Norm
Interesting information - and a neat roll bar installation.
Two comments and one question -
- the needs of racing and "street" rollbars are slightly different. With a
proper racing
harness the driver is effectively immobile and can't even lower his helmeted
head to one side to
avoid a broken neck or crushed vertebrae in a rollover. With a normal street
3-point harness
there is at least some freedom for the head to moved to one side in same
situation. Therefore an
effective race rollbar needs to be 3-4" higher than an acceptable, "better than
nothing" street
bar. Even your excellent rollbar, teched by SVRA etc or not, doesn't really
provide this
protection.
- if you are so concerned about accident protection on the street - don't
drive any open car -
or even any "old" car.
- question - since you took such obvious pains to maximize the height of your
rollbar within
the confines of the soft top why did you not curved the top bar to follow the
curvature of the
soft top - thus gaining another inch or two in center height?
Sorry for these implied criticisms because you obviously took great pains to
achieve what you
did achieve.
Derek
N wrote:
> In the last few years of reading the various on-line digests to which I
> belong, the roll bar in street car question often arises. I have shared
> some of my photos and experience with the MG Digest. But, it is time to
> share with the rest.
>
> If you go to my website http://ecosys.homestead.com/EcoSysHome.html and then
> go to the MGB Page, you will see photos & information on the roll bar system
> in my MGB. This car, as many know, is my year-round daily driver and
> occasional vintage racer. The roll bar has passed tech for SVRA, HSR &
> VSCCA.
>
> For those of you not familiar with the various top frames on MGB's, the one
> on my B is what is known as a "Stow-away" frame. It is a folding two piece
> unit that fits into sockets at the door jambs. The three fingers of the top
> join in the center of the car via male & female ends on the bars. These
> tops were the standard top on MGB's from 1962 to 1968. The fold-away tops
> that were optional during that time, & standard in later years would not
> allow a roll bar as high as mine. However, some experimentation with wire
> shapes in each of your cars will let you find the maximum height that you
> can use. Then either buy a ready-made bar or have one custom fabricated to
> fit. The later is not cheap. The basic hoop & rear brace system in my car
> cost $700. Is that too high? Answer this question - What's your life
> worth? My answer is obvious.
>
> My strong belief in roll bars goes back to one Friday night years ago when
> my family & I were heading to Vermont for a weekend of skiing. On a back
> road near the NY-VT border we came upon an MGB that had flipped. The driver
> was pinned in a car that was upside down. We carefully rolled it onto its
> side & administered first aid to the unconscious driver. We left when the
> ambulance arrived. I don't know if the driver survived, or survived
> paralyzed. Since then I have always urged friends with open cars to install
> roll bars. I had a bolt-in one for my last MGB, the 1980. And, shortly
> after buying my current one, a 1966, had the system shown installed.
>
> Norm Sippel
|