McCARTHY

Has anyone had a roll cage fitted. im having one put in next month but am unsure as im told that you loose alot of the dash. Has got ant pics that i could have a look at, to see how they go in.

many thanks

Fat Boy

Hope it's a competition car as it's dangerous to have a roll cage in if you're not wearing a helmet and the cage is padded. Roll the car or have a crash in one and see what it does to an unprotected head waving around....

McCARTHY

it will be when its all finished

Jaybird-UK

Good advice which Im sure a lot of people dont consider. Saw a Saxo with a chromo cage the other day which was clearly meant for street use.

ScoobyK

I have a half cage, but with the right seats / harnesses, not a problem. If it's going to be a comp car, is the dash an issue ? most cages (all proper ones), will follow the pillar down through the dash, but shouldn't cause a problem

TheSquirrel

Std WRX/UK turbo seats stick your head pretty close to the forward upper bar
Banged my napper quite a few times
Fitted 2 Cobra buckets which dramatically increase the distance between head and bar
Proper bolt in cages curve round the dash,so you dont have to cut it I will take a pic of mine over the weekend to show you my cage and seats

Grant

CHRIS_D

I've got a 6 point welded roll cage in my track prepped XR2i. the dash was removed during fitting (as well as windows etc) and has been cut to allow replacement.

not a scoob i know, but i can provide pics if needed.

Guy that installed it is a rally car builder and has done a scoob or two in the past.

LMRnav2

not true about best wearing helmets with a roll cage....I've seen a couple of cars roll in road rallies (no helmets allowed, but roll cage padding is mandatory only if cage fitted).

Find the best welder you can find to weld the base plates to the floor. A lot of "motosport specialist prep companys" are crap, believe me. Make sure have oversized base plates fitted. Last thing you want it the cage to push through the floor when its on its roof.

Brit_in_Japan

LMRnav2, surely you agree that it would be safer to wear a helmet in a car with a cage than not to wear one?

The question is would it be safer to be in a car with no cage, or a car with a cage but no helmet? The human body deforms a surprising amount during an severe impact, the head can reach places you think impossible. If you have a cage fitted then it will protrude into the cabin space, so the risk of hitting it with your head will be greater than the risk of hitting some part of the shell with your head. I am assuming a like for like accident, the only difference being a cage.

Now if you have bucket seats which sit lower in the car, harnesses adjusted properly and proper FIA/BS spec foam padding, then I would agree with you. But just a cage and no other changes, you would be safer in a standard car for most accidents.

LMRnav2

I regularly navigate in an ae86 with cage and a load of padding. Standard seats, but I wear a harness, the driver doesn't. I feel just as safe in that as when I'm in with my other driver in a mazda 323 gti with bucket seats and harness and heavely padded cage.....in fact i can get the harnesses tighter in ae86 so feel slightly safer in that. No helmets as your not allowed them in closed cars on the roads (in dont think so anyway!).

Something I've been told also, if your gonna have a cage, put harnesses in aswell as standard 3 point belts are useless when you roll with a cage.

At then end of the day, if you put a cage in any car you would be pretty damn stupid not to put a load of proper padding on it's so cheap.

p.s. Depending on the driver, I would never get in a road rally car without a cage and harness, bucket seats I'm not too worried about.

biggi

iTrader: (3)

i have roll cage fited in my scooby give me your e-mail address and i will send you some pics and you only lose a bit of dash the heater output on both sides not much if you think about it

GravelCrew

a proper cage wont sacrifice much of the dash at all.

my actual concern is if a WRC spec cage built with chromoly is actually safer than stock? the Subaru community has seen 3 deaths recently in rally; Possum Bourne and Lovell/ Freeman. I have seen a stock honda civic get crushed like a soda can and the passengers lived, without a scratch... now these rally deaths didnt even look that bad, but in each case the cage prevented the car from crushing like it should. I feel that maybe these cages may not be as safe as we all think it is.

I would certainly like to see how a WRC spec caged car's passengers will hold up to a crash test with crash test dummies inside. Just a thought.

Little Miss WRX

Interesting point you make, but IIRC Possum Bourne was in a recce car not a full rally car when his unfortunate accident happened.
Although the accidents may not look bad, the actual forces of impact on the body may have been significant in the accidents which resulted in the loss of Lovell /Freeman.

I was involved in an accident whereby I rolled my parents' car of which the shell crumpled and looked like a replica of what Petter did to his WRC car (different car though).
Two major differences within the cars where the lack of roll cage and also lack of helmet/harness contributed to the car I was in crushing, but also the fact that I was not pinned in place meant that I survived.

I am sure rigorous testing has gone into researching the benefits and side effects of roll cages in the WRC cars and I am equally sure that they would not be used if there was any doubt that these would be more dangerous than not having one at all.