23 replies to this topic

[Tom Hampton]

Wooooot! I'm in...

[smbstyle]

hahaha you guys are hillarious, I'm loving the videos and pictures.

[Bench Racer]

This post is information, nothing more, nothing less. When discussing rules legal or illegal I attempt to support where thoughts are comming from per the GCR/SMCS. I attempted to backtrack through Showroom Stock which is where Spec Miata roll cages rules originated. I viewed nothing in the rules from the 2007 Showroom Stock roll cage rules forward that changed the roll cage rules relative to modifying the seat belt tower.



There is a GCR rule 8.1.4. that a SCCA member may request a determination on the compliance of his vehicle or it's components through the Club Racing Department. I have never viewed an instance where spending money for a compliance answer was needed.

[Keith Novak]

I understand the concern about rules creep. I think great advancements have been made recently in spelling out what can and what can't be done, and I don't even understand most of them in the engine dept. IMO, there is a big difference to modifications that improve safety for no appreciable performance gain, and other things that really are pushing it. I know I'm guilty of arguing how far the rule can be pushed. I was busting balls a bit at some point and owe an appology...sorry Dave.

Safety is of paramount importance in what we do. That cage was built around me in the seat I use. Look carefully at the pictures and you'll see I didn't just cover all the holes with aluminum tape. I fabricated several dozen little cover plates that I pop riveted over the holes, sealed with high temp RTV and then covered those with aluminum tape. (Tape and paint came later. Those pics were fresh off the trailer from cage install and a couple days of pop rivets.) Making the cover plates for the seat belt towers with a notch on the one side for the horizontal bar was time consuming just for that notch. It wasn't easy for the guy who installed it to put all the holes and notches right where they needed to be either. Overkill? Probably. Meanwhile I still had the cruise control plumbing in (thanks for fixing that Dave).

Rules creep is one thing if it makes the car faster. IMO, it's a completely different thing if it doesn't make the car faster but makes the driver safer.