SFI 45.1 Roll Bar Padding

[Hjt]

Hey all,

I am interested in wrapping my roll bar to help pass for the club EC south circuit scrutineering, the SFI 45.1 Roll Bar Padding will become mandatory as of Jan 2013. Should I bother with it now as a precaution?

Thoughts?

[Suspense]

Hey all,

I am interested in wrapping my roll bar to help pass for the club EC south circuit scrutineering, the SFI 45.1 Roll Bar Padding will become mandatory as of Jan 2013. Should I bother with it now as a precaution?

Thoughts?

Just to clarify, it's not a requirement now (and for the October track day)? But any club days there next year will require padding?

[Dan]

Just to clarify, it's not a requirement now (and for the October track day)? But any club days there next year will require padding?

Correct, it's under Schedule J of the Cam's regs.

11. Protective Padding
11.1 Helmet and Head Protection:
(a) Where the helmet of an occupant could come into contact with the safety cage, protective padding shall be fitted in that area, which complies with:
(i) International competition and below, FIA standard 8857-2001, type A (see FIA Technical List No 23 “Roll
Cage Padding Homologated by the FIA”); or
(ii) For national competitions and lower, SFI specification 45.1.
(b) Implementation Dates
Padding of the type specified in 11.1(a) is required as follows:
• Any FIA category vehicle (eg, Group N, Super 2000) – refer FIA Appendix J, Article 253 – currently in place;
• National competitions–from1January2012;and
• All competitions – from 1 January 2013.
The use of the specified padding is highly recommended in the meantime.
11.2 Body Protection: Where the body of an occupant could come into contact with the safety cage, it is recommended that flame retardant padding be fitted. FIA standard 8857-2001 or SFI specification 45.1 padding is recommended.

Hey all,

I am interested in wrapping my roll bar to help pass for the club EC south circuit scrutineering, the SFI 45.1 Roll Bar Padding will become mandatory as of Jan 2013. Should I bother with it now as a precaution?

Thoughts?

I don't think it will help you pass scrutineering but it won't hurt you either, if you will compete under CAM's next year you might as well install padding, if you can't do it in time or don't want to install it yet don't install it since you don't need to.

I assume they're doing this for safety so I guess it's a precaution, not sure if it addresses a major risk you'd worry about for one event though.

[Suspense]

Is there any guidance on the interpretation for the phrase "the helmet of an occupant could come into contact with the safety cage"? The top of my seat sits level with the roll bar, so to hit the rollbar straight back I'd have to go through the seat - unlikely unless I become a ghost mid-lap or the seat evaporates. To the side of that, to hit the rollbar would mean coming out of the bucket seat, up and across to connect in between the seats. The likelihood of that, or even whether it's possible, is what I'd question.

My reluctance comes from the difficulty of fitting a padded rollbar underneath the roof of an MX5, whether softtop or hardtop (although the latter would have even less clearance). I'd hazard a guess that this would effect the vast majority of MX5s with rollbars who run with the roof up.

[Hjt]

I am interested in supersprints, but I'm unsure how I could make this padding clear my rollbar hmm fun times ahead

[Dan]

Is there any guidance on the interpretation for the phrase "the helmet of an occupant could come into contact with the safety cage"? The top of my seat sits level with the roll bar, so to hit the rollbar straight back I'd have to go through the seat - unlikely unless I become a ghost mid-lap or the seat evaporates. To the side of that, to hit the rollbar would mean coming out of the bucket seat, up and across to connect in between the seats. The likelihood of that, or even whether it's possible, is what I'd question.

My reluctance comes from the difficulty of fitting a padded rollbar underneath the roof of an MX5, whether softtop or hardtop (although the latter would have even less clearance). I'd hazard a guess that this would effect the vast majority of MX5s with rollbars who run with the roof up.

CAMS aren't worried about you becoming a ghost or the seat evaporating and I think the primary risk this reg protects against is cars with full cages.

The quote is fairly generic and should be obvious - Sit in the seat with a helmet on and your harness/seat belt attached, if you could reasonably hit that part of the roll bar in an accident (remembering you could have an accident where you plow the wall with your cars rear/passenger side) then padding is required.

[Suspense]

Thanks Dan.

I think for a lot of us that would mean padding wouldn't be required, but I see a few cars (eg the stock seats on NA) where the rollbar sits directly above the seats that could pose a problem.

[Hjt]

I have two fixed buckets..I intend on padding the inner bars that are in a v shape. The top I cannot contact.

[Dan]

Thanks Dan.

I think for a lot of us that would mean padding wouldn't be required, but I see a few cars (eg the stock seats on NA) where the rollbar sits directly above the seats that could pose a problem.

If your head could hit it I'm pretty sure it's not legal to drive on the road like that in NSW and dangerous regardless of it's legality so it should be done anyway.