Dainese develop new D-Air in partnership with BSB

Dainese have unveiled their new D-Air racer airbag system for 2014, having developed the system from the original collarbone and shoulder protection into a system designed to prevent life threatening injuries to the chest and body.

The updated airbag has been developed with the direct input of the British Superbike championship, who were keen to work with the Italian firm (who are their official safety partners) to come up with a system designed to protect riders who are struck by other competitors.

BSB boss Stuart Higgs told MCN that while the current system serves well to protect easily damaged bones, it does little to save riders lives, and following a number of serious incidents where riders collided after falling off, the domestic championship challenged the Vicenza-based firm.

“Already there was the D-air system that proves extremely effective in preventing collarbone and neck injuries but below that there were still critical areas of the body, including the major organs, and that is what we wanted to concentrate on through our safety partnership with Dainese. Myself and Jonathan Palmer, the Chief Executive of MotorSport Vision, visited Dainese in Italy and between us all we looked at what would be possible to achieve. “

“We believe that this could be the biggest evolution of rider safety perhaps since the full face crash helmet was first introduced and I would like to congratulate the whole Dainese team for their work on this very important project which truly demonstrates the safety partnership developed between our two organisations.”

The system is currently being trialled by Luis Salom in Moto3, but will be rolled out across all of Dainese’s riders for 2014.