Rollcages & Other Tarmac Rally Questions

MrsB · Postby **MrsB** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 7:38 am

daffyflyer wrote:The missus even wants to Nav for me

I only shared my story in the hope that someone might benefit from my mistake. I fractured my spine and have 30% compression in 4 of my vertebrae I'm a bit shorter than I used to be :lol:

. When we started our new build we looked at the things that failed (like the cage bending). We also discovered I suffered this injury because most race seats (whole new topic) are designed for men and the holes were cut to high allowing me to move when we rolled. I'd dríven in that seat for years and never even thought about it! Learnt the hard way!

Chris

daffyflyer · Postby **daffyflyer** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:38 am

MrsB wrote:
daffyflyer wrote:The missus even wants to Nav for me

I only shared my story in the hope that someone might benefit from my mistake. I fractured my spine and have 30% compression in 4 of my vertebrae I'm a bit shorter than I used to be . When we started our new build we looked at the things that failed (like the cage bending). We also discovered I suffered this injury because most race seats (whole new topic) are designed for men and the holes were cut to high allowing me to move when we rolled. I'd dríven in that seat for years and never even thought about it! Learnt the hard way!

Chris

I appreciate it, really makes me think hard about making the car safe!

I really don't want to skimp on the cage after hearing that

On the whole new topic, is there a solution to that seat issue? cause I want to make sure my missus is safe too, (and im as short as the avarage woman..

)

Jeo · Postby **Jeo** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 9:49 am

Buy the cage Andrew. It's cheap...

daffyflyer · Postby **daffyflyer** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:29 am

Id like to Joe, but all my money this month is tied up with Carco

Also im not 100% it would be CAMS legal... course if you want to buy it for me :mrgreen:

daffyflyer · Postby **daffyflyer** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:31 am

Hope you recovered ok too MrsB, that sounds very nasty :shock:

Jeo · Postby **Jeo** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:43 pm

I do want a roll bar, but I think the full cage is a little too much. That and I got abused by my girlfriend and house mate when I suggested it...

Cal · Postby **Cal** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:57 pm

MrsB wrote:
Cal wrote:
TCR wrote:I know there are guys running half cages, but I've always had a full cage and wouldn't feel real comfortable racing in anything that didn't. It may cost a bit more and add some weight to the car but how much is your life worth?

Soft...the silver turbo has a Brown Davis 1/2 cage and no side intrusion bars.

I doubt I'd be here today posting photos of my crashed car if I had'nt had a decent full cage in a tarmac rally. It bent in that crash but it did its job once and saved my life. Unlike on the track where it's relatively safe and predictable there are trees, power poles, culverts, embankments and the list goes on. You dont plan to crash but if you do you want to be covered. I never ever thought this could happen to us. Buy the best cage + any other safety gear you can afford because as per above your life is worth it.

The biggest concern on the circuit is having an off and being stationary and having a car T-bone you. Like this at the V8's in 2007. I am in car 44 and as you can see, it doesn't get much closer than that. I swear I had a small poo in my pants that day for big Rus in the black car. We were staring right at each other. When we came out the other side I had an orange stripe. I didn't even realise at the time CT (92) had hit me as I swerved. I was going to dive right, but at the last second I decided to go left instead. That is turn 1 at QR, a 140km/h corner.

MrsB · Postby **MrsB** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 4:16 pm

daffyflyer wrote:
MrsB wrote:
daffyflyer wrote:The missus even wants to Nav for me

I only shared my story in the hope that someone might benefit from my mistake. I fractured my spine and have 30% compression in 4 of my vertebrae I'm a bit shorter than I used to be . When we started our new build we looked at the things that failed (like the cage bending). We also discovered I suffered this injury because most race seats (whole new topic) are designed for men and the holes were cut to high allowing me to move when we rolled. I'd dríven in that seat for years and never even thought about it! Learnt the hard way!
Chris

I appreciate it, really makes me think hard about making the car safe!

I really don't want to skimp on the cage after hearing that

On the whole new topic, is there a solution to that seat issue? cause I want to make sure my missus is safe too, (and im as short as the avarage woman.. )

I have a new Cobra seat which Revolution ordered from the UK. They already come in standard widths and I was meausured and the holes cut at the correct height. They also do this for Jason Bargwanna.

Dont let me put you off it really is great fun.
I have pretty much recovered now & have cautiously started driving on the track again. Thanks for asking Cheers Chris

daffyflyer · Postby **daffyflyer** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 4:42 pm

Ok, thanks all

Another little question - every tarmac rally i have ever seen says

"Mechanical treatments are allowed to be made to the crankshaft and connecting rods"

It looks to me as if this would exclude me from ever using my motor in a tarmac rally as it has forged rods in, they aren't a performance part in any way, but are simply intended to stop my motor hand grenading itself.

The only way around this would be to put in stock rods yes?

Edit: Or would i just try to run it as is, considering its not like they are going to take the motor apart and go "your rods are too strong, thats worth 30secs a stage"

MrsB · Postby **MrsB** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:53 pm

I think that depends which class you run in.

This might be of interest to you

Australian Tarmac Championship announced.doc

also check out the Targa Rookie Rally

Ted · Postby **Ted** » Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:41 am

I ran my MX5 in tarmac rallies for a few years, and it did suffer a couple of big hits. It only had a half cage which was the min requirement at the time, and I would never get in a car without a full cage again as long as trees are involved. Biggest problem with the MX5 and a good full cage is the size of the door opening, and mounting seats. You may need to pull out a lot of door trim (like the arm rests) to buy you a bit more space, and consider how you get in behind the wheel. I have seen one recently with a removable steering wheel to help in that regard. On the Charade rally car that I had after, we had as big an opening as we could get for the driver while still having double crossover bars everywhere. Pay some attention to the overhead work too. Both offs that my MX5 suffered including rolling. At least I didn't land on my lid, but the next owner did. Both of us and navs walked out unscathed though. In my case, we left the road at 122km/h and stopped within 2 secs after one roll and a half twist, after touching the white line in the wet and oily Tassie north east. We were doing 180+km/h about 5 secs before that!

Engine - you can work on the principle that an MX5 is going to be so slow (esp a 94 model as you will run in Modern classes only) that its not going to feature too strongly in the overall results that the engine will not have to endure a tear down. So unless someone foots the dollars to protest against you (easier with AASA than CAMS), you are fairly safe. Get to the pointy end and things may be different.