Death at HPDE

[AZFA20]

I use the Schroth Rallye 4 ASM harnesses too through a set of Corbeau LG1s on one of my other race cars but I was required to have an A-frame installed in my cage hoop to better meet the 90' shoulder harness angle requirement (which I am all for anyway) due to the power level and speeds my car runs during NASA events. I wasn't required to have it raised up until after they realized how fast my car was. Honestly I never felt comfortable not having the correct shoulder angle on the cross bar that was initially installed. I would never run a 4 point without some form of anti-sub technology implemented. I also do not feel comfortable with any type of harness without a cross bar support to prevent spinal injury during compression of the harness upon impact, hence the need for the 90' shoulder angle support. That particular car of mine maintains both 3-point factory belt and the Schroths. Cage obviously is their permanently too so it is on the street often and of course their is a lot of controversy having a cage in a street car but hey if you have to have it then there isn't really anyway around it.

Just as everyone has expressed this is a reminder that although this is an unbelievably fun sport to be a part of that only a very select few ever experience, it is also playing with a lot of weight and momentum. Unfortunately we are the soft squishy center in a rigid exterior. Have fun but remember it should remain just that...... fun with safety in the forefront.

[7thgear]

everything @Dave-ROR says, engrave it on the inside of your skull.

[ICantAffordAnLFA]

Very sad

But very rare; can only think of one trackday death in the UK recently.

[7thgear]

Originally Posted by ICantAffordAnLFA

Very sad

But very rare; can only think of one trackday death in the UK recently.

how about your friendly neighborhood Deutschland?

[ICantAffordAnLFA]

Few more at the Ring I guess but.........

[SkullWorks]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

Check out the NecksGen also. Kind of the new version of the DefNDer post HANS Lawsuit. IMO it's a better solution (and that's coming from a HANS owner).

IMO, stay stock or go all out. If you are doing a custom cage mount the seat to the CAGE and not the car. And of course with any cage, design is key. If you are going custom, you either have to know what you are doing or find someone who does. I've seen so many bad cage designs (and I'm not even an expert to spot the less obvious ones) that it's actually pretty sad.

My cage was built by the same gentleman that built Steve Millen's 300ZX cars from the early 90's, Over built in every way that still meets rulebook, Weight was of ZERO concern when drawing and building the cage.

Seat is properly mounted to a frame on the floor tied to the cage and we will be adding a seat back to cage mount before I take it out again.

Thanks for the opinions

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by SkullWorks

My cage was built by the same gentleman that built Steve Millen's 300ZX cars from the early 90's, Over built in every way that still meets rulebook, Weight was of ZERO concern when drawing and building the cage.

Seat is properly mounted to a frame on the floor tied to the cage and we will be adding a seat back to cage mount before I take it out again.

Thanks for the opinions

I figured you'd have a good cage design based on previous discussions

[SkullWorks]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

I figured you'd have a good cage design based on previous discussions

Especially with things like a cage where you really can only do it tight once...you just gotta do it right

[Dave-ROR]

And for the others, this is an example how mounting the seat to the cage. In this case, the seat mounts on sliders to adjust for drivers of different heights (it's our endurance race car so multiple drivers are a concern) but it's done so safely. There's an adjustable back brace as well. The seat mount is welded to the cage and a bit to the floor pan as well.

[Touge Factory]

Very sad to hear.

Can't stress enough about the importance of proper safety equipment.

[DAMotorsports]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

The passenger (girl) died at the scene

Lots of rumors going around...

There are a lot of rumors about this incident. Some with a bit of truth about what happen. I was exiting the bowl when the incident occured and have spoken with the officers involved with the investigation. At their request I am not going to get into details. I will say they have video from the vehicle and spent the time to recreate the collision.

[Hanakuso]

Is a bucket seat more dangerous compared to stock when everything else is stock? i know the stock seat has an airbag, but with an exception to that. Lets assume the seat and mount is FIA approved.

[SubieNate]

Originally Posted by Hanakuso

Is a bucket seat more dangerous compared to stock when everything else is stock? i know the stock seat has an airbag, but with an exception to that. Lets assume the seat and mount is FIA approved.

*Speculation here*

I think the most important thing would be the belts and the headrest. As long as the seat allows for the stock seatbelt to work properly (with a proper mount) and keeps the lapbelt firm across your lap and allows for the shoulder belt to lay on your shoulder properly, as well as restraining rearward head movement in an equivalent to OEM manner, I don't see an issue. Maybe @Dave-ROR or @CSG Mike could chime in on this.

Cheers
Nathan

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by Hanakuso

Is a bucket seat more dangerous compared to stock when everything else is stock? i know the stock seat has an airbag, but with an exception to that. Lets assume the seat and mount is FIA approved.

It can be. Reclining seats often collapse when a rollover occurs, by then the body has moved down and towards the inside of the car as well. A reclinding aftermarket bucket is basically the same as stock (minus airbags of course). A fixed back should, IMO, only be used with the supporting equipment (5/6/etc point harnesses, 4 point rollbar min).

Also everything should be mounted with CORRECT backing plates. I've had people try to pass 3/8" washers holding in seats and harnesses as a large enough backing plate before... don't do that.