Michael Torrusio wrote:
>
> Does this mean that the of-the-shelf roll bars won't do a good job
> if we roll over during standard driving? (Assuming there is such a
> thing as a standard rollover. And, if one gets a custom made roll
> bar,what's your protection if you bring it down to half size as you
> mentioned you would do for regular driving. And, lastly, there
> seems to be a bit of talk in this group about racing. How do I find
> out about it? I'm in Portland ME. And someone mentioned pylon
> racing. Any info about this?
Michael,
I guess I should have put my Nomex suit on before I shot off that last
statement - watch out for the flames. Firstly, I mentioned that the
'regulation' rollbar must be 50mm above the driver's head. In old
language that is about 2 inches.
When you are wearing a helmet and are wearing a tight harness it is
quite amazing how high the top of your head is. Maybe if I installed a
padding-less racing seat I may sit a lot lower and save myself that
pain, but then again... do I want to make "street driving" even MORE
uncomfortable than I have already done so with such stiff suspension.
I would suggest that the 'off-the-shelf" rollbars would probably be OK
under normal circumstances, where the top of your head is lower (without
a helmet) and if you aren't rigidly strapped to your seat - giving your
body a bit of flexibility if the ground pushes on your head at all. But
I have heard of nasty incidents.
There will be far more experienced (and local to you) people on this
list who can talk to you about racing your MG. We dodge pylons in
Australia... we don't race them :-)
Eric
'68MGB MkII
PS You may have misunderstood me when you ask "what's your protection if
you bring it (the rollbar) down to half size as you mentioned you would
do for regular driving" - I would actually REMOVE it to put the top up
for normal driving.
> >
> > Yep, it is a racing thing. The main reason is because I want the
> > top of my head to stay where it is and because I race my car and
> > our rules state that the rollbar needs to be more than 50mm above
> > the driver's head (to stop you losing the top of your head or
> > breaking your neck if you turn turtle).
> >
> > Most 'off the shelf' rollbars don't conform to this - especially
> > if you are wearing a helmet.
> >
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