Well folks, after a long and hard day at work (hell, I was there for nearly 3 hours), I decided to treat myself to a nice, upscale lunch. But, just as I was again cursing the cup-holding amenities (or lack thereof) in my car, the drive-through guy threw me a curve ball "what are them bars for?" Too hypoglycemic to think on my feet, the best I could come up with was "weight reduction." "Cool" he says, and then a light went on upstairs. "Does it keep your head from getting smashed?" "I hope so," I respond, only to be delt the fatal blow (no, not the food), "what about the front?"

If there had been a record player around, it would have made that nasty ripping noise when the needle gets bumped off the record. And then it hit me...this yahoo, who took the time to ponder my roll bar's ability to reduce the weight in my car, still had the capacity to recognize that I was driving with a false sense of security at best. I shrugged my shoulders.

Let's face it folks, if you were to flip my car over on to it's shiny side, it would sit on the A-pillars and the hood, not on the middle of the roof. This produces a nice flat line between my front emblem and my roll bar, right through my head. Many of us here can barely sit in the car with a helmet due to the minimal amount of headroom. Even with a low race seat, I'm inches (barely) from the top of the windshield. Is this bar doing anything other than boosting my confidence?

I have been kicking around the idea of replacing it with the full 6pt bar (of the same Autopower variety, just more complete). The cost is minimal, esp. if I sell the current bar, and I haven't removed the removable junk since I installed the bar, so I can forget that too if I get the 6 pt. Fully padded, is it safe to sit in a DC2 with a 6pt bar and no helmet? The last thing I want to do is add danger for my head, and I remember my helmet bumping the halo in a friend's GSR with an autopower cage, but that was with stock GSR seats and I was only hitting the padding.

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to throw this out there. We're so quick to jump on people who mount harnesses incorrectly, buy cheap motorcycle helmets, etc., but I'm not so sure I'm any safer in a worse-case kind of accident (the kind that happens all the damn time). Thanks if you read this far!

 

6 pt is the way to go imo. But I wouldn't discount the strength of the body as much as you have. Rollover "protection" goes down exponentially with increasing speed. It totally depends on what you "land" on and the speed you are going when you crash (duh). But I think you still have pretty good protection with the 4 pt.

 

A 6pt is the best rollover protection.. and side protection.. and a 8 point with the two extra points being to the firewall is the better yet, but a 4 pt will still protect you even if the a pillars collapse. You'd maybe sustain some injuries (spinal compression, etc) but at least you wont be dead like you'd be without the bar in such an accident.

 

what college did/do you go to???

 

Me? I'm U of A [/i]cubed[/i] (BS, BA, MD). Why?

 

Good answer, very good answer!

Jason- who is LHAO!

 

More is better, but you still get decent protection w/a 4. If the car rolls, the hoop over your head helps keep that area in place. Considering you're strapped in w/race harnesses, you remain in place. All in all, you have decent protection for lapping and such. If there's a chance that something else could come smashing into you as you rumble along, then the 4 pt hoop is seriously inadequate. Full cage time then.

More is better though in all cases!