so i'm in the process of putting a cage in (hoop, rear bars, harness bar, and diagonal bars are in and welded)... i have some tubing for door bars, and plates to weld to the unibody, but i dont know if i wanna put the door bars in. i can make them fit between the door and seat, but it will still be a bit more of a pain to get in and out of.

the cage is a nice design, but not scca/nasa legal, but i mainly got it because i dont wanna die if i derf up at gingerman and roll it going fast or something, or if the car is involved in a horific accident (roll over)... the car will never be competitive road-course wise...only HPDE/trackdays. the cage is placed 6'' behind the driver/passengers heads bar wise, will be padded, etc, so its very safe. its not the first one i've built, but its the first i've built for myself.

what are you guy's experience's with a cage? is it a pain to climb in over them daily? this car's first duty is my "fun" car (street, strip, roadcourse several times a year, but mainly cruising around) a couple weeks ago i was at a trackday at gingerman (southhaven, mi) and i had a vision of what would happen if my little turbocharged civic spun and somehow managed to flip. it was a bit scary.

would it be that important for what i am doing to have door bars?
is it going to make it less of a street car?

just looking for opinions. thanks guys-adam

 

Door bars are a must, if you end up tank slapping the wall from the side or getting tboned it'll save you from getting a few broken legs.

 

I'd say that if you're not racing competitively, then door bars aren't essential, however they're always a good idea. They do make getting in and out of the car a total pain in the ***, but they will save your life and limbs in a bad accident. If you're just doing HPDE's though, you're way ahead of most people just by having any type of cage. If it were me, I wouldn't put them in my street car and I wouldn't drive 10/10ths in HPDE, but that's just me.

- Scott

 

In the assumption that you don't wear a helmet while driving in the streets, be very careful that you don't have any bars near you head. While cages make racecars safer, it can make a street car more dangerous.

 

yes...this was the first thing i considered as i was building the rear portion. it is held 6 inches behind the pass/driver seat....and they are corbeau buckets, so the head would be stopped from flying backwards in the event of a rear-ending accident. i dont want my fiance' dying because i didnt want to potentially die while tracking the car.

as it sits right now, i think i'm just going to run the cage as a 6 point, not an 8 pt.. no door bars right now...the female would get annoyed....as would i.

 

door bars are really good to stop intrusions into the driver's space (I'm pretty good at stating the obvious, huh?)
In a typical HPDE environment, you're hopefully not going to have cars T-boning you. That's the situation a door bar would save your bacon in. You just have to evaluate for yourself how likely this type of collision would be with what you do with the car.

YMMV.

 

Question. Is this a daily driver or just a track car that you might drive to an event or drive occasionally? If it is a daily then door bars may be too much except for the minimal kind I see in some drag car set ups.

If it is a dedicated track car that you either trailer or even one you drive to the track, well IMO door bars provide extra piece of mind. I even upped mine from an x-bar set up recently to a "mini" nascar bar set up that does not intrude into the door but required the door panels to come off. Beefier but still OK (at least for a track car) to get in and out of.

While the t bone might be pretty rare at DEs you still need to think about the more likely scenario of losing control of the car getting it sideways (puked fluids, mechanical issue, too damn fast, etc.) and hitting a fixed object in the door area. I know I feel safer with them.

Barry H.

 

hmmmmmmmmmmmm......such decisions.

i guess i can always add them...but i'm continuously switching my thoughts on them. i'm going to see how non-invasive i can make them.. if i can make it near-"nonrollbar" to get into and out of, i'm going for them. the car is driven whenever it is nice out...usually 4 or 5 times a week. its kinda my girlfriend... just dont tell my fiance.

it is sometimes driven, sometimes trailered to track days, but them main thing is it IS a street car primarily.

 

It takes one barrell roll or a sideways hit on the wall to change everything. Remember one thing, if you can't walk away from a wreck and call it a total loss and walk away its not worth it. If you are serious about track days then buy a cheap Civic or something, throw a full welded cage in there and race it. Cost of Civic ~$1500 and cost of a good cage installed around $1500. You have a safe car that you can total and not have to worry about insurance hassles or transportation.