Safety question? Roll cage in a street car?

[Wez]

I voted no

 

For me there are a number of factors in having a cage :-

 

* it needs to be welded in as others have already stated

* you should wear a full harness to stop you moving about

* you should wear a helmet

* the cage should padded anywhere were possible contact can occur

 

Full harnesses hold you fecking tight, well they are supposed to, without a full cage what would happen to your neck if the roof caved in, with a normal seatbelt you have a reasonable amount of movement, this same movement can be deadly with a cage.

 

Therefore in conclusion if you want a cage fit a full one welded in, wear only full harnesses and a helmet.

 

For that reason in my mind cages are for track and track only.

[Wez]

I dont think Wez drives his on the road much anymore.

 

Correct matey, its not even road legal

[jevansio]

Thats a decent shout, might do something similar myself.

It's gotta be the best solution for a fast road car as far as I can see. Not issues for not wearing a helmet, extra rigidity & roll protection in the rear, the only downside is you loose 2 seats for ever

[jevansio]

I voted no

 

For me there are a number of factors in having a cage :-

 

* it needs to be welded in as others have already stated

* you should wear a full harness to stop you moving about

* you should wear a helmet

* the cage should padded anywhere were possible contact can occur

 

Full harnesses hold you fecking tight, well they are supposed to, without a full cage what would happen to your neck if the roof caved in, with a normal seatbelt you have a reasonable amount of movement, this same movement can be deadly with a cage.

 

Therefore in conclusion if you want a cage fit a full one welded in, wear only full harnesses and a helmet.

 

For that reason in my mind cages are for track and track only.

Exactamundo, I don't understand why the so called experts on PH couldn't have said that

[sdistc]

Read through the Pistonheads thread... And FWIW each side has valid points.

One problem lies in the fact that no-one on the racing side seems to consider that you drive to the shops WITHOUT helmet/harness/HANS device.

And another is that we on the street side are assuming that a rollcage has to be designed in a way that compromises ingress & egress, and is positioned in locations with high potential for head trauma in an accident in street conditions WITHOUT helmet/harness/HANS device.

 

I voted no to cage, purely because I don't think there is a way for the two issues to be resolved in compromise in a Supra (without severely altering the car's interior). Another part of it, for me, is that we all accept implicitly (but perhaps unwittingly) that when we play around with our high-powered cars that there is a risk of part failure or driver error at high speed - which, in my opinion, is highly likely to result in very serious consequences for us. Probably death. And I don't think these potential problems will be solved with a roll cage in a street car unless wearing full protective equipment.

[sdistc]

Fuck, on re-reading my post it sounds pretty fatalistically pessimistic! But I think it's worth saying anyway.

[JamieP]

They wont let it drop, i can see this going on for some time:D

[Wez]

[Scott]

If your car tips on a track you have a lot of rolling to do, 999 times out of 1000 on the road you don't. There is a wall, a tree, a lampost etc etc. Harnesses would be a killer in these situations, pure and simple. The seatbelts of the supra have pre-tensioners etc (as far as I am aware, those will hold you tight but have SOME give). They don't hold as firmly as a harness in the event of an accident. This aids deceleration. If you hit hard from 70 upwards with harnesses on, chances are you would die from internal injuries. The same crash with a lapbelt would not have the same effect on the body.

 

You simply cannot have a cage without harnesses and harnesses are no good on the open road. If you crash on a track the car will roll and roll and roll, unless you are unfortunate and hit a wall early into the roll (see above deceleration rule).

 

To be fair, the evidence is there Jamie. It's a pretty grim subject to keep harping on about.

 

I still think a rear half cage is the best option. It will hold the roof off your head but won't require harnesses when doing regular driving.

[GazB]

My 2 pence worth

 

I don't take my 'bolt' in rear roll bar out when driving on the road.

My 'bolt' in conforms to MSA regulations which is good for 10 sec runs.

My terminal speed is 125mph

The shoulder harness fits to roll bar and is SFI approved, this 5 point harness is also fixed as per MSA regulations with correct floor mounting points fixing bolts etc.

 

When racing i wear an helmet, i don't when driving on the road, but if i decide to give it some beans i tighten the harness to keep me well fixed to the seat.

I know there would be some head movement if anything happened but i don’t think many people would wear an helmet 'just in case' anything happened.

I'm 5'11" and have my seat well back, the seat mounts i use are lower than standard which gives quiet a bit of room between my head and the roll bar.

 

The door bars i have are removalable (again MSA approved) and make life a lot easier when not fixed.

 

I do get an extra feeling of well being when driving the car quickly with the roll bar and harness fitted compared with out.

When i realised the speeds and times my car was doing i didn't take much persuading to have these fitted, but i wanted a 'bolt' in and this wasn't easy to get or cheap that meets the MSA requirements. Certified tubing meeting the required sizes, welded by certified welders, construction to meet requirements and fixing points as per recommendations.

These can all be found on the internet or by going to an approved specialist for roll cage/bar construction.

 

So Yes i am a fan or roll cages/bars but i don't use my car as a daily drive so i haven't voted

 

I do think that if you had a big off a roll a cage would help IF you had a good harness properly fixed, and good seat again properly fixed and most importantly a well constructed and fixed roll cage/bar

 

Just my thoughts