Will this rollbar be legal for SPA?

[TTA89]

This isn't my car but is pretty much what I'd like to do and hope it passes COM tech (as well as IHRA for those Friday nights with nothing else to do but go straight. )

Its a 6 point bar, 2 going to the rear shock towers, 2 behind the seats and 2 down across the doors that are removable by Pins so I can remove them on the street.







There are technically 8 points in the picture but the general layout is what I'm asking about. I'll make sure its constucted according the specs for a 3700lb pig and has the proper padding with 5 point harnesses.

Just want to make sure this will pass tech for SPA.

Thanks!

[Mick]

Mike,
I think that bar will pass tech. But I have to be honest, I don't like the design of that bar at all. It looks very weak. It needs at *least one diagonal going to a point above the drivers head.

Also, I don't imagine the bars going to the drivers foot well will do much. I would actually wager that they'll do more harm than good. It looks like in a side impact it would just fold over and hit you in the leg.

I usually keep my mouth shut about how people build their cars, but when It comes to a safety item I have to speak up.

[TTA89]

Hey Mick,

I was thinking about doing a diag bar from the top of the main hoop to the crossbar, this seems to be what a lot of people are running.

As for the sidebars, I'd love to just ditch them all together but I want the car to be legal for drag racing too and they require them. I'd think if you get hit hard enough to fold the door in the bar would help absorb the impact. Yeah the Bar may fold if you get hit hard enough but I'd think if the door has that much force then either the door or the bar is going to crush you, may as well have the bar bend and take some of the impact first.

[timmmy]

As MIke said, if its about safety then its worth talking about, as well as doig it right.

I have to say that is a 'horrible' cage design. it breaks almost every rule of good cage design.

Q: what sort of car are you planning to use? If its a modern car like the mustang there are a plethora of SCCA approved cages out there, either bolt in or weld in.

You should review the SCCA rulebook which is available on line, I wil try to post a link later aas I have to go out tonight.

At a minimum there should be a diagonal from the top corener above the drives head to the opposite bottom corner of the main hoop, and if possile the bars going back to the rear towers should aslo come from the top corners of the main hoop.

Alos check into the rules for harness mounting as they have to run at a particular angle from the seaet.

Sorry I cant be more helpfull right now, just wanted to add my thoughts before you buy a cage like the one in the photos

Timmmy

[timmmy]

heres a link to the SCCA GCR

http://www.scca.org/Club/index.asp?reference=gcr

hope it helps and that its not too late

Timmmy

[TTA89]

As MIke said, if its about safety then its worth talking about, as well as doig it right.

I have to say that is a 'horrible' cage design. it breaks almost every rule of good cage design.

I appreciate the comments, what your looking at is an IHRA/NHRA (Drag Racing) Approved Rollbar for an 11.49-10.00 car. If you have every been to a drag strip this is the typical design in 99% of the car there.

I am probably in the minority of people that Drag Race as well as enjoy doing HPDE Days and Auto X days too. I like a car thats well rounded and I'm trying to figure out a rollbar that will be legal in all the racing orgs that I race with.

Com doesn't really have a detailed requirement other than material (unless I missed it in the rulebook) Technically this should pass the rules which is what I'm interested in.

Q: what sort of car are you planning to use? If its a modern car like the mustang there are a plethora of SCCA approved cages out there, either bolt in or weld in.

I have 2003 Mustang Cobra, the same car you see in the pictures (not my car though). I have been through the SCCA rulebook and again its not very clear exactly what you need but looking at some of the pictures its looks like a jungle gym of bars that they require which is not what I'm interested in. I'm not a fan of the SCCA so I'm not concered if I pass there tech inspection rules.

At a minimum there should be a diagonal from the top corener above the drives head to the opposite bottom corner of the main hoop, and if possile the bars going back to the rear towers should aslo come from the top corners of the main hoop.

I do plan a diag bar as thats what I see a lot of OT people running. If you have ever looking inside Brian Stokus's Red Roush Mustang, thats the design I'm going to try and duplicate expect I'll be using the door bars. This is a 99.9% street car that I put 6-7K miles a year on driving on the street. Its not a racecar and I don't want a racecar or anything close to it.

I figure that in order to stop getting kicked off the dragstrip I need to meet the saftey requirements. I have Zero issue with that but as long as I have to do a rollbar I want to make sure I can still do OT days with Com and other clubs.

My car will fall under SPA classing because of certain things I have done so I just want to make sure I won't be turned away after driving 8 hours to an event or something. Not that it matters anyways, if I put things back on to de-class the car I'd still have a rollbar for drag racing so the class isn't an issue to me at all, I'm not looking to win just have some fun so I don't care what I'm racing against.

The rollbar might not be an optimal racecar setup but its not a racecar, there are lots of guys that don't even have a rollbar so its better than nothing.

Alos check into the rules for harness mounting as they have to run at a particular angle from the seaet.

I'll do that, thanks!

Sorry I cant be more helpfull right now, just wanted to add my thoughts before you buy a cage like the one in the photos

Its not something I'm going to buy, I'm planning to have it fabricated to my specs.

-Mike

[DanDarcy]

Hi Mike

I have a 1996 Cobra with a NHRA legal roll bar. First any roll bar is better than no roll bar, but here are some hints:
1) the cross bar behind the seat should be set high enough so that the shoulder straps come off level to your shoulders so in case of a crash they do not compress your back.
2) Under the seats weld in a frame connector 2"x3" front to back , connect the small diangle bars down to this connector. This gives you the benifit of frame connectors plus extra support for the roll bar. Your power seats will still work with this internal frame.
3) Make the side bars straight , when you bend them like the ones in your picture they are much weaker. I have my side bars on a pivot with pins. This is not as good as being welded solid, but I'm an old man and need the extra access.
I hope this helps some