New Roll cage Questions

[Knestis]

Not saying that this is inaccurate but somewhat interesting as Gulick and I noticed that in the new BMW AMLS car they showcased, the belt mounting point was waaaaay back. If I recall correctly, in the trunk or thereabouts.

Mount per your belt manufacturer's directions. Some use polypropylene, others nylon. They have different stretch characteristics.

K

[Gibson]

Only one tube can connect directly to the firewall, but you could still run a triangulated brace that connects to that tube right at the firewall. That would give you much better foot protection and still adhere to the letter of the law.

[CRallo]

Only one tube can connect directly to the firewall, but you could still run a triangulated brace that connects to that tube right at the firewall. That would give you much better foot protection and still adhere to the letter of the law.

I'm about to go read this all for myself, but it seems that some would disagree... :/

[ddewhurst]

***Only one tube can connect directly to the firewall, but you could still run a triangulated brace that connects to that tube right at the firewall. That would give you much better foot protection and still adhere to the letter of the law.***

+ 1 on this as ^ stated.

Connect a second or third tube to the ONE tube that attaches to the firewall & all is legal.

Connect a second or third tube to the firewall or firewall mounting plate & your illegal.

[seckerich]

The usual silly SCCA cage rule BS but David is correct. Not going to turn your question into a rule thread. It has been protested in the past with extra tubes to the firewall point and it stood. ARRC 2002 if I remember correctly. Make the cage safe and go race.

The tube could be a loop with the bent part forward and be one tube. Cage rules have more gray areas than you ever want to see me exploit.

[Toplevel]

Only one tube can connect directly to the firewall, but you could still run a triangulated brace that connects to that tube right at the firewall. That would give you much better foot protection and still adhere to the letter of the law.

Thats exactly what i will be doing in that area.

[Speed Raycer]

IIRC, the "may extend one tube" rule wasn't a problem until they actually added wording 2 (?) years ago. If you look right above it at the AS rules, I think thats where it comes from. AS must have one tube (on each side IIRC) extending to the firewall from the cage. Looks like they pulled out the "ust" and replaced it with "ay". Good enough for the regional guys

Personally, it's a BS rule. Possibly one of the more important areas of protection and now we're compromising the design. There's very rarely a competitive advantage to it because of all of the crap you have to work around on the drivers side (fuse boxes, wiring and oh yeah, that clutch and brake pedal sytem) keeps you from getting to any frame or really structural stuff thats also attached to the firewall.

Yes, the work around is attaching triangulation bars to the One tube instead of to the firewall pad.

To the OP, I'd suggest taking a long hard look at what you have invested. This may be where custom is the way to go. There are several builders up in the NJ area. Havaspeed.com comes to mind, but I can't recall if he's in Jersey or not.

[europeanspec]

Longer belts that stretch more would lengthen the time of negative acceleration and lessen the force on the body. They could save your life in an inelastic collision such as straight into a wall. It depends on your cockpit setup and geometry on whether longer or shorter belts would be better.

[lateapex911]

When I had my car teched for it's logbook, I had the belts mounted about 18" back from the seat, per the belt makers directions for angle, etc, and the tech refused to sign off. They had to be ripped out and a new bar welded into the cage right behind the seat for the belts exclusively. fun fun fun.

Triangulate that cage my friend! And those angled door pars give me a 'parallelogram' feeling, and thats not wonderful. Perhaps some vertical connectors or a tube running through them forming an X?.

[lateapex911]

Some ideas, easy to do.

[Gibson]

Triangulate that cage my friend! And those angled door pars give me a 'parallelogram' feeling, and thats not wonderful. Perhaps some vertical connectors or a tube running through them forming an X?.

That is what I was thinking up by the feet. Gussets are invaluable also, strengthen a cage by an amazing amount.

[Toplevel]

Resurecting older thread....

Any cage builder in or near NJ/PA?
I'm going to keep the back half and want from the main hoop forward done.