WHy do I need a roll bar or cage if I do a lot of track days? Why?
 

**** happens!!!!!!!!!!

I can't view this at work. Did you wreck your car Craig?

No ;-) Thankfully not!

It is from the 25 hrs of Thuderhill a few days ago...just a basic slide which rolled the race car.
In car video -

Wow that was quick and dirty...........didn't see it coming. Did you see the dirt and grass coming through that windsheild? Holy Moly batman.

S.

That's good to hear (read?). I can't wait to get home so I can see this.

Ouch, the dash coming apart during the roll was impressive. But what was really impressive was the drivers reaction, I am pretty sure I would of have been cursing a blue streak the whole way through. Not to mention the words I would of had after finally coming to rest.

Yeow.....:eek:

I've seen enough carnage at track days (probably 3-4 cars totalled in 15-20 or so events I've done) and vintage racing to have a roll bar and harness set up in my 911 for track days. I wear my HANS as well which is probably overkill but I have it for racing, might as well use it.

I wear a HANS also. A friend totaled his Z06 in a 155 mph roll over crash - with out the HANS he would have most certainly been dead or paralyzed.

Jerry, you've probably heard about this one -

You know that car finished the event? Wow. Good pit crew.

I saw the in-car footage of that one (yellow one at Pacific Raceways, right?) a few days ago.

Another track-junkie friend with a 930 recently decided to start road racing a fully caged 944 with a bunch of us. He decided it was not wise to drive the speeds his 930 is capable of without a cage.

There are other threads here discussing roll cages in street cars.
You are taking a risk doing so.
A cage has advantages and disadvantages for street and track. Read through the posts and decide for yourself if that is the way to go

Imho- on the track, you really need to go with a properly designed and installed cage AS long as you also have the rest of the safety equipment that works with it !
Sfi padding
Hans device (or similar)
proper belts that work with the device
race seat
SA 2000 or better helmet

fwiw- i had purchased a hans device and found it a real pain to get out of my 914-6 fast, but with a few adjustments, i can remove it quickly and leave the car. I won't race without it !

Another reason for a cage. One of our customers rolling at Mosport. The car in front dumped a bunch of oil, flambeed for a bit. Our guy slid in the oil, hit the turtles dug in and rolled...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1229033743.jpg

At a Proformance track day in October, one of the guys looked at me getting in the car, strapping in with my HANS and with kind of a smirk on his face, he says "wow, your serious aren't you"? I said, "yes, I am serious. It's not a frickin pick up basketball game". I did say it with a smile but jeez, if you're not somewhat serious out there what the hell are you doing? Especially at a deal like that with no novice drivers. I probably would not have bought a HANS unless I was racing, but I'm glad I have it and won't apologize to anyone for wearing it.

I don't have a full cage, in fact I have a TRE roll bar. Probably my only compromise right now is the Recaro SRD's in the car that are not fixed back seats. I have a set (out of a 911 vintage racer totalled a couple of years ago BTW) of OMP race seats I'll probably stick in it. I probably should have some padding on the roll bar I guess. I do drive the car on the street occasionally and may do more of that in the future.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/poll-1547-safer-have-roll-bar-not-cage-street-car-not.html
Experts are on both sides.

Interesting results. I have purchased a rollbar for a winter project. It is for a street car with a track day or two a year.

FWIW I love my cage because the seats are mounted directly to the sliders - very low.

Even with belt slackness movement and belt stretch, there is virtually no way to hit the noggin on the cage. I like that.

You missed the best part. They put it back together and finished the race! After that! Try that without a cage:
Pic A
Pic B
Pic C

>The Scion tC we reported on yesterday is up and running, although slightly worse for the wear after an off-course excursion at turn 8 during qualifying put the turbo'd coupe on its roof.

It finished 42nd. Nice camera mount.

Don't you think its a little misleading telling all these, "car slightly worse for wear, but finished the race" stories ? Sure, some people with well designed cages fared VERY well in their accidents. But by no means is it golden to infer that is all that may happen.
I know you guys don't mean to say that, but.......

My points, and most likely the others as well:
1) well designed cage with all the safety equipment is better than poorly designed one . or none
2) Even with the best cage and safety equipment in the world, you can get hurt and die

oh, and does anyone have that video that shows how far your neck stretches and moves around in an impact? Scary!

If you track your car seriously, you need a cage and HNS..... without question...

Funny thing about the sequence of pictures I posted.... when the scrut arrived to check out the car.... ( Walt who sometime posts here) He asked " Is this the car that just rolled?" we "Yeap" the way that car rolled it didn't even bend the radio antenna...

All we had to do was replace a turn signal lens or something.... and buff out some rash..

After a nut and bolt that car was out on track the net day... Safety equipment is cheap insurance..