roll cages....

The answer to this seems obvious, but might as well ask it anyhow:

I would assume that a Rally America spec cage would pass standards for pretty much any kind of road-racing or track events, yes?

Some orgs get funny about a tube terminating on another tube instead of a plate even though there is very little reason for the funniness. BMW is one such organization.

So... I had to get special approval for this because the main hoop supports terminate on the crossbar instead of directly on the plates on the shock towers. Bottom line... it's probably fine but don't spend any money on assumptions.

Some series (chumpcar) will penalize you if you have to much cage and it is acting as a chassis stiffener

In reply to icaneat50eggs:

Yeah, that too... some classes dictate the number of points where the cage meets the chassis so having a rally cage can limit the places you can compete. Especially the stock and prepared stuff. An FIA rally cage would get dinged to mod classes because it ties in the front and rear suspension together.

icaneat50eggs wrote: Some series (chumpcar) will penalize you if you have to much cage and it is acting as a chassis stiffener

Then they'll see I have a 4-cylinder e30 and feel sorry for me ;)

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: In reply to icaneat50eggs: Yeah, that too... some classes dictate the number of points where the cage meets the chassis so having a rally cage can limit the places you can compete. Especially the stock and prepared stuff. An FIA rally cage would get dinged to mod classes because it ties in the front and rear suspension together.

Yeah, not really concerned about getting dinged classes. This is an M42 car on a soft-ish suspension, so it's not gonna set the world on fire on the track anyhow. The car is being built for stage rally, which requires the extra stuff. But I want to be able to "use" it for other things - so as long as the cage would be "legal" I'm not at all concerned about whether I would get docked laps or classes or whatever. Would just be doing the track stuff for fun, not to win.

Chumpcar and Lemons and such have some pretty specific rules about door bars. If there's one thing to check, it's probably that. However, I would bet that even if there's some geometry that's not perfectly within spec, they'll pass it if it's a reasonable alternative and FIA legal.

Being that it's an E30, the best bet would probably be to get an FIA homologated cage kit. The work has been done and it makes it far easier to plead your case. Something like this: E30 Cage

Keep in mind that if you get an FIA homologated cage, you cannot change a single thing from the way it is supplied or how it is installed, or the homologation goes out the window.

Most rally cages are WAY more than is required in other types of racing, so you should be okay.

An FIA cage, and an SCCA Improved Touring cage are kinda mutually exclusive due to conflicting door bar requirements. I doubt you'd ever run into an SCCA inspector who would send you home due to it, though, unless you intended to run the series for championship points. The FIA cage is a bit of a pain in the ass in a car with a low roofline, too, since the Frenchmen seem to want the roof to be able to support the weight of a D9 Cat.

This is my opinion, based on trying to merge the two rulesets myself.

Irish, will you be building the cage yourself or are you having someone local build it?

Paul

Donebrokeit wrote: Irish, will you be building the cage yourself or are you having someone local build it? Paul

Probably will have Ozgur Simsek build it. He's built several RA cages for his cars, and is almost done doing an e30 RA cage right now (for Alp Seyhan, who has rallycrossed with us before), and the pics I've seen make me smile....he builds it nice and tight to the body. I'm crewing for him at WM Winter Rally later this month and will discuss further with him.

And hell no I'm not building it. You clearly haven't seen my welding, lol.

Alternately, I would have Roll Cage Components down in HR build it. They did our Chumpcar and did it so we could add 3 bars to make it RA compliant. It's a nice cage and their price is good.

Locally there is Mitch Piper (Piper Motorsports), but they are way out of my budget. Every time I've been there the bay is full of Porsches getting caged, lol.

Donebrokeit wrote: Irish, will you be building the cage yourself or are you having someone local build it? Paul

btw, are you Paul Berdych? If so, I don't know if I ever made the username connection to the real you at events, lol. Doing anything to the Daytona for next season?

Streetwiseguy wrote: An FIA cage, and an SCCA Improved Touring cage are kinda mutually exclusive due to conflicting door bar requirements. I doubt you'd ever run into an SCCA inspector who would send you home due to it, though, unless you intended to run the series for championship points. The FIA cage is a bit of a pain in the ass in a car with a low roofline, too, since the Frenchmen seem to want the roof to be able to support the weight of a D9 Cat. This is my opinion, based on trying to merge the two rulesets myself.

Yeah, probably won't do an FIA cage off the shelf. Looks like RA and NASA Rally have a number of options for door bar designs - will have to cross-check with SCCA and see what works when the time comes.

Also waiting to see what the new USRA cage specs look like now that RA is basically no more. I would assume they will be similar to RA/NASA though.

One and the same. The Daytona may or man not see action this season due to limited part's and rust, I am "trying" to work out the bug's for my next car but we are having "issues" with fluid control and CEL.

Few pics of last year's first event, man what a ride.

Paul

btw, are you Paul Berdych? If so, I don't know if I ever made the username connection to the real you at events, lol. Doing anything to the Daytona for next season?

yeah, I was parked right next to you looking at that busted wheel, lol. That was crazy.

you should just pick this up and play with us in MR next season

this car would be really competitive right off the bat...and dirt cheap

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/cto/4873288139.html

In fact, that's me in that pic wearing the hat with Josh S. (bluej on here) next to me in the GRM shirt (if you didn't do that on purpose) :)

I might have to call about the BMW as my new to me car is starting to twist me up with issues.

Paul