Side impact protection?

[crankedup]

Bruciebabe mentioned on previous thread that the Griff has no real side protection built into the car, simply the door skin then?

This cannot be correct can it? Please tell me it's not correct

[shpub]

It's not just the door skin... There are two layers of GRP and the window mechanism. You want side protection get a Wedge or a Cerbie or a Tuscan or a later car.


>> Edited by shpub on Thursday 9th September 17:06

[Ballistic Banana]

Also the Chassisruns just below the door which gives quite a bit of protection at that hieght. I for one can vouch that does help protect you even though not as much as side impact bars.

BB

[crankedup]

Thanks for reply Shpub, I have just dug out an orignal pen and ink cutaway diagram of the Griff.

I find it difficult to understand why wedgie's have some side protection and not a later model Griff!!

Thought I had done my homework before buying Now I have a decision to make. Blast and damn.

[wedg1e]

crankedup said:

Thanks for reply Shpub, I have just dug out an orignal pen and ink cutaway diagram of the Griff. I find it difficult to understand why wedgie's have some side protection and not a later model Griff!! Thought I had done my homework before buying Now I have a decision to make. Blast and damn.

Well if that's all that's worrying you, I'll swap my Wedge for your Griff...

[bruciebabie]

crankedup said:

Thanks for reply Shpub, I have just dug out an orignal pen and ink cutaway diagram of the Griff. I find it difficult to understand why wedgie's have some side protection and not a later model Griff!! Thought I had done my homework before buying Now I have a decision to make. Blast and damn.

The Wedge was engineered for export and so conforms to international safety rules, the Griff/Chimp weren't and don't. Douglas Valley breakers see lots of crashed TVRs, talk to them or go take a look. The chassis member is very low down and not very substantial, most vehicles will go straight over the top of it as they go through the door. I really loved my Griff, so compact, so much torque and that sound but it had to go. I replaced it with a Cerb which has a full roll cage and side impact bars that overlap it. When I found I was missing an open car I bought a Caterham which is quite safe in a crash as decades of being intensely raced have proved.

[k77-widow maker]

A year or so ago, a granada t boned me, in the pc world car park in pompey, and my n/s door took ther brunt of the impact. My outer skin of the door was cracked, paint was chipped and scratched, and his entire front valance was on the floor.

Blackpool 1 Dagenham (somewhere in spain where they are made now) 0

I appreciate that this was at low speed..(in his case), but i'm happy with what is either side of me.

well unless i get t boned by this guy when he is doing a ton!

[350zwelgje]

crankedup said:

Thanks for reply Shpub, I have just dug out an orignal pen and ink cutaway diagram of the Griff. I find it difficult to understand why wedgie's have some side protection and not a later model Griff!! Thought I had done my homework before buying Now I have a decision to make. Blast and damn.

Wedge has side impact bars designed in for sales in US.

Rob

[Recon Ron]

Part of my job involves investigating fatal and serious injury road traffic collisions. As a result I've been to many accidents and examined many badly damaged vehicles.

I love the Griff I really do but I'm under no illusions as to how it would hold up, structurally, in a good collision. You may be lucky, you may not! A little bit of 'Lady Luck' is involved sometimes.

Just my opinion, but it is based on some factual experience.

[Boosted Ls1]

I saw a griff with the door trim removed. It was enough to worry me. By way of a comparison I own a TR7 v8, it has massive door crash protection having been over engineered in expectation of strict US legislation which never happened. Don't mention the front bumpers, at 5 stone each most cars will feel my arrival if they get in the way. I know I'm as safe as can be reasonably expected

[drifting]

crankedup said:

Bruciebabe mentioned on previous thread that the Griff has no real side protection built into the car, simply the door skin then? This cannot be correct can it? Please tell me it's not correct

Crankedup

If you like bikes then why are you worried about the car when the car will always give you more protection than any bike on a side impact, if your that bothered get a Volvo and be bored!

