Formula Drift Driver Chelsea DeNofa Walks Through All the Gear That Keeps Him Safe
Crashes do happen. Chelsea DeNofa talks about what he wears and what's built into his Ford Mustang RTR that protects him in case a risky situation arises.
Like many Formula Drift drivers, Chelsea DeNofa vlogs his race days, race prep days, and all the days in between. For a recent video on his YouTube channel, he went through all of the safety equipment both on him and in his car that keeps him alive while in battle at an FD event.
Contact between cars and walls is common in Formula Drift and damage does occur. For example, Italian Federico Sceriffo was involved in an accident that caused his Ferrari drift car to go up in flames, but he had safety equipment to protect him. What he was wearing as well as the way his car was engineered let him quickly exit his race car safely.
In DeNofa's video he goes through all the safety parts of his suit, helmet, and gloves along with the safety aspects of his car. He comments on how each part does its job and lets him actually go home after an event if something goes wrong.
"I have had quite a few bad wrecks, but I'm really thankful for my Hans and Recaro seat with head protection. Last year in NJ I got hit directly on the door bars by Johnathan Castro at about a 50 mph difference in speed. I would have been hospitalized if my head wasn't contained," DeNofa told The Drive.
For more details, check out Chelsea DeNofa's How to Not Die Drifting!! video below.