Roll Bar Pads?
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Forum Hermit
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Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2011 10:53 pm Location: Off the apex... Chassis: #204 Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/jerry.aplass |
The prior owner had roll bar pads installed along the entire roll bar down tube. A little overkill, but OK. As a result, when when the car gets carried in by the tow truck after an "event" the roll bar pads are sometimes destroyed by the tow truck lift straps. So now I have been thinking of installing head restraints on my Butler seat and shortening the length of the pads. How long do they need to be? What I am wondering is if I use a HANS (required) and install head restraints do I even need roll bar pads? If so, where? How far down the down tube? I am all for safey - don't get me wrong I just don't want to be at the mercy of the interpetations of the excessively exhuberant tech inspector of the day, (if that is possible). I looked in the GCR and could not find anything specific about where roll bar pads are needed to be installed, only that they are required.
Jerry Aplass SRF #204
San Francisco Region "Straights are for fast cars. Turns are for fast drivers." - Colin McRae |
I was just looking at this yesterday:
GCR pages 112-113 that SRF rules refer to: G. BASIC DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS 1. All portions of the roll cage subject to contact by the driver must be padded with a minimum 1 inch of material. Padding that meets or exceeds SFI 45.1 or FIA 8857-2001 (curved padding), or SFI 45.2 or FIA sports car head rest material (flat padding) specification is recommended. So however a tech inspector would interpret that. Last edited by Robert Mumm on Wed Nov 07, 2012 1:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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I found this in section 9.4
*Edit*...Woops...Rob beat me to it Dave Gills
#80 Red/Silver (chassis 504) Pittsburgh, Pa. |
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Needs a Life!!!
Posts: 1200
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 1:38 am Location: Sunnyvale, CA Chassis: 068 415 Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/HSERacing |
Hint: Tell the tow operator to knock off the pads and they will be happy to do it.
Dave Harriman
"It looks crazy, I understand. But, we only live once and I am going to give it a good try." - Alex Zanardi |
I believe in having as much between my head and the roll bars as possible. So I run the padding from the down tube to the mirrors and have the head headrest, also. My car was used for some training at The Ridge in July and the instructor said he removes the padding if the car has to be lifted. Although it is not required it is recommended that you use the SFI approved padding. I also recommend putting a cover over it to protect it from the elements and from scraping as you climb in and out.
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I'd put rollbar padding on any bar within 18" of my head. Go watch some videos and see how far people move in a crash. that includes most of that bar down the side.
Joe Cooley
Circuit Motorsports |
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Note it does not say "drivers head or helmet". This suggests to me that you should have coverage along most of the side tubes to protect the arms from hitting the cage in an accident and not just a couple of small pads near the head. Bruce Funderburg
SEDiv SRF #4 |
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Forum Hermit
Posts: 102
Joined: Tue Nov 29, 2011 10:53 pm Location: Off the apex... Chassis: #204 Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/jerry.aplass |
That is a good point about arms, hands, etc, never thought of that aspect. I actually don't mind installing the padding along the entire down tube roll bar (the extra weight can easily be offset by skipping the next double cheeseburger ) As an engineer, I always prefer simple black and white answers with little room for "interpetation". As I said in the original post, I don't relish being at the mercy of some tech inspector.
Jerry Aplass SRF #204
San Francisco Region "Straights are for fast cars. Turns are for fast drivers." - Colin McRae |
Needs a Life!!!
Posts: 1200
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 1:38 am Location: Sunnyvale, CA Chassis: 068 415 Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/HSERacing |
But when you are engineering, do you design just to meet the requirements of the code / inspector? Dave Harriman
"It looks crazy, I understand. But, we only live once and I am going to give it a good try." - Alex Zanardi |
Don't forget that nasty area below the steering wheel and the bottom of the aluminum dash corners; good place to use up any left-over padding (bump your thighs/knees on that and you'll know why!) I also prefer the FIA padding that's a bit more square than the SFI version and just a couple of bucks more. The other thing I did use was some wide Velco to fasten the padding to the roll-bars; easier to pull off if you need a lift tow (and avoid the nastiness of tie-wraps which alway seem to land in the wrong place if you hurry in or out of the car.)
http://www.rollbarpadding.com/prod_FIA8857.html Bob Breton - SRF 51 - San Francisco Region
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