during a race and in
the event of a fall. Alpinestars’ goal is to develop
the technology to measure all the dimensional forces
at work upon a rider and to allow greater
understanding of material performance thereby
improving safety both on the racetrack and
ultimately on the road.
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