Features

Helmet Cam

So You Wanna Be in Racing Films? : Try a Helmet Cam

By Rick Sieman

April, 2002 - About 20 years ago, I strapped on a helmet cam and took a lap around a motocross course for a local TV station. The thing was about the size of a loaf of bread and weighed about eight pounds. Plus, I had to carry another six pounds of batteries and hardware in a belt-pack.

Roger Blaine (of Action Sports Cam) drilled two holes in the visor and used a pair of small bolts to attach the camera support bracket. This is the preferred mounting method, as adhesives are just not strong and secure enough.

For a half lap, the helmet cam didn't bother me much, even though I was sure aware of the big lump strapped to the side of my helmet. It was when I launched off the biggest jump on the track and hit the landing that the side effects of the helmet cam became instantly known.

Figure that camera weighed about eight pounds, and when I landed from the jump on flat ground, I'm sure I pulled two "Gs" worth of impact. That meant … for a fraction of a second … the helmet cam weighed over 20 pounds. 

My neck got badly tweaked to the side and the helmet camera whacked on the top the shoulder caps of my chest protector. I wobbled off the track like a wounded duck and nearly crashed my brains out.

Completed setup is unobtrusive. Single wire leading from camera must be taped down to keep from flopping in the wind.

I rode the last part of the track rather slowly and when I got back to the pits, had the TV people take the blasted thing off. For most of the next week, I had a badly strained neck and a headache.

The video? It was OK, at best. However, there was a lot of shuddering and it seemed like every bump and rut was transferred right to the lens. It was really hard to see what I was really going over, as the immediate horizon shook and vibrated badly. When I hit a big bump or rut, the tape skipped badly, or froze for a moment.

I watched the tape a few times, and then lost interest in it. But right now, I wish I had that crude old video tape.

Our helmet - ready to aim.

Why? So I could compare it to what I experienced during the Desert Vipers Grand Prix!

At that event, I had the opportunity to test one of the new Action Sports Cams during my race. Good friend, C.H. Wheat (owner of IMS) asked me to evaluate this new helmet camera for him, and I did it reluctantly, recalling my sore neck episode from long ago.

However, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the new camera (which is full color and soundweighed in at a feathery 2 ½ ounces. It attaches to your visor and hooks up to a small digital camcorder that you carry in a fanny pack. The camcorder we used was a Sony about the size of a thick paperback book.

The small mini cam (not included) can be carried easily in a fanny pack. Make sure you stuff some foam or cloth in there to keep the camera from flopping around.

Helping me with the setup, was the designer of the new camera system, Roger Blaine. Roger quickly attached the tiny camera to the front of the visor with a pair of tiny bolts after drilling some holes. The single wire from the camera got taped down so wind wouldn't flap it around at higher speeds.

Aiming the camera was easy: After getting hooked up, Roger turned the video camera on and had me sit on my bike in the normal riding/racing position. He then asked to stare at an object about 30 feet away. Then he had me look at another far away. After a half dozen sightings, with Roger looking at the viewfinder and me aiming my head, he figured we were in the ballpark.

After zipping up the pack, only one wire with a simple click-in connection remains.

I then rode the bike around a bit, got out in the open desert and made a few high speed passes down a dirt road, and headed back to the pits. Roger made a small adjustment downward on the camera, as most riders tend to lower their head position as they go faster. I took one more small ride to check it out, and Roger pronounced it spot-on.

My race was Sunday at 10:15 and with all the typical pre-race jitters and excitement, I actually forgot I had the Action Sports Cam on. The start was via dead-engine on the paved streets of the town of Adelanto, a pleasant community in the SoCal high-desert.

Roger hooked everything up; your editor chose to carry the fanny pack on the hip instead of the back, just in case he experienced yet another awkward crash.

Since 50,000 fans showed up that weekend to watch the racing, I figured I better at least get a decent start before my rather old and crusty body started to protest. 
My KDX 200 lit off instantly, and I was able to lurch from the fourth row to the first row quickly. As we ran down the long paved start straight, I was amazed that none of the other bikes pulled the little 200.

Actually, I shouldn't have been surprised.

You see, the day before the event, I looked up Larry Roeseler (yeah, that LR!) and asked him if Kawasaki had any tall gearing for my KDX. The way I had it, the bike peaked out at 80 mph.

