Here's my dilemma. I'm posting in the Road Racing section as it is closest to HPDEs as it gets. To try to simplify it as much as possible I have a 91 Integra that's only going to be used for HPDEs but later will progress to a full race car. This car is a stock 91 completely stripped with a seat and a harness and is currently awaiting a roll safety device. It's also stored and not driven daily. I understand since I'm new to HPDEing I will be spending a fair amount of time just learning the small things about getting on the track. I still have quite a bit to go on essentials before I get my car out there but the next step is the roll safety.

I'm stuck between the idea of a full custom cage, a bolt-in cage and just a roll bar. I know the advantages and disadvantages of each. For instance, having a roll bar only with a harness and bucket isn't such a good idea when on the track because if I where to roll over there wouldn't be anything to stop the front portion of the roof from collapsing and the harness and bucket would just hold me straight up as long as the seat doesn't break. It just doesn't seem reasonable to go all out and get a custom cage put in the car when I'm not even going to be racing it and the bolt-in bars just don't conform to the body close enough it seems and are going to be too close to the driver especially with added padding. LMK what you guys think because I can't make a final decision yet. I was ready to purchase the autopower bolt-in 6pt but upon further investigation I didn't like how close the bars where up front. I kind of want those bars to go through the dash. Anyways, as you can see it's an on going battle...

I'd like a simple bolt-in for now and an upgrade later when things start to get serious. Which would leave me with a 6pt then?

 

It sounds like you know all the pros and cons, so what are you really looking for here?

If you have the money, go with a custom cage. It's as simple as that. If you really need to cut costs, then a bolt-in will do, but it is less ideal. A 4-pt is cheap and safer for the street, but doesn't make much sense for a dedicated track car. The choice is yours. My suggestion is to not cheap out on safety, but that's just me.

 

Reason being is I'm only DEing. How many cars are out there fully caged just to be tracked for a weekend and brought back home being driven to and from the event. Most cases they are atleast full race cars or daily drivers with no roll safety at all, just suspension, tires and a helmet.

Then again, it is being transformed to a dedicated track car so even then a full custom cage would make alittle more sense to me. To spend the extra time and money and wait alittle longer before I get her out there.

I'm kind of weighing my options here and I guess I'm growing a little impatient and just want to get the thing out on track already. Since I already have got the suspension, tires and a helmet I guess there's nothing holding me back from tracking it already. Roll safety would just be an extra precaution that I could add as I obtain the costs? And since this is an ongoing project it would make sense to actually track the car and slowly add to it. I guess I'm answering all my own questions here but would you 2nd the idea on tracking it with a bucket and harness and no roll protection yet?

 

How about this. Put in a custom 4 point roll bar built so that it can be added to in the future. Make sure you put the diagonal in correctly.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Grumpy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How about this. Put in a custom 4 point roll bar built so that it can be added to in the future. Make sure you put the diagonal in correctly.</TD></TR></TABLE>

listen to this man

+1 to rollbar

you dont need a full cage till you are doing door to door racing. in the meantime just drive and work your way up the system. theres nothing funnier than a brand new fully built car running HPDE1.

 

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

+1 to rollbar

you dont need a full cage till you are doing door to door racing. in the meantime just drive and work your way up the system. theres nothing funnier than a brand new fully built car running HPDE1. </TD></TR></TABLE>

That's exactly what I was thinking.

I think I'm going to go with the custom roll bar and build from there. Thanks Grumpy. Anyone else care to chime in feel free.

 

Grumpy invented the rule book so what he says goes. He is smart man.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Grumpy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How about this. Put in a custom 4 point roll bar built so that it can be added to in the future. Make sure you put the diagonal in correctly.</TD></TR></TABLE>

that really is a smart idea. Getting a full custom cage, at some point, is really the only way to go. The bolt ins/welds in just aren't very good and don't fit so well. A custom cage built by somebody that knows what they are doing will, quite possibly, save your life in an accident.

Its WELL worth the investment.