Do I need a roll cage?

[shoestring7]

I was at airfield day on Friday in my old M3. I've been trying to work out if a roll-cage is a good idea or not. Its in standard spec. apart from pads and fluid, and is used on the road - I also need rear seats. So far cost and insurance difficulties have made me decide not to fit one.

Well sliding sideways along the grass verge at 60mph concentrates the mind somewhat.

I want to do some more track days but could do with a big chunk of peace of mind, so I'm thinking again about fitting a roll cage and harness to my M3.

The Safety Devices kit is about £600. Does anyone have experience of these? Any alternatives? How much to fit, and can anyone suggest anyone with experience of fitting one?

Cheers
SS7

[fergus]

The SD cage (with removable diagonal) is very good and doesn't restrict entry/exit too much. You'll need some plates welding in to the base of the front a-pillars to take the bolt on fitting. It wil really stiffen the car up a lot. Are you running leda, etc.. suspension or standard kit? Be careful about cracking around the bulk head if you make the passenger compartment of the car really stiff with a cage, but don't triangulate the ridigity down onto the susp. pick up points as you may get a lot of local stress at these points.

Nigel Moseley (moseley motorsport) can help you out with fitting, etc...

[anonymous-user]

cage on a road car is generally a pretty bad idea. insurance as you mention goes ballistic but more importantly without buckets and harnesses holding you firmly in place there's a good chance of you hitting it in a crash. i guess a rear cage would be better for a road car.

[leosayer]

francisb said:

cage on a road car is generally a pretty bad idea. insurance as you mention goes ballistic but more importantly without buckets and harnesses holding you firmly in place there's a good chance of you hitting it in a crash. i guess a rear cage would be better for a road car.

If you've got a roll cage near your head then you need to wear a helmet or lots of roll cage padding.

[GarryM]

Not wanting a poke in the eye, but what about spending the money on driver training instead? I know accidents can happen anyway but they are far less likely to happen after good tuition. Of course it's great fun learning and you can apply the benefit to any car your driving.

[shoestring7]

Thanks,

I've got a Recaro Pole Position seat, and I would get a harness with the cage install. I'd also pad the roll-cage, and happy to accept the big nut behind the wheel needs work!

How much for an install? SD talked of £800 which sounds an awful lot..

SS7

[juliann]

I doubt rear seats would be an option.

£800 is a lot for fitting, but it can be a real pain to do. SD have had issues with these cages, but, I believe they are now re-working them so if you order a new one now, the chances are that it should be a better fit. If you have a sunroof, the s/r cage will need cutting out and the roof either re-skinning or the s/r panel welding into place.

some pics here : [url]www.fourwheels.org/racing/prep/rollcage/[/url]

>> Edited by juliann on Wednesday 27th April 14:09

[shoestring7]

Juliann,

The SD price list I have shows various options. With/without a sunroof is part of this, as is removable/fixed/X rear cross piece, and harness bars.

How long do you estimate to fit based on your experience?

SS7

[juliann]

shoestring7 said:

Juliann, The SD price list I have shows various options. With/without a sunroof is part of this, as is removable/fixed/X rear cross piece, and harness bars. How long do you estimate to fit based on your experience? SS7

Harness bars are a good idea as they will reduce downward forces on your neck/back in case of an accident.

I didn't fit mine myself (the link isn't my car), I had mine fitted by someone who has fitted cages before but not into E30's. It took him about 10 hours including all the cutting / welding & making good. This really isn't the way to go though if you need to use back seats. I would suggest that if you want to keep all 4 seats useable, I would forget a cage and do your trackdays on wide open airfields or somewhere like Bedford. You have to be really unlucky to hit something there...

[saxo-stew]

i have a SD 6point saxo cup cage in my saxo, called my insurance(adrian flux) and they only charged me £15 admin fee to cover it.

if the cage is a full on, full weld in job, then its a big much for a road car, but a simple 6 point cage is fine. even with door bars.

[cptsideways]

A suggestion some of the drifters have been using to get round insurance issues with cages in road cars....


Half hoop connected to the seatbelt mounting points, easily removeable, sufficient to provide some protection, little or no interior mods required & attached to the strongest points in the car.

Its also not permanent so mr insurance might be happier

[mutant_matt]

Word of warning - padding on a cage IS NOT ENOUGH!!!! I crashed my track car recently and my friend in the passenger seat was wearing a helmet and hit his head on the padded cage and knocked himself out!! Doing that without a helmet on does not bear thinking about!

The impact was quite a light one too so it doesn't take much. Several friends of mine have the removable SD cage which I think is a half cage and they seem to rate it quite highly.

Hope this helps,

Cheers,

Matt

[Hammerwerfer]

mutant_matt said:

... I crashed my track car recently...

Your track car? More like our track car isn't it?