Roll bar good to 10.0 seconds?

[thiazole]

I always thought a roll bar was only good to 11.0, but according to the NHRA website (http://www.nhraonline.com/contacts/tech_faq.html):
When do I need a roll bar or roll cage, and what should it look like?
A roll bar is required in any convertible running 13.49 seconds or quicker in the quarter mile, and in other cars beginning at 11.49. The roll bar is accepted in vehicles running as quick as 10.00 second e.t., provided the stock firewall and floorboard is intact, other than for installation of wheel tubs.

Is it just Bandimere that is more strict than the NHRA or can a person really get away with just a roll bar up to a 10 second 1/4 mile?

[Darkmood]

Depends on your trap speed. If you scroll down a little further on the NHRA link it says anything over 135mph regardless of e.t. and you need a full cage.

[dsm_gsx97]

Bandimere is the same or should be the same as the NHRA rule book. If a tech told me 11.0 I'd argue with him and demand another tech. They don't get to make new rules. Their job is to enforce the NHRA rules.

Roll bar is good till 10.0, but Darkmood is correct that once you hit 135mph a whole bunch of other safety things come into play. You'd be driving the crap out of that car to go 10s and not be close to 135mph anyways so I'd say if you never plan on hitting 10s a rollbar isn't a bad idea, but if you do I'd just do a cage.

[thiazole]

Yeah, I guess after looking at the Bandimere Racer FAQ, it pretty much says the same thing. Am I the only person who thought a roll bar was only good to 11.0? Was there a recent rule change? I was thinking that my next mod would be a roll cage, but with an auto, I probably would be pushing close to 9s before I trapped 135, and I have no aspirations for running 9s. I'm actually planning to turn by boost down to run a 12.0 and do more handicapped ET racing, like at the club clash and other events. I think at that power level (probably only need to trap 110-112 for a 12.0 with an auto), my car would last 2 years or more without breaking anything major. Where my car is at now, there is no way I could clip a 10 second run, but I think with some sticky tires and a T3 setup that I'd be right on the edge. I do plan to push the car every once in a while at the track if I've done something that I think will make it faster. I think in my case, based on this new revelation about the NHRA rules, a roll bar makes much more sense.

[thiazole]

So I didn't imagine it. Here is a blurb from 2004 saying that roll bars were needed at 11.99 and roll cages were needed at 10.99 (ie, a roll bar was only good to 11.0). I don't know when the rules changed, but obviously they have since a roll bar is now good to 10.0.

http://www.rmdsm.org/showthread.php?10801-Autopower-cages-at-bandimere&p=76052#post76052

[rodent]

Yeah it changed about 4-5 years ago. At the time I think owned a Typhoon and DSM and I was thinking sweet! I don't need one for my soon to be 11 swcond cars. Now I'm looking at going from an 8 point to 10 point in the Evo since I'm trapping 135+ mph. Not to mention all the other BS your car needs along with the NHRA license. :(

[thiazole]

I just ordered an unassembled chromoly 6pt roll bar from "Ken's Kustom Chassis" (http://www.kenskustomchassis.com/Kens_Kustom_Chassis.htm). They are having a pretty good sale right now, so if you are in the market, now might be a good time to execute. The cost was $290 which seems like a very good price for a chromoly roll bar (although shipping is always expensive for something this heavy). This is an NHRA legal unit, of course.

[Cloud]

The safety rules are getting not only excessive but prohibitive. I'm sure it's all for insurance purposes but whatever happened to letting people take responsibility into their own hands? Excessive safety rules just mean more people street race since they don't want to cut up the interior of their street car. I like the allowances for street cars to run without a cage if they are that fast from the factory but what about everyone else who can't afford a zr1? Rules with exceptions like that are really just descrimination :rolleyes:

I have only run the 1/4 mile twice in my life because it was so much more fun to go to local 1/8 mile tracks, wear a borrowed atv helmet, get 30 runs in before noon and then do it again next weekend :)

[thiazole]

Yeah, I would at least think that they could use a 3rd party standard like the crash test rating. All cars that score a certain crash rating could have the same standard for when a roll bar/cage is required. The reality is that my old Chevelle, as strong as the metal may have been on that car, was probably a death trap compared to my Talon. That thing handled like crap above 70mph and certainly wasn't built with any safety standards in mind, so to require an old car like that to have a roll cage is one thing, but our cars were designed to handle much better at higher speeds and actually did pretty well in crash tests. It is funny, because I have a lot of high school friends who I used to take for rides in my Chevelle and I've told them that my Talon is a lot faster, so they want a ride in it to rekindle that feeling. They always leave disappointed saying something along the lines of, "yeah, its fast, but it doesn't feel scary like the Chevelle - it doesn't feel like we could crash and die at any moment". My dad was kind of freaked out about how fast my car is (from 1/4 mile times) and really thought I shouldn't be driving it on the street until I took him for a ride, then he understood how much safer the car was than he had thought. The thought of how hard it would have been to drive my Chevelle (which on its best day only trapped 107mph) if it were trapping 120+ was a pretty scary thought, especially on the street, so he assumed that my Talon would be similar, but there is no comparison.

[Cloud]

I personally tested the rollover protection of the 1g talon and I will say that it didn't really need a cage for anything I have done, it's very stout. If I were doing multiple rolls from 140mph sure, everyone needs a cage then ;)

I am vaguely reminded of the tarantino movie 'Deathproof' and the rediculous cage in that nova the dude had.