Friday 19th October 2012

Ringside Seat: to cage or not to cage

Sensible precaution or a pretentious statement of (over) ambition? Dale ponders a cage for his latest toy

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Putting a roll cage in your track car seems like a totally normal thing to do, right? Not something that you'd need to think twice about, really.

But actually, I have been thinking about this a lot recently.

Should Dale cage his new BMW?

My last 'ring tool lasted about a year and to be honest, I had no intentions of caging it at all. Hell, 90 per cent of the time I didn't even wear a helmet when driving it. It was far too nice inside to rip apart and cage up.

You see, on the one hand, you're driving the trickiest track in the world with average speeds faster than the UK's highest legal speed limit. There's no room for error and miles of steel barrier waiting for you. It's bloody dangerous. These are all sure-fire reasons to drive wearing body armour and nestling in a roll-cage that looks like a spider spinning 60mm chromoly-steel spent a week in your car.

But on the other hand, most of the time the Nordschleife is just a public road. You're out on track with buses, campervans and Harley Davidsons. Strapping yourself into a caged-up car and thinking you can go really fast on a Sunday afternoon is just an exercise in frustration. I honestly believe that squeezing into a six-point harness and full roll cage totally changes the driver's attitude - and it's this attitude that's just not compatible with driving in public traffic.

Some industry test cars are caged...

And that's before we consider that you look like a real plonker putting your fireproof underpants on in a car park full of tourists. The weight of the crowd's expectation settles on your shoulders heavier than any HANS device. At least 90 per cent of drivers on a public session will not be wearing a helmet. Probably fewer than one per cent have a roll cage in their car.

But this isn't just a question that I'm considering personally. Look at the rental car companies. Three major operations exist here with more than 20 rental cars each, and they all have different strategies. One company has full roll cages in nearly every car, one has mostly half cages and another has mostly none.

Then there's the industry testing. Where some of the most pedestrian cars (Mercedes B-Class, VW Polos, Range Rover Discoveries) are caged-up to the maximum, while supercars like Audi's R8 and Porsche's 911 are left standard.

...and some are very obviously not!

There are so many variables that I honestly don't think there's a right or wrong answer. It's a personal choice. And this winter I've decided to cage up the Project 328i with a nice little six-point Wiechers item. Maybe it's because the interior is crying out to be stripped, or maybe it's because the carnage I've seen this year has left me feeling vulnerable. Rollover crashes are nothing new at the 'ring but sometimes it's easy to forget how quickly it all goes wrong. And what it looks like when it does.

The black lump of metal you can see here is actually my mate Karl's Golf 'ring tool after he hit oil at Wipperman on a public lap. And the doctor on the scene was pretty adamant that his survival chances in an old Golf without a cage wouldn't have been worth talking about.

Karl's Golf after that Wipperman roll

When I'm out on track I'm dumb enough not to give this thing a second thought, as evidenced in the latest video below chasing race cars in my leather-seated and un-caged E36. But the second thoughts are here to stay now and I do too many laps a year to forget about them completely. The cage is ordered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[trickymex]

I think this is subject to the age of the vehicle in question.

I'd argue that it's pretty unnecessary for more modern cars with good crash ratings but on something like a sierra cosworth or an original m5 I would say it is necessity as they are capable of serious speeds and don't crash all that well compared to modern metal

[Lordbenny]

How many people with after market cages in their tin-tops tell their insurance companies because getting cover on a road car is VERY hard in my experience!

[Lightningman]

trickymex said:

I'd argue that it's pretty unnecessary for more modern cars with good crash ratings but on something like a sierra cosworth or an original m5 I would say it is necessity as they are capable of serious speeds and don't crash all that well compared to modern metal

Crash ratings are primarily fixated on front, rear and side impact, as well as pedestrian safety - the core purpose is not to test for how well the car would hold up during a trackday roll. Yes, a modern car 'should' hold up better during an on-track smash BUT to assume it would be fine is a mistake imho.

[Oddball RS]

Lightningman said:

trickymex said:

I'd argue that it's pretty unnecessary for more modern cars with good crash ratings but on something like a sierra cosworth or an original m5 I would say it is necessity as they are capable of serious speeds and don't crash all that well compared to modern metal

Crash ratings are primarily fixated on front, rear and side impact, as well as pedestrian safety - the core purpose is not to test for how well the car would hold up during a trackday roll. Yes, a modern car 'should' hold up better during an on-track smash BUT to assume it would be fine is a mistake imho.

+1

[AndyCowman]

There is a basic rear roll bar in my old Porsche 944 turbo that I installed for the occasional track and ring trip. It was installed not so I can race but mostly just in case I get it wrong or someone else did! On an old car it seems sensible.

As for insurance I am with a main stream company and have all medications including the cage listed. It was no drama to do at all.

[Bisonhead]

If you are doing a lot of trackdays, especially at fast circuits, you increase the risk of having a roll in an accident. I believe that a roll-cage is important at this level as you simply never know how you will crash or what will crash into you.

IBT!!

[joe_90]

After looking at that vid with the clio, get the cage.

[The Wookie]

I think a half cage is probably a good compromise. Full cages aren't really advisable if you're going to drive it on the road without a lid on.

It'll still be safer in a roll over crash on the road, of course, but without a helmet it might be a lot more dangerous in a (far more common) minor shunt.

[Krikkit]

Oddball RS said:

Lightningman said:

trickymex said:

I'd argue that it's pretty unnecessary for more modern cars with good crash ratings but on something like a sierra cosworth or an original m5 I would say it is necessity as they are capable of serious speeds and don't crash all that well compared to modern metal

Crash ratings are primarily fixated on front, rear and side impact, as well as pedestrian safety - the core purpose is not to test for how well the car would hold up during a trackday roll. Yes, a modern car 'should' hold up better during an on-track smash BUT to assume it would be fine is a mistake imho.

+1

Sorry guys, but roll cages aren't *just* about providing strength for roll-over accidents. A good multipoint cage will improve the strength of the shell for any kind of serious accident, in which case it makes sense to cage something with poor crash ratings over something that's known to be strong.

A good example in the article is the R8's and Porsche's not being caged for development - the designers are obviously comfortable that an accident at the ring would be dealt with well by the original spec chassis.

For a 20-year-old design 328i I would definitely be following Dale and having a good weld-in added.

[markonedesign]

From personnel experience, I would suggest that if you fit a cage, you need to wear a helmet as well - which, lets face it, is an arse off the track. However, cages are very hard, far more so than an unstripped interior.

Regarding modern cars without a cage - they definitely are better than older motors in a crash. However after the first impact, their structural integrity is compromised, so better hope no one else hits you or you spin/roll multiple times.

(My experience is in off-roaders, where speeds are slower, but we tend to rollover etc frequently.)

[Marf]

Only go for a cage if you're also fitting harnesses and will wear a helmet on track otherwise you're building in a recipe for major head injury when head meets cage.

[cydaps]

Better safe than sorry. Having a cage (or even a roll hoop) seems well worth the expense if it saves your life. I used to track day my TVR Chimera years ago and whilst a friend was driving it, we had a big off at Goodwood, thank heavens it stayed rubber side down and didn't dig in, 135mph sideways on grass just waiting for the tyres to dig and the car to flip... I know a TVR is an exception to the rule, zero rollover protection at the best of times, but still, any car rolling at that speed is going to be badly damaged!!! I've seen some modern road cars upside down in ditches on public roads, roofs squashed flat, a friend of mine nearly lost his life rolling a car on a bend a few years back, so on a track at racing speeds it isn't worth contemplating the consequences. It scares me when you see Fifth Gear's Tiff and Jason thrashing cars at their absolute limits on tracks with no helmets, let alone roll cages. It's fine when it's all going well, but anything from track conditions to mechanical failure to a momentary lapse of concentration, or even another driver contacting your car can cause a car to veer out of control and roll. Always play it safe... I must be getting old, never even thought about safety in my 20s!!

[Lightningman]

Krikkit said:

Sorry guys, but roll cages aren't *just* about providing strength for roll-over accidents.

Who said there were?

[HustleRussell]

By all means fit a cage but as others have said already, you are exposing yourself to a much greater head trauma risk if you drive with a full cage and no crash helmet. Cages are just plain dangerous when used in conjunction with a normal 3-point inertia reel belt and zero head protection.

[Krikkit]

Lightningman said:

Krikkit said:

Sorry guys, but roll cages aren't *just* about providing strength for roll-over accidents.

Who said there were?

Uhm... Reading it properly (rather than skimmed over the rim of a tea-mug) I'm talking out of the lips I never kiss with.

[James1972]

Had a fullbolt in cage in our old Alfasud track / sprint car - wouldn't have felt safe on the road let alone the track without it. But the risk of head sans helmet meeting cage is a major issue - friend was brain damaged by rolling his Mini on a curb at 20mph because head plus side impact with metal not good.
Newer stuff has side airbags for a reason ! My 14 week pregnant wife walked away from this...

[grenpayne]

Interesting thread. Only this week I've made my mind up my Caterham Seven will be having a roll cage over fitted over the winter. As said earlier, some cars crash well and other don't and whilst the Caterham is quite strong a big shunt would not go down well with me uncaged. It's not cheap and it's a lot of hassle but I'm going from this:



to this:

[HorneyMX5]

Do it. Not only for the safety aspects but because a stiffer caged car combined with being pinned down in some fixed buckets makes you feel so much more connected to the car.

[rallycross]

Surprised this is even being asked, if the car is getting used on track on a regular basis a roll cage is an essential piece of equipment, as is a good helmet.

For people who maybe do one or two track days a year in their road car then its a different story but a dedicated track car with no roll cage is just daft.

[mwstewart]

I could be wrong here, but I'm fairly sure that a cage should really be be teamed with a decent pair of bucket seats and some harnesses becaause the increased chassis stiffness means there's a lot more energy transferred to the drivers' body during a crash, so you really need to be strapped in well.