Roll Cage question...

This season I am looking for my car to go 9.80s. I was wondering what type of roll cage I am going to have to have. At the moment I have a good chrome moly 6-point. My car is stock bodied, stock suspension, etc...with no modifications to the structure.

How much of a cage do I have to have to go this fast?

Thanks,
Wes

Originally posted by juicey
This season I am looking for my car to go 9.80s. I was wondering what type of roll cage I am going to have to have. At the moment I have a good chrome moly 6-point. My car is stock bodied, stock suspension, etc...with no modifications to the structure.

How much of a cage do I have to have to go this fast?

Thanks,
Wes

To be legal in the nines, you need a lot of stuff. Full 12-point roll cage, tranny shield, approved bell housing for manual or flexplate shield for an auto, driveshaft loop, fire jacket, etc. There's more, so you really should get the rule book for the sanctioning body of the track where you run and/or talk to the chief tech inspector. Many tracks are pretty lax with street type cars until they start running in the nines. There is a big change in the rules, and they tend to enforce them more.

Also, make sure the guy building the cage is familiar with the rules he's building it to.

Rich Krause

You are going to need the front section of the cage added on to make it a 8 point roll cage. (being the halo section as well as the front bars which should be in front of your feet as far as possible. Now i added on some bars going through the dash into the engine bay but this is not manditory.

Steven

I've been looking in my rule books, but I'm having a hard time finding the stuff that deals with street-style cars.

I have a bolt-in 6 point right now...:D



Later,
Wes

A car going faster than 10.00 and slower than 8.50 needs:

1. Main hoop (2 points)
2. Two bars from main hoop extending back to rear bulkhead (2 points)
3. Two diagonal braces from main hoop (2 points)
4. Two door (side) bars (2 points)
5. Two vertical bars from the "halo" to the sill (2 points)

This would be a "10 point" bar. The confusion over 8 or 10 points may be that the diagonal braces (#3) are mandatory when the main hoop is welded to plates on a stock unibody type car but optional on a full frame car. The 12-point includes an X-brace on the side instead of just a single door bar.

Most cars also have two horizontal bars connecting the vertical bars (#5) forward to the shock towers. In additon, many chassis builders recommend a horizontal bar running under the dash connection the vertical bars (#5). These last add chassis stiffness but are not mandatory.

AFAIK the bar you have will not pass a real tech on a car running faster than 10.00 because it's a bolt-in. Then again, many tracks don't look real close. But they very well might when you start running in the nines. A nine second 4th gen will probably be approaching 140 in the traps. I wouldn't trust a bolt in bar in a car that fast.

Rich Krause

I agree with all that.

Any car running quicker than 10.0 requires a bunch of safety equipment even if it's a "street" car. There's no distinction between street and race when running quicker than 10.0

All the safety equipment normally required to run 10's and 11's, helmet, jacket, harness, driveshaft loop etc.

Plus:
Full cage. Your 6 point bar can still be bolted in if it's done as per the rulebook. A 6" x 6" x 1/8" steel plate on the top and bottom of the floor. This sandwiches the floor pan between the plates. It must be bolted with a minimum of four 3/8" bolts. The 6 point bar will need to be upgraded to at least an 8 point cage with the a-piller bars and halo. More points are good but not required.

Aftermarket axles are required and some form of axle retention device.
SFI flexplate/flywheel
SFI balancer
SFI clutch - if using manual transmission
SFI flexplate/flywheel shield
Automatic transmission also require SFI tranny shield
Full fire suit. Jacket and pants meeting SFI 3.2A/5 (double layer) and gloves SFI 3.2A/1 (single layer).
Neck collar
Competition license
Chassis certification - Usually no problem with a stock vehicle.
Window net
Tubeless tires must have metal screw-in valve stems.

Running into the 9's gets very expensive because of all the extra safety equipment required. If you've invested enough money into the car to go that fast then spending more for all the required safety equipment is pocket change.

Art morrison cage section... (http://www.artmorrison.com/F_RollBarCage.htm)
This is where i came up with 8 point. They do say that there "10" point is some peoples "12" though but the 8 is not the 12 as no front bars.

best thing is to get a rules book and start reading, In the one I got in front of me it is chapters 17-20 and it is the general rules that goes over everything in detail.

Steven

want to sell me your role cage...email me at stik6shift00@team.camaroz28.com

Originally posted by zturbo
Art morrison cage section... (http://www.artmorrison.com/F_RollBarCage.htm)
This is where i came up with 8 point. They do say that there "10" point is some peoples "12" though but the 8 is not the 12 as no front bars.

best thing is to get a rules book and start reading, In the one I got in front of me it is chapters 17-20 and it is the general rules that goes over everything in detail.

Steven

The terminology is confusing. This picture http://www.artmorrison.com/F_RollBarCage.htm#10-Point%20Roll%20Cage%20Kit is a good one. Without the front bars I see where the term "8-point" would be appropriate. The front bars aren't called for in the rules, but I think add a lot of chassis stiffness. To fit really well, a cage needs to be "customized" as the dimensions of eavery car aren't exactly the same. This is not the kind of thing 99.9% of us can do ourselves. It's really one of the most expensive mods to make a street car raceworthy.

In terms of a cage in a street/strip car, one thing to keep in mind is that swingout side bars are allowed.

Rich Krause