At my last track day there was an accident and now more safety equipment is being required. From what I know so far, my car will be evaluated in march as to what I need for open track days, which won't be so open anymore. The preliminary word is everyone will need at least a roll bar, and I don't think the SLK camel humps will do. They want at least a 4 point harness and the upper attachment points on the roll bar. Does anyone know of a roll bar for our cars? They talked about bolt in bars that use the seatbelt mounts on the sides of the car. If they say I need a roll cage that's the end of track days for me, but a roll bar I'm willing to do. If anyone has ideas or knows of some company or product, please let me know.

Les

 

I'm in the same boat as you. BIR doesn't have anything against verts that can only do 13s but I don't have a vert that will only do 13's.

 

My fingers are crossed that they do not start enforcing it at my track. I have only been to T&Ts so far. I have not even considered bracket racing or anything else just for this reason. It would be wonderful if we can find an affordable, non intrusive setup that will work for us.

 

My track is a road course and my car a coupe, not that it matters. If I can't find one and they tell me I can't run without one in march, I'll have one made .... or make it myself. Who knows, if it turns out good and inexpensive ...... well, that's putting the cart before the horse.

Les

 

There are several models available on E-Bay. If you type in SLK roll bars they should come up. These will fit a coupe. Let me know if you go this route as I have instructions and a template for cutting the bulkhead. That said I'm not sure these would be considered for track use. They do bolt up to the metal frame in the bulkhead. I would suggest you stick with the $149 bars. The ones I got which were a gift ($49) have to be cut for them to fit.
There are companies that make full cages, my son knows who they are and I will get back to you on that. He had one in his RSX. He's on fire duty this evening, when he gets off I'll ask where he got his. Not sure if they make one for the Crossfire.
Pat

 

I looked at the ebay roll bars and did a search here and found the reference to the template. I don't believe those will do me any good. But, I'll print out a picture and ask the track gods here if they're good enough. I would prefer to find a bolt in solution or "non permanent - non butcher" solution. I don't think I'll be racing the Crossfire competitively. I love it too much to destroy it.

Les

 

Perhaps this will help:

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ars-coupe.html

Note that the sport bars on the roadster are not true roll bars structurally.

 

I saw those, thanks. I'll print a picture and ask if they're acceptable. One of the reasons for the roll bar is to mount a 4 point harness to it. Sooooo ....
(I keep trying to upload a picture of the wreck that created the necessity of a roll bar)
Les

 

If they will except the roadster rollbars, then they should except the harness being bolted to the bulkhead just below the where the roll bars are. The bulkhead is part of the overall structure of the car. If not, a roll bar will have to fitted to come from the floor plate, and braced toward the rear of the car...again to a floor plate...if they go to a cage, then you will have a bar angled passed your door entry to a floor plate, a floor plate and bar up to surround windshield, then incorporate back into the roll bar...I looked at this when I was having trouble racing the vert...just isn't enough room to make it look good...good luck...

 

If your intent is to find a rollbar just good enough to pass tech inspection (and maybe not) then buy one of those from ebay. They look all cosmetic and not functional to me.

If you want a functional one, then contact Autopower Industries to see if they can fab you one. The only person I know that has a rollcage in their coupe has theirs fabricated by that company.

You at least have the roof to save your head on a rollover. I on the other hand will just have to duck or use my head as a rollbar. :-)

I race with the top down and so do people that I've raced with that has convertibles for safety reasons.

 

Worst comes to worse, you can buy a comp engineering roll bar kit and shorten it. They sell it them as a main hoop (that goes from the driver's side across to the passenger side) and a strut kit serperately.

 

What's the benefit of running top down as opposed to top up?

 

The metal frame/support surrounding the top (especially the one directly above our heads going across) can potentially break/snap on a rollover and impale/stab me. I don't have scientific proof for this nor would i be willing to test this out on my car to prove my point.

As far as racing itself, it gives me the side and rear visibility (roadster having the worst of it than the coupe) which i'm willing to sacrifice the car's performance driving it with top down.

my two cents...

 

Well I checked with my son and he tells me what he had wasn't a "rool bar" dad???!!!! Course thats what he called it when he put it in. Why don't you pm HDDP and ask him? He will know what works and what doesn't. As I recall the box my SLK bars came in said "not for competition use". So you may very well have to get a kit from someone and modify it to your needs or have something made.

 

I'm taking notes and preparing myself. I'll know exactly what I need to keep racing March 6th. Thanks for all the ideas.

Les

 

due to the rear bulkhead theres really no viable option for a full roll cage.

 

What did you come up with to satisfy need for roll bar?
I was just about to have the stainless steel roll bars installed in my SRT6 coupe then attach 5 point restraint system.
I hadn't seen this thread until tonight.
Dave

 

This thread has been here for twelve years now, but is still relevant I guess.

 

He sent me a PM. I wasn't sure what the question was as I'd forgotten this thread I initiated. To answer, a hoop or cage never became a requirement. I stopped researching hoops, cages, harness bars, etc. I really didn't want to butcher the car. If I'm ever able to road race in the future.......full cage, full custom fabricated suspension, gutted, trailered, the whole nine yards. (not going to happen) Perhaps ..... never mind, just dreaming out loud.

Les