When I first became involved in vintage racing, I saw there were two
basic requirements of the sport. We needed to be having fun and we needed
to do so safely. We were engaging in an inherently dangerous activity,
driving old cars fast. Pretty much all of the safety rules of various
race sanctioning bodies are there due to some ones severe injury or
death. Some basic safety equipment is clearly needed.
Today, we are often required to fit safety elements that are clearly post
period in design, though our cars are performing well above what they
were capable of in their day. That holds some justification for requiring
those safety upgrades. That said, the continuing requiring of the latest,
most advanced safety equipment is lulling drivers into a false sense of
invulnerability.
If you have two identical cars, give one to a driver and tell him "there
is nothing you can do in this car that can possibly allow you to be
injured". Give the other car to a driver and tell him "DO NOT have an
incident in this car, dropping a wheel at an apex could cause serious
injury or even death". Those cars will not be operated in similar
fashions.
Vintage sanctioning bodies are trying to make us feel invincible,
regardless of what it looks like.
We have come along way from the English gentleman in a white shirt and
tie with a leather helmet, motoring about in his XK-120.
Bill
70 GT-6+
On Sat, 23 Oct 2004 10:10:25 EDT BillDentin@aol.com writes:
> In a message dated 10/22/2004 5:12:00 PM Central Daylight Time,
> BillB@bnj.com
> writes:
>
>
> > I built some extensions to the frame that carried the main hoop
> out close
> > to
> > the edge of the car. It was still necessary to jog the bag
> inwards, but I
> > wound up with full width. IMHO, the biggest problem with SCCA
> cages is
> > they're ugly. The greatest thing about our cars is that they look
> so
> > cool--they don't look that great with a jungle gym on top of them
>
> >
>
> Amici:
>
> Do you all remember when editor, author, photographer, Art Eastman
> pulled our
> chain with an electronically doctored picture of a TR3 with NASCAR
> graphics
> and an unbelievable roll cage for his VINTAGE MOTORSPORT article on
> roll bars
> and roll cages in 'classic' vintage cars? At the time there was a
> thread
> running through the FOT as to whether the car existed and whose it
> was. Art
> finally came clean and said, "Yes it exists, but only in my mind."
> With all the
> cars Art Eastman knows and loves, he has a special place in his
> heart for the
> TRIUMPH TR3.
>
> Bill Dentinger
>
>
________________________________________________________________
Speed up your surfing with Juno SpeedBand.
Now includes pop-up blocker!
|