I was wondering what the take is on driving a caged car on the street without a helmet.

We had an 8pt. installed in a Challenger a while back, planning on a fast street car.

Are there any do's and don'ts for bar placement or seats used etc.?

I have not considered this a concern untill recently hearing that the cage could possibly cause injury or death when not using a helmet and five point.

Thanks,
-Scott.

 

The halo is suppose to be above your helmet with you in the seat according to NHRA.Airbag is not required either. I read some of the other post and most was BS.
If ya race it on the street ya need to have the same safety equipment ON as at the track. People get killed at both places with or without the roll bar.Me I want the extra steel over my head.
Personally I would want a 10 point built to cert NHRA 25/1 with ALL of the 25/1 safety equipment (worn while racing)and a fire extinguisher on board. Seen two cars burn slam to the ground for not having one. Both had tranny oil cooler lines bust. One was at the track. Flip a Camaro and SEE how much tin is over your head especially with "T" TOPS.

 

I agree that if you run the time you should comply with the NHRA safety rules.

I have also seen information about having a roll cage or roll bar driving on the street. The NHRA rules state the roll bar or cage must be padded around your head. This is a good idea for racing or street driving. I can see how someone could be injured if involved in an accident on the street with your head bouncing around, especaly if you don't have a helmet.

 

The issue is your head vs. the halo. This can be ameliorated using the proper high density pading. That doesn't address what a PITA getting in and out of the car can be with a cage. But swingouts really help in that department.

Rich

 

What's the difference if your head hits the bar the top,the side glass, or the pavement It's gona leave a mark and as far as padding-- does the roof have padding now. If ya ain't strapped in its gonna hurt. If ya flip without a roll bar it's gonna hurt worse.

 

I had to dictionary.com that one, and my vocab is above par IMO, lol.

 

Did I spell it right?

Rich

 

Yes

 

As per the rulebook, only the bars around your head need to be padded. You need proper roll bar padding not just water pipe type padding. It all has to do with how much it compresses. I use this stuff in my car

http://store.summitracing.com/defaul...6&autoview=sku

It's not as bulky as the normal padding.

As long as you're wearing your seat belt on the street, you shouldn't be hitting any bars in a crash except maybe the halo bar beside your head. If you're not wearing a seat belt then having a roll cage on the street still won't help you neither will any padding.

If the government wants to reduce head injuries in traffic accidents, they should make helmet use manditory like on motorcycles. I hate wearing my helmet on my bike. If I'm going fast enough in a crash where I need a helmet, it's not going to help much anyway and may cause more serious neck injuries. I've already been in one bike accident without a helmet. I hit a mountain at about 60 mph. Lots of road rash but no injuries. Totalled the bike.

Ever try wearing a HANS device while racing?

 

I think you should wear a helmet.

 

A motorcycle helmet isn't designed to keep you alive. Every new helmet has a warning label inside it. The manufacturer states that the helmet will not protect you from any head or neck injuries over 15 mph. Trust me, having my neck support an extra 5 pounds in a highway speed motorcycle accident isn't helping and the cops don't like the beenie caps.

 

I have seen more incidents than I care to admit where the rider would surely have been dead without a helmet. Here's one of the worst:
I watched my buddy roll(bounce) down the e-way at about 155 after loosing his GSX-R while avoiding another bike. He looked like a rag doll bouncing head over heels past trafic that was doing 70ish in the slow lanes. At one point I thought he was going to bounce over the center retaining wall. It looked like a scene from a movie. He rolled, bounced, and slid for what seemed like a 1/4 mile.
The forehead area of his helmet had about 3/4" ground off and ALL of the impact absorbing foam inside was compressed.
He would have walked away with nothing but alot of bumps and bruises had he not broken his ankle. (had on sneakers instead of good roadrace boots)
Do You want to try THAT without a helmet?
How about racing motoGP without a helmet?
Good Leathers and a top of the line helmet is the ONLY way to fly.
You'll be another veggie collecting social security that the rest of us have to support 'cause you either think you're too cool or too tough to need a helmet.

Back to the Post:
I'm considering a 6 point in a street car. Friend's little brother will never be the same after rolling a t-top f-body. My car is a hardtop.
Question is to the guys that have thier cars done:
Is it a PITA getting in and out? (swing-outs?...PITA?)
Is the back seat useless if I want to take my kids for a criuse night somewhere?
Have any of you guys seen a bad enough wreck in a street car to justify it safteywise? Or just good to stiffen up the chassis.

 

seen many crash test videos? even with a seat belt on your body moves around quite alot during a crash.

as stated in the other post, roll cages in race cars are part of a safty system... (roll cage,helmet, harness)
if you dont use part of the system then it makes things more dangerous. it is not being used as it was designed.

in a crash you move around ALOT even with a seat belt. do you want steel bars all around your head???
padding will help slightly but it is still way more dangerous than not having a cage in the first place.

if you think about it, it is basicly common sence. most people just assume it is good for saftey because its in race cars... they dont realize there is a safty system and that leaving out parts of it can make things more dangerous than not having any of the parts of it.

brook

it is true that it can help in rollovers and help the overall structure of the car.....but that is not the issue we are talking about here. as rich said its you impacting the bars. you are helping the structure of the car but causing other safty issues.

 

Straight door bars are kind of hard to get into. The low slung ones really "push" the NHRA rules, but make it a little easier to get in and out. Swing outs are nice because you can just pull the bars when not racing. I would never want to use a swing out 100% of the time.

I would never put an adult or a child in the back seat of a car with a cage. The bars and the main hoop are across their lap and right by forehead. Not to mention the rear mounting points come down across them also. A person in crash would be iffy, what happens if you have a fire or something?

 

Soooo....I put my S&W 8-point cage in, then I slithered into the back where the rear seat would be. It took me no time at all to realize that I had just made my car a 2 seater. There wasn't a lot of room back there before, there was much less now, but best of all, I had just installed a bunch of hard metal tubing for someone that I love, (my kids) to impact in an accident. I can say that it is very difficult to get in and out of the front seats crawling over the door bar, unless the T-tops are out. Swing out door bars help, but I would never advise "pulling them" and then riding in the car without them, because what remains are two sharp bar ends jutting out that would do far more damage to you, even in a low speed accident. If you do install a rollcage, it opens up a whole can of worms, as you are now discovering. Once I realized that I would not be installing my rear seat, plus the fact that I had been considering 5-point harnesses, it then became attractive to consider installing aftermarket seats also. A quality aftermarket seat has all the enclosed guides for the harness, plus a fixed back is much safer than a folding seat. Most aftermarket seats have very high backs, headrests, and shoulder "wings" to help keep you in place, and to isolate you from the hoop structure of the rollcage. just my two cents...thanks for listenin'
-Michael