Tower View Roll Bars

[marco]

Hi

I know this has been talked about previously but I wondered if anybody with the Tower View roll bar fitted to a Griff (or Chimaera) has a photo of it they can post.

(I've looked at their website but wanted to see the bar from some other angles.)

If so, have you found it? I tried a factory bar in my car but my head touched it all the time and with some track days hopefully coming up soon I don't think I have an option but to try the TV version.

Finally, the website says £340 + vat + fitting. Any ideas on a full cost?


Thanks again


Marco

[yum]

i gave them a call some time back. i recall that fitting was about the same price as the bar, plus vat, which ended up at around £800.

They are very friendly - why not call them using that old fashioned communication device, the telephone?

R

[zefarelly]

or try the roll centre . . . i have one of their roll bars in the vixen, and a full FIA race cage in a MK1 Cortina . . .excellently made they are, good value too, and safe, from recommendations I was given

[marco]

why not call them using that old fashioned communication device, the telephone?

Tricky to get photos out of the telephone!

You're right though - you get such quick, informed response from PH usually that actually calling someone seems like the long way round!

Oh and IIRC the Tower View roll bar has been designed in conjunction with Roll Centre which is one of the main reasons I'm interested in it.

Thanks


Marco

[shpub]

What angle are you looking at anyway?

All the development work was done on my Griff. Found the bar excellent. It doesn't get in my way, is well back from the seat so that there is no danger of hitting it with your head. Harness seta belts work well and the chassis is stiffer which does help the handling.

Basically the design was done to MSA/FIA recommendations. The fitting is a bit complex as it goes down onto the chassis through the parcel shelf. Shorty concluded that it was the only way to get enough strength that it needed in the advent of an accident. It doesn't rely on seat belt mounts etc.

I also have their Wedge roll bar which they upgraded to a full cage with side impact bars and bits. Very strong.

Steve
www.tvrbooks.co.uk

[FunkyGibbon]

getting one fitted next week, I'll post some piccies and let you know the full price.

[marco]

Thanks guys

I suppose I'm really interested in is the position of the bar. Firstly I don't want my head near it (seems like no probs there) but also it "seems" from the Tower View pics as though the bar is quite narrow and far back.

I was slightly concerned that with the uprights so far inboard (in line with the seats) protection would be compromised *as* the vehicle rolled.

I'm very sure that both TV and Roll Centre know what they are doing and Steve, your recommendation carries some weight with me but I just wanted to gain some visual reassurance before investigating further.

FB - any pics you could post would be greatly appreciated. Particulary if take from centrally from behind the car.

Cheers


Marco

[shpub]

Well... it is all about compromise. To extend the bar sideways means having the bar next to your head and as a non-rolling shunt is more likley than a roller, that is a definite no no. You can't put the bar down the side as that means the seat won't go back and if it does it is near the head. Another No No. Or as the car rolls, you brain yourself on the bar that is supposed to protect you... Doesn't make sense.

If you consider the way the car would roll it is the top corner that usually gives way and this is where the bar is positioned. Below that and the door/windowand roof take the impact anyway.

We looked long and hard at it (my car was up at Rollcentre for 6 weeks) and came to the conclusion that short of putting in the equivalent of a full cage, it was the best design that we could come up that prevented you hitting your head on the bar, had strong enough mounting points and did not interfere with the car, seat position.

The bar meets the MSA recommendation but making it too thick causes creases in the bends which seriously weaken the strength. Another no no.

[marco]

Thanks as always Steve


Marco

[JSG]

Haven't got a Griff but I had a Tower View / Rollcentre roll bar fitted to the V8S and I'm well impressed with it. The installation is very neat and all the carpet was retrimmed around the bar.

Highly recommended.

[GeorgeC]

I had one of Tower View's rollbars fitted to my Chimaera last year. The intallation was well done, it goes through the parcel shelf and the carpet was re-trimmed around it. I have the seat quite far back and its not too near my head. It was just over £800 fitted with 4pt harness bolts installed at the same time. The only downside is a slight loss or rear view.

[Pookie]

Maybe its just me, but im sure a while ago i saw a roll bar type thing fitted on a chimaera which looked like it comprimised of a steel bar coming through the parcel shelf up to the top of the head rest bending round then going back down again, behind both seats. similar to what you get in a ferarri 360. just thaught they looked alot better than the big frame, aslong as they are just as safe and not just a fictional part made up in my head anyone know where they ae from or if im just mad

[JSG]

Pookie said: Maybe its just me, but im sure a while ago i saw a roll bar type thing fitted on a chimaera which looked like it comprimised of a steel bar coming through the parcel shelf up to the top of the head rest bending round then going back down again, behind both seats. similar to what you get in a ferarri 360. just thaught they looked alot better than the big frame, aslong as they are just as safe and not just a fictional part made up in my head anyone know where they ae from or if im just mad

I think you'll find most of those are just for show and not actually going to do any good in the event of rolling.

Cheers,
JSG.

[marco]

The twin hoop roll bar is from Peninsula. I agree it looks nice but I'd rather have something more substantial.

(Also for legal reasons everybody refers to roll bars as cosmetic unless they have been crash tested - which no TVR ones have.)


Marco

[RichB]

On the issue of twin-hoop roll bars being cosmetic, most "sports" acrs of today seem to have these; Audi TT, BMW Z3, Merc SLK etc. A while back I e-mailed Audi UK customer service dept and enquired about the usefulness of the TT's roll hoops is they were "put to the test". I got a nice e-mail replt informing they they were fully designed and tested etc. to perfom in the event of a roll and were a safety device not just cosmetic. I was surprised they were prepared to put that "in writing"! Cheers Rich...

[griff2be]

RichB said: On the issue of twin-hoop roll bars being cosmetic, most "sports" acrs of today seem to have these; Audi TT, BMW Z3, Merc