Roll cages and registration

[GP]

Imports have to have Side Intrusion bars Installed to be legal in Oz so I cannot understand how they can be illegal

[Locutus]

side intrusion bars built into the door behind the door trim is much safer in a road car than side intrusion bars that form part of a cage.

[Regie]

before doing this, personally i would be hitting the track in your std car and mastering this first before blowing your money...

just my 2c

[mxfly]

Imports have to have Side Intrusion bars Installed to be legal in Oz so I cannot understand how they can be illegal

That's not entirely correct. Earlier imports yes, later imports do not require side intrusion bars to be complied.

[deviant]

Imports have to have Side Intrusion bars Installed to be legal in Oz so I cannot understand how they can be illegal

A roll cage changes the crash worthiness of your car. Getting in to a crash with a fully caged car would be like hitting a tree. This is why 'the man' does not like caged cars on the road.

[hks_kansei]

the main issue is that the compliance mandated intrusion bars are INSIDE the door.

rollcage side bars are OUTSIDE the door.


Rollcages are illegal in the sense that in a crash you'll split your head/arms/legs open on solid steel pipes instead of smacking a soft (in comparison) plastic interior panel.

[rob323]

The ONLY person to listen to in this case is the Engineer that is going to sign it off. And even then it may not make it totally legal (especially if the National Code of Practice gets adopted in your state).

If you are not interested in having welded in side intrusion bars to help with the rigidity of the car, and only do circuit racing where the chances of meeting a tree sideways at speed is almost nil, then take it from me, don't bother getting them and save yourself the hassles.

[greenMachine]

Rollcages are illegal in the sense that in a crash you'll split your head/arms/legs open on solid steel pipes instead of smacking a soft (in comparison) plastic interior panel.

Padding.

No scrute, or engineer, would pass a car without padding on all tubes that a part of the body would/could contact in a crash.

Of course, that bulks up the structure even more, making it even less suitable for a street car.

[rob323]

And don't waste your money on the you beaut FIA/SFI rated padding that is $75/3 feet or more as that doesn't meet the "19mm high density foam" rule that one officer said to me repeatedly while writing out a fine.

[deviant]

The ONLY person to listen to in this case is the Engineer that is going to sign it off. And even then it may not make it totally legal (especially if the National Code of Practice gets adopted in your state).

If you are not interested in having welded in side intrusion bars to help with the rigidity of the car, and only do circuit racing where the chances of meeting a tree sideways at speed is almost nil, then take it from me, don't bother getting them and save yourself the hassles.

NCOP only allows for a half cage with some pretty strict angles and distances from seating positions.

Agree that bolt in door bars are not as ideal as welded in. Especially if it is just a single bar.

[Benny]

I think the authorities may also be concerned about how you get out of the car if you did crash.
If you had welded in side bars from the cage, it might make it very hard for emergency workers to pull you out of a wreck.

[rob323]

I think the authorities may also be concerned about how you get out of the car if you did crash.
If you had welded in side bars from the cage, it might make it very hard for emergency workers to pull you out of a wreck.

That is one of the reasons they use to defend their dislike for welded in side intrusion bars in roll cages, my counterpoint (and that shared by quite a few others) is that if they have ever seen a car with welded in side intrusion bars that has had a major frontal impact (and I know in Queensland that they have been invited to inspect one such car), then they will realise that because that area around the door doesn't crush like it would in a car without intrusions bars, they actually have a greater area to remove the occupant from.

[deviant]

I think the authorities may also be concerned about how you get out of the car if you did crash.
If you had welded in side bars from the cage, it might make it very hard for emergency workers to pull you out of a wreck.

That is one of the reasons they use to defend their dislike for welded in side intrusion bars in roll cages, my counterpoint (and that shared by quite a few others) is that if they have ever seen a car with welded in side intrusion bars that has had a major frontal impact (and I know in Queensland that they have been invited to inspect one such car), then they will realise that because that area around the door doesn't crush like it would in a car without intrusions bars, they actually have a greater area to remove the occupant from.

I believe it is one of the reasons the authorities do not like them but it is also a completely unfounded one. I spent 6 years on rescue crew at various race tracks in the UK and only twice had to be involved in extracting an injured driver.

Two things...

1. In 6 years I saw a lot of accidents but only two with injuries severe enough that the driver had to be extracted. This tells me that even a basic cage makes the car incredibly safe.

2. The cutting equipment used at modern race tracks is EXACTLY the same as that used by the emergency services. The jaws of life make VERY short work of reducing a multipoint cage to its component form. They slice through the A, B and C pillars AND the cage AND the gussets with no hesitation.

The real problem comes when someone in their targa car with a fully welded tower to tower cage similar to that seen in a WRC car gets in a bingle with a regular road car. The guys in the race car will walk away but they will have dríven half way through the road car before stopping.

[rob323]

The real problem comes when someone in their targa car with a fully welded tower to tower cage similar to that seen in a WRC car gets in a bingle with a regular road car. The guys in the race car will walk away but they will have dríven half way through the road car before stopping.

Yep, and I know which one I would rather be in, but in any case, not all that many "road registered" cars with roll cages go to the extent of extending them through the firewall to the front strut towers (or further).

But back to the OP's original post, unless doing motorsport in close proximity to trees, I would not bother with side intrusion bars and safe yourself a heap of hassle.

[rob323]

Word just to hand from a member of my car club, and not the sort of thing I was hoping to hear.

Hi all,

I have just got off the phone to one of our Senior Advisors in Queensland Transport.

At this stage the NCOP VSB14 will be rolled out and implemented on the 1 June 2011.

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/%20...%20_ncop.aspx

LK section page 33

Every State is a signatory except NSW at this stage (my guess is that they will be signatories in the near future).

So what does this mean for us as rally people.

In a nut shell you will not be able to have a six point cage certified/mod-plated anywhere in Australia after 1 June 2011 unless your respective rego/uvp scheme allows for it.

At this stage Qld does not have any method of implementing a fix around this issue. I have briefed the QRAP Chairperson and the current Qld transport Rap portfolio holder. This essentially means that post June next year there will be no way to build a Cams/AASA rally car anywhere in the country.

For our sports sake please send an email to your current body representatives so that that can begin meaningful dialog with the relevant transport departments.

Doomed, we're all doomed!