Roll over bars

[Howard Jones]

An idea..........before anybody states the obvious, of course its not rated for motorsports. But these types of helmets would be better that nothing and just might be usable in a street car, when a full racecar helmet just isn't going to be worn.


Ski Helmet - uvex hlmt 5 radical - black | uvex sports

 

[Bill P]

See below for my version. I was very worried about proximity to my head of rollover bars within the cockpit.

I noticed at the "Goodwood GT40" race that quite a few cars had no rollover bars.

 

[Frank Catt]

OK, I started this so can I ask your response to this question. How many roll over accidents do you actually know of ? In 20 years I only know of one, but I do know of very many impact accidents where the car did not invert, many of those accidents involved head impact injuries to the internal structure of the car, primarily with so called safety bar structures. If this is the case, and if you were a betting man, where would you place the odds ? Remember also that with the design structure of the car, and particularly the doors, if a car with a roll cage were to invert, you would be just as unlikely to be able to escape from the cockpit because the doors would be forcibly held closed on the roll cage. I will not drive a 40 with an internal roll cage, I have witnessed to many crash damaged cars to know that I believe I am much safer without this "safety" structure close to my head. Frank

 

[Randy V]

......... Remember also that with the design structure of the car, and particularly the doors, if a car with a roll cage were to invert, you would be just as unlikely to be able to escape from the cockpit because the doors would be forcibly held closed on the roll cage.

Not really disputing anything you've said Frank and certainly agree that a bare cage itself is a menace to the occupant - however, I am curious about your statment above...
Are you saying that if the car inverted and stayed inverted that the door tops would be crushed down on top of the rollbar structure, thereby holding them fast?

I have been inverted but not on the street/highway.. I have a number of friends who have been inverted as well, but generally due to going off the road and down into a ditch. Frankly it's those ditch rollovers that scare the heck out of me. One pal was trapped in his car upside down and had to kick his way out the back glass.. Doors held fast by both sides of the narrow ditch..

I currently have a cage that I've built for my car. It is internal and will be well padded with SFI rated padding - however - I am well aware that such padding is really meant to only cushion the blow of a helmeted head and not one at is unprotected.. The cage in my car serves more function than rollover protection as the door latches are connected to the rear hoop and there are multuple mounting points for the spider to the cage to keep it located.
I've taken great pain to getting the front hoop right along side the A-Pillar of the spider. The central tie-tubes on the top are inside the center of the spider as viewed directly from the top.

I suppose I could alter all of that. Potentially downsizing the tubing from 1-1/2" to something maybe half the diameter and get some of the same mounting benefit and have room for even more padding.

Still - even without the roll cage, there are plenty of structural hazards inside of a GT40 that can do a lot of damage to its occupants.

 

[Bill P]

Frank

What are your thoughts on the rollover bar in my car above? Unnecessary?!

Bill

 

[Frank Catt]

Bill, I cannot see what is inside the cockpit, but I am impressed with the frame in the engine bay, apart from the ? joints on the rear frame bar. I have built a MSA approved system on a GTD with full protection built inside the rear bulkhead, so a similar idea but not compromising the space in the engine bay.

 

[Bill P]

Bill, I cannot see what is inside the cockpit, but I am impressed with the frame in the engine bay, apart from the ? joints on the rear frame bar. I have built a MSA approved system on a GTD with full protection built inside the rear bulkhead, so a similar idea but not compromising the space in the engine bay.

Thank you, Frank, for your praise. Nothing inside the cockpit as I don't wish to crack my head against mild steel.

Bill

 

[steve]

Gentlemen,

Great thread.
Re: the dilemma of side impact possibility and the threat of cranial/interior rollbar contact unhelmeted-
Has anyone thought through something akin to Pathfinder's design without the front overhead tubes.
i.e. a rear overhead loop in the engine bay, side instrusion bars from the rear loop to the A-pillar area, thence a horizontal bar linking the L/R A-pillars?
Essentially a cabin-exterior rollbar with cabin body protection below shoulder level.
Perhaps I'm missing the obvious?
Thank you,
Steve

 

[Pat]

Does anyone know the design of the rollover bar in the original MKII? The photo below clearly indicates the A Pillar downtubes.

 

[Bill Musarra]

Veek,
It looks like the cage is truely a box design, rather than the top bars running along the center line of the roof. It looks like the upper side bars are seen in the window area. May be a shadow??? The body position of the driver in the pic seems to indicate there is no bar there?? The A pillar bars appear quite far away from the A pillar itself. If they turn down in front of the dash to the floor or sill area, they may impede your ingress and egress somewhat unless that is an optical illusion from the angle of the pic. I will post tonight my cage where the bars are more out of the way so to speak.

Bill

 

[Keith]

Boy! That looks a struggle!:stunned:

Perhaps a removable bar drivers side could be the answer? Passenger side (for racing) could be solid as no passenger.

 

[Bill Musarra]

As promised here are some pics of my cage for consideration. My head at all times cannot reach any of the bars, nor are they near any body parts. You will notice that the rear bars will be behind the seats side edges

This support piece is done with a regular bolt and nyloc. The bolt head is ground down to ft into a slight recess under the leather so it doesn't show.

Bill