Ludedude

Absolutely true....while the car is in steady state forward motion, but let me relate a personal experience from a track day.

I crested a small hill with a blind apex left-hander (Magic Mountain at Buttonwillow running 13 CCW for those of you who've been there) and lost control of the car. I spun down the hill and went off on driver's left with the right side of the car broadside to the dirt; as the car dug the two passenger side wheels into the soft dirt, a huge cloud of dirt/gravel came flying in the (open) passenger side window. I felt and heard numerous impacts on my helmet and when I finally got the car back to the pits, I saw two large chips in the paint of what was then a brand new helmet. These chips were directly under the closed visor of my fullface helmet. They chipped the paint and the primer underneath and I have no misconceptions about what would have happened had one of those rocks hit me in the face.

Just an anecdotal data point, nothing more.

mikegarrison

Um, remember I was the one saying it was all just preference. I am not saying open face is "better other than my preference".

It is cheaper, though, if that is a concern.

As for fire, well I am using a M helmet instead of a SA helmet anyway. The basic difference between the two is the fire test. So I guess I'm saying that I'm not worrying much about fire.