RineRacing

According to the NASA rules handheld fire extinguishers must be within drivers reach while seated and buckled in. Maybe I just have short arms but there aren't a lot of locations that I can reach while buckled in.

Where did you mount yours? or do you bend this rule a little?

Drew M

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RineRacing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Where did you mount yours? or do you bend this rule a little?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have mounted it to:

- The diagonal in my main hoop
- The lower cross brace in my main hoop
- The passenger seat mounting crossmember (clamped it through the holes in the sheet metal)

All were well within reach.

EDIT: Other possible places:

- Passenger side of the tunnel - just drill through it
- Anywhere on the passenger floor where the seat used to be

johng

Here's where mine is currently until the fire system arrives this winter.

stormy

If you mount it on the floor at the seat base you can still reach it fully buckled in usually.

Knestis

My curiousity was piqued because I was asked the same question in another strand, so I went out and did a little test. There is precisely ONE place that a handheld bottle could be mounted in my car that I can reach it when belted in - just on the far side of the tunnel. This assumes that by "reach," one means "unlatch and operate" as opposed to just "poke with a finger."

As I mentioned elsewhere, this isn't a rule in SCCA and it strikes me as a little extreme, frankly. If you have it together enough to reach for the fire bottle, why not undo your harness? If you can undo your harness, why note concentrate on getting the heck out?

I guess that it can't HURT to have it that close, though.

K

RineRacing

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Knestis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This assumes that by "reach," one means "unlatch and operate" as opposed to just "poke with a finger."
</TD></TR></TABLE>

That was what I was figuring. There are plenty of places I could "poke" at it but hardly any places that I could easily un-hook the darn thing while fully strapped in. I thought about the diagonal bar but it would be an awkward blind reach.

I'll just mount it to the exhaust tunnel on the passenger side, sort of near where johng has his, as it seems the best compromise between the letter of the rules and real world function.

SMSP

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Knestis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

As I mentioned elsewhere, this isn't a rule in SCCA and it strikes me as a little extreme, frankly. If you have it together enough to reach for the fire bottle, why not undo your harness? If you can undo your harness, why note concentrate on getting the heck out?

I guess that it can't HURT to have it that close, though.

K</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly, no one will fight a fire from inside the car. If you think your life is worth anything then buy a fire system. One hand for the camlock and one hand to pull the handle then exit stage left.

Having a fire extinguisher is only for a good false feeling. They are worthless, unless you are a ricer and have it mount to the windshield pillar then it does a really good job of removing your scalp in a front end collision.

stormy

I was thinking more that since they were a compressed gas in dirrect sunlight it might grenade on one of them.

.RJ

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sans &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was thinking more that since they were a compressed gas in dirrect sunlight it might grenade on one of them.</TD></TR></TABLE>

wtf?

eg_type_r93

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sans &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was thinking more that since they were a compressed gas in dirrect sunlight it might grenade on one of them.</TD></TR></TABLE>
ha ha haaa

prkiller

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by sans &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I was thinking more that since they were a compressed gas in dirrect sunlight it might grenade on one of them.</TD></TR></TABLE>

HAHA! That is pretty funny...

paRRRker

mine is on passenger seat mounting point...well within reach with medium sized arms y0

Tyson

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SMSP &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Exactly, no one will fight a fire from inside the car. If you think your life is worth anything then buy a fire system. One hand for the camlock and one hand to pull the handle then exit stage left.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

its too bad ken myers (ioportracing) doesnt think so. when i had him check out my car, i put it on the passenger main hoop near the B pillar. reasoning that my first objective would be to get out of the car, and the extinguisher would only be usable to someone (corner worker, me) who needed to reach in and it be in close proximity, not have to put half the body inside to reach from the window. he didnt agree (he contributes significantly to NASA's CCR since he and jerry kunzman are buddies and live near each other). he argued that in fact ppl have needed a fire extinguisher in order to get out of the car, for example to fight off a grass fire outside the car. so thats that. he said i could always keep two extinguishers in the car, just one within reach.

travis

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Knestis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This assumes that by "reach," one means "unlatch and operate" as opposed to just "poke with a finger."</TD></TR></TABLE>

Mine is mounted in such a way that it can easily be reached from the seat while strapped in, and I can poke it with a finger if I choose without unlatching it (although it points mainly to my feet and legs rather than torso). It is also easily reached from the passenger side without havint to reach too far into a burning car. I think it's about as good as you can ask from a handheld, but certainly a compromise compared to the full systems:

mityVR6

I bought a Brey-Krause seatbase mount for my girlfriend's Halon extinguisher. Puts it within her reach, on the passenger side floor. She can get to it fine, even with a Cobra race shell. You can probably fab up something similar. If you have a rollbar, I would go for the crossbar behind and between your front seats.
-Adam

kb58

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SMSP &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Exactly, no one will fight a fire from inside the car. If you think your life is worth anything then buy a fire system. One hand for the camlock and one hand to pull the handle then exit stage left.

Having a fire extinguisher is only for a good false feeling. They are worthless, unless you are a ricer and have it mount to the windshield pillar then it does a really good job of removing your scalp in a front end collision.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I disagree.

You pull off course with a minor electrical problem, far from a worker's station. You're safely off course, there's no smoke, so they ignore you. Inside, you smell smoke and get out, your minor electrical problem has melted your wiring harness which is now on fire. You stand there watching your car burn and don't have an extinguisher, now what? So you run like a lunatic toward the worker's station (where they can't hear you and are looking the other way) waving your arms, "My car, my car!" Oh, and don't forget the time it takes to remove your helmet so they can hear you. What's an extinguisher worth right then?

Here's my mount: http://www.kimini.com/Diaries/...r.JPG



Modified by kb58 at 3:30 PM 11/11/2004

Grumpy

NASA REQUIRES the extinguisher to be reachable and usable from your seat. It even should be able to be operated with your gloves on.

WHY?

Ask some one who needed it.

Also, our insurance premiums are based on our rules.

The sooner you can reach it the sooner you can use it. Small fires are easier to put out than large ones.

Mount it as low as possible, 1- lower CG, 2 - you don't need a 2 1/2 pound dead weight bouncing around the cockpit at eye level in an incident. In an SCCA race at Pocono a bit back, a driver was killed when his T1 Corvette hit the Jersey barrier at the end of the "straight" sideways. His extinguisher was mounted eye level on the passenger B pillar. Those first at the scene say that the hand held extinguisher came loose and hit him in the face. It was not probably the cause of death, but....

When you get your fire system (notice when, not if) DO NOT remove the fire extinguisher. Why blow off an expensive system for a minor incident. If you do blow off the system, TECHNICALLY it needs to be recharged before you go back on track.

Just some observations of an old man.