Aiming the camera was simple: I stared at an object in the distance while sitting on the bike in the normal riding/racing position, told Roger what I was looking at, and he checked the image location in the viewfinder of the camcorder. It only took a few minor adjustments to get the Action Sports Cam aimed spot on.

Larry turned me over to the nice folks from Team Green and they managed to scrounge up a custom made 14 tooth countershaft sprocket. This was especially nice, in that the largest c/s sprocket offered by Kawasaki dealers was 12 teeth!

Larry looked me straight in the nose (my nose is on the large side, you see) and said: "You will have the fastest KDX 200 on the planet with this gearing and your small rear sprocket!"

He was dead-on right, so I figured from that moment on, never to doubt a ten-time Baja 1000 winner.

My little 200 pulled like it was on steroids and passed a whole bunch of Open Class bikes on the many fast straights during that event. Heck, it even had more top end than a 520 KTM 6-speed, which surprised the heck out of that guy as it eased by in top gear.

Before the race, I latched on to some serious gearing for the KDX 200. Chris Real (of Torco oil fame) was helping racers at the GP with their  machines, and changed the countershaft sprocket for us. Nice guy - good oil!

Anyway, I enjoyed that truly great one-hour Grand Prix, even though my tired old knees were hurting at the end. I think I got 2nd in my class and as much fun as it's possible to have with your clothes on.

It wasn't until I idled back to the pits that I remembered the helmet camera! That's right … I never even noticed it during the race; forgot completely about that sucker.

Anyway, after I spent a few minutes of dry heaves and spitting out lumps of dust, Roger had the video from the ride hooked up to a TV and turned it on.

I was astonished!!!

Once under way, I actually forgot I had the Action Sports Cam on.

The run down the start pavement section looked like it had been shot by a professional movie crew! With the mild wide angle lens, the camera was able to take in a large cross section of the action. 

It was wild watching the bikes dart all over place, and even wilder when I realized that it was me in the race! Honestly, my dirt biking friends, I never realized just how crazy our sport is until I was able to look at it on tape. 

Anyway, I still had a lot of work to do for Off-Road.com (photos, announcing, finding some free beer, etc.) and Roger made a copy of the entire tape for me to review later on.

Due to the tall gearing (Thanks to Larry Roeseler from Kawasaki) the KDX was able to pass many larger bikes during the race and allow the editor to snare a solid second place in the Old Geeks Class. The memories of that race can now be enjoyed over and over again, thanks to the Action Sport Cam.

That night when I got home, I popped the video in the VCR and watched it on my big-screen TV. It virtually blew me away! The quality of the image and the feeling of being right in the middle of the action was so real, that it was unreal!

And when we got to the high speed straights, the feeling of speed was so incredible that I found myself holding on to the couch with a claw grip to keep from falling on the floor.

All the memories of the event came flooding back into my mind. I was able to re-live every turn, every pass, every mistake and every jump on that 12 miles Grand Prix course.

Later, I showed the video to some friends, some of whom knew absolutely nothing about dirt bikes and racing. The dirt-savvy friends noted that the action was intense and top quality, and the non-savvy friends were big-eyed. Noted one lady: "My God, that's frightening! And you pay to do this?"

Since I first got the video, I have shown it to lots of people, and have watched it by myself several times. In fact, one night after a really bad day, I poured myself a tall adult beverage or three and watched it again with the sound real loud, so I could hear the engine bark and the wind howl as it whistled by.

Pure therapy, I say!

THE BOTTOM LINE

I've done literally hundreds of Product Evaluations in my life, and rarely went nuts over many. This one deserves a solid Thumbs-Up, or Five Stars, or whatever else you can give it.

It's a tool that can preserve the memories of this great sport like nothing else you've ever experienced. I suspect that I'll appreciate this helmet camera and the tape from the Grand Prix even more as the years go by. I just wish that I'd had something like this 30 years ago.

Do yourself a favor. Get one and use it. Take it on your trail rides, races, or even on play days. Put your golden memories on tape so you can enjoy them again and again.

We were so impressed with the Action Sports Cam, that Off-Road.com acquired one and it's now a part of our arsenal of valued equipment. Pat Chicas, the ORC Publisher quickly snatched the unit out of the ORC, camera safe and now calls the Action Sports Cam, "his". We don't think so. He is always busy with other business interests so, we'll put the cam to work at many other events when he's not looking. One idea, is to wear it as "Hat Cam" as we cover Rock Crawling events. This will let our photograher shoot video and stills at the same time.