Used to do fifty thousand miles a year (yes true)on bikes and still would prefer to have the tvr.


Drifting

[ehasler]

shpub said:

It's not just the door skin... There are two layers of GRP and the window mechanism. You want side protection get a Wedge or a Cerbie or a Tuscan or a later car.

From what I've seen, there doesn't appear to be much more protection in a Tuscan



Also, I wouldn't say that the protection in a Caterham is better than a TVR - just the opposite in fact! Just because they're not as safe as a battleship sized Volvo doesn't make them dangerous though.

[rjben]

That looks just like my old Cerbera. Unfortunately that did not hold up too well during a side impact with a Clio. It was estimated that the clio hit at about 25 - 30mph. The result of this was 5 weeks in hospital for my poor girlfriend last summer (broken hips). Don't be put off by the thickness of the side impact bars. They can like RSJ's without any real benefit as failure usually occurs at the point of connection of bar to chassis i.e. door lock.

Guess what car I have now.....

[andy43]

Just as a point of interest, the door beams in the Wedges were designed and tested (at least in part) at Manchester Polytechnic, a few years before I studied engineering there - they had various test rigs and stuff still lying around - rectangular or square tube about 2x1" designed to link the vertical tubes at front and back of the door-shut - in a side impact the beam was supposed to transfer the impact force 90 degrees into a pulling force across the door-shut (all this is very hazy now - 1988?), protecting the cabin.
The Tuscan pic looks like those two horizontal tubes are there as a lighter weight solution for the same problem - they go from both hinges across to the door catch - so Tuscan owners don't worry much

Douglas Valley is an eye opener - the Griffs and Chims that have had a side impact eg tree are not a pretty sight - there's only a crumbly outrigger to transfer side impacts to the main chassis

but that's not to say I drive my Griff like a granny 'cos I is scared of it... well, not all the time

>> Edited by andy43 on Friday 10th September 10:01

[shnozz]

its only a problem if you crash. lifes too short. We could all drive Volvos and be safer but I'd rather drive the dream

[Recon Ron]

Volvo's, trust me, bend like spaghetti if they hit a tree or other immovable object.

You can take all the precautions you want, but there will always be other factors outside your control.

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=123254&f=13&h=0

I'm not a great believer in fate, but it does seem that if your number's up then that's that. As Shnozz said, life's too short, so enjoy your car and take care.

[jam1et]

Just going back to the previous post regarding the safety of Caterhams being proven by racing. People often say this about TVR's too. Personally I think racing heritage proves very little in terms of real world safety.

Firstly there is greater driver protection (crash helmets, race harness, fire protective suits, fire marshalls, emergency cut-offs switches, etc) thus increasing the likelyhood of survival. Secondly, they are probably above average in driving skill, and therefore react faster in an emergency situation. And finally, in the real world, your much more likely to be hit by by a Toyota Amazon than another Caterham.

[targarama]

Crash protection is one reason I went for a T350 after 6 years of Chimaera ownership. Knowing that there isn't even a roll bar in the screen surround worried me a bit. A roll cage behind the seats would have helped, but not much. Of course it still got a good thrashing for the 6 years I owned it, but I'd made the decision to change the car and went for what appears to be the strongest and best handling of the newer models.

[raceboy]

shnozz said:

its only a problem if you crash. lifes too short. We could all drive Volvos and be safer but I'd rather drive the dream

I didn't even think about it (and still don't) if your time is up, it's up,
I think the world would be a better a place without a lot of safety features, the roads are too crowded anyway, we need a bit of natural selection, ban airbags and replace them with a big spike, that would focus a lot of peoples attention on the job in hand, driving, and not making that phonecall, sending that text, keeping the kids entertained, etc, etc
God help you if you start thinking about rolling it

que everyone whos mum/wife/brother/hamster has been saved by some sort of safety feature, and how great they are

>> Edited by raceboy on Friday 10th September 11:49

[shnozz]

bah, 4 litre chims dont go fast enough to roll them