RollCage question

[SpeedWise]

well i wanted to know what were the requirements for a rollcage to be legal in a car for it to compete at motorsports events (such as d1) , can it be welded by me or does it need someone who has a certificate in welding? and every possible info on the subject would be appreciated

Thanks , Jessie

[Ripper]

Each car must be equipped with a six-point or better roll cage. Full front A pillar beams are required as well as door impact protection beams. Roll cage must be welded or securely bolted and anchored. If roll cage is bolted then its must be securely reinforced with an anchor plate and backing plate sandwich on each side of the floor pan.Roll cage tubing must be at a minimum of 1.25 inches OD tubing and no thinner than 0.098 wall mild steel or 1 .25x .083 Chromoly tubing.

Also, each car must maintain the OEM uni-body structure, Pipe Frame Chasis (including pipe-frame extentions) are not allowed in any D1 Competition.

for more read here

[SpeedWise]

thank you very much Ripper this information is going to be very usefull.

[Ripper]

No problem.

[Reckless Hero]

when are the revised rules for Formula D coming out im tired of waiting, and i want my cage installed now, i dont want some one telling me in a few months time that my car isnt legal

[Wayne]

ehh just go all out man, better to be safe than sorry



ahah just like that , nah but just get yourself a nice 6 point, make sure you have bars running alongside the doors, and im not sure, but i think they want you to put it through the dash, gotta find that out, and you shoudl eb ok.

[NeveR]

Understand that if you decide to cage your car, you must buy a harness.

And understand that if you have a cage and a harness in your car, it should not be a daily driver.

[SpeedWise]

well there are quite a few 5.0 and civics around here with cages and harness which are driven on regular basis

[NeveR]

Legality as well as personal safety is a huge issue.

Please do some research before you decide to cage and harness your car.

DO NOT EVER drive a non-caged car with a harness, and DO NOT EVER drive a caged car without a harness.

To give a scenario:

1) You decide to install a harness on your non-caged car. You're either track driving or sunday driving and you get into an accident:

You flip the car, and you land on the roof (upside down). Due to your harness, you are physically inable to move your body in any other way than the harness allows (vertically upright). The roof caves in and places an unimaginable pressure on your skull. This will either: a) Compress your spine and leave you in a wheelchair for the rest of your life. b) Force your neck to tilt to its side on an extreme angle, resulting in death by cracking your neck. c) Force your skull down into your ribcage due to the force acting upon the top of your head, resulting in death.

2) You decide to cage your daily driver and get into a severe accident:

a) Whether wearing a harness or not, you manage to land upright or on the side, but unable to open your door due to damage or location. The Jaws of Life are brought in to open your door. They find a cage that they now must cut too, because there is no way in hell that they would remove you from the car by going up and over the cage (too much stress on the body, could result in a cracked spine/paralysis). This creates a problem as precious seconds are ticking by, time that you could be spending in a hospital to prevent and correct serious problems.

b) Due to your regular seatbelt, the force of impact allows your head to be thrown around, hitting every support bar of the cage. This is a bad thing.

[Brian]

people in Noth America worry way too much about what ifs and hypothetical situations.

how many of you have been in an accident where you flip and land on the roof and the roof crushed down to the point where it compromised your head? how many of you have a rollcage and daily drive it? how many of you get in accidents?

fact is, you can die any number of ways in an auto accident. fly out window, smash face, etc. you give the impression that wearing a harness or having a cage WILL result in death.
this simply isn't true. YES< it is a possibility, but NO it is not factual.

i know people who run daily drivers with full cages and have not had any of this happen to them. shoot, one guy i know has had a full cage in the last 3 cars he has owned and daily driven.

hey, maybe a harness would save your life. maybe it will prevent you from having your face smash into a steering wheel. maybe having a cage would prevent your roof from crushing into your skull.
fact is, you, nor i, simply don't know what would happen in any of these situations.


i felt that i should make this post because i have read so many cons against roll cages and harnesses, and they are always the same thing said.

[zdss14]

yeah a lot of that stuff could happen if you have a cage or harness, but what realy wigs me out, and is probly the most comomn mistake made with this stuff, is installing a harness wrong. even in a fairly minor fender bender, or hit from behind at a stop light, if your harness is mounted (or wrapped around your roll bar) lower than your neck and shoulders, you could easly compress your spine.

[NeveR]

I dunno about you guys, but I'd rather not make myself more prone to death.

Is that weird?


If it's a track car, by all means, cage and harness. But I'd stay away from driving it daily.



Of course there are what-ifs. But I'd much rather be alive saying what-if, as opposed to not saying anything, with my head in my ribcage.

[Reckless Hero]

i dont care if u think its safe or not i just wanna know what are the exact rules for FD next year, i wanna drive and have fun with my car. I dont want to hear your opinion about cages

[NeveR]

Suit yourself.

But you're not gonna have much fun if any of my what-ifs become reality.

[Whisky]

Originally posted by Brian
people in Noth America worry way too much about what ifs and hypothetical situations.

I'm with you there, man. People worry too damn much, which is precisely why we do not and will not ever have places to drift like they have in japan. If you tried to open a facility that just let people drift all day at a reasonable price, you would be out of business in a month because of insurance costs.

If you are afraid of hitting your head, put some pipe insulation foam padding on there. Driving a caged car on the street is not exactly giving you the same risk factor as riding a CBR 900 on the 405. You could be run over by a bus tomorrow anyway, why worry so much?

Seriously, its not the car thats gonna get you killed, its you. If you don't want to die in a horrible rollover, stay out of the canyons. That will reduce your risk by a FAR larger factor than a harness will.

Sorry to continue the hijacking Reckless Hero

[CrazyHawaiian]

I know guys without caged cars that run harnesses. I consider it safer than a regular seatbelt, especially the 3 inch ones. You just have to set it up right (with a support bar behind the seats). Here's the way I see it ... if the car flips and the roof caves in then you're screwed either way. Sure the stock style belts wont hold you tight in the seat as the roof crushes your face. Instead you're flying around on the inside getting mangled, maybe you even fly out the window. More likely though, the car wont flip. It can happen, and it has happened multiple times at our track, but its rare. Most accidents I've seen involve hitting stuff but staying upright. And in that case I would prefer a 3 inch harness, cage or no cage. I remember a particularly nasty incident while riding shotgun at a track event and the tires re-gripped unexpectedly while choku'ing by the guardrails, caused the car to shoot almost head-on into the guardrails at like 50 mph. The stock belt caught my collarbone wrong, kinda hurt. I always wondered if I would have broke if we were going faster. A 3 inch harness fits much better to your body and feels much better when stressed.

If you wanna talk cage safety you should mention putting padding anywhere where any limb can possibly reach, and make sure you are familiar with the harness release. I know guys that have daily drivers with cages, no problems. I would do it myself except for the fact that I'm really tall and its a major PITA to get in and out of cages cars, so not cool for my daily driver (which I do drift). But you better believe my track car is caged, harnessed, and padded. Hehehe.

[DriftEnthusiast]

Originally posted by zdss14
is installing a harness wrong. even in a fairly minor fender bender, or hit from behind at a stop light, if your harness is mounted (or wrapped around your roll bar) lower than your neck and shoulders, you could easly compress your spine.

Your only half right, yes people do mount it right behind there seat which would put alot of stress on you spine in an accident and is about the worst place to mount a harness, but if you get a harness thats meant ot wrap around a roll bar its about the safest you can get, as long as its wraped around a harness bar and not just some random part.