cages.. hardtops and tall people

Archives of Posts to the NZ MX5 List back in 2001
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Rowan Hick

cages.. hardtops and tall people

Post by Rowan Hick » Sun Dec 09, 2001 11:07 pm

Clive,

Got one word - bugger! This is going to get expensive...

Looks like we might have to be doing some modifications to the hardtop ..
reason being is I'm not even close to 165cm.. am 6ft even which i think is
180cm. Here's some pics of the momo seat -
http://www.seriousauto.com/seats/momo-s ... -index.htm

It looks like it's a bit lower, but I'm going to need a LOT... I've just been
going over the MSNZ rule book and I might have another option, a short section
of mandrel bent tube creating a hump, welded ontop of the rollbar behind the
driver -- I was perusing thru CCC and it appears the RAC let you get away with
it.. they had a TVR tuscan with a hump for the driver, but I'll quiz the
knowledgeble ones and see if i can.. the first thought was add a hump to the
rollbar to get the high above me noggin and then have a hardtop modified to
have a "bubble" to clear the cage and my head ditto for co-driver. I can
submit a "free concept" per Appendix 2 schedule 4.4 part 12. If they get
picky I can stiffen the mid section between the two "humps" with an X .. so
long as it supports 7.5 x (weight of car + 150kg) I *should* be ok. As the
rollbar is quite small and the car quite light I should get away with it...
fingers xed on that one

Worst comes to the worst I junk both factory hard/soft top ideas and get a
softtop custom made but I really would like a something to keep stuff out of
the car other than a bit of rag. Addiing additional fixings to the car for the
hardtop is not a hard ask by any stretch.. where there's a will there's a way
! Everyone might question how much a hardtop might actually help, but anything
is better than nothing at all... gravel, bush, small trees, fencing wire.. it
will be better than none at all.. If I really get serious I can reinforce it
with Kevlar, or even remold the entire thing in Kevlar (I assume it's
fiberglass right?)

Eventually I will go full cage, will for Targa, in which case can have
something solid to fix a window net from the fore stay to the door.

Heh .. haven't even got the car and it's getting more difficult :)

Rowan

Matt Gunn

cages.. hardtops and tall people

Post by Matt Gunn » Mon Dec 10, 2001 6:45 am

Hi there

I understand the quest for safety , but do you know the exact
requirements for Targa racing, and is there a site with specs etc. .
Watched some last night on prime and notice bugatti's with people haging
out the top about two feet , they were the roll cage. Suppose the
helmets will stop facial bruising , even if the heads are coming right
off...

cheers

MADMXV

Rowan Hick

cages.. hardtops and tall people

Post by Rowan Hick » Mon Dec 10, 2001 8:43 am

The Targa you saw last night was Targa Tasmania, ie under Aussie rules.
I won't dig!

The Targa is an MSNZ event, under the rules, the car must have the
rollbar 50mm above the drivers helmet. It's pretty clear in the MSNZ
rulebook. Whether or not the rules are bent I don't know. I suspect if
you drove an old Bugatti in the NZ event then they would turn a blind
eye, but if you're running say an RX7 TwinTurbo then you'd be inspected
with a fine tooth comb..

Rowan


Matt Gunn wrote:

[...]

David Burggraaf (FAL ...

cages.. hardtops and tall people

Post by David Burggraaf (FAL ... » Mon Dec 10, 2001 9:06 am

it's not all bad,
My car has a full 6 point homologated cage and race seats fitted with custom
brackets to the factory front mounts and the rear bolted directly to the
floor. I am 1.78m tall and there is 50mm as req by MSNZ manual between
helmet and a line drawn between the main hoop and screen bar. The soft top
still folds even with padding on the main hoop (not fitted in pic), which is
about 25mm thick. The vertical bars of the main hoop are inboard quite a bit
because of the seatbelt turret sheetmetal. The car had a hardtop, but I
never tried to fit it with the cage. You are most welcome to come and trial
fit yourself or a hard top to my car. I'm in Auck.

Dave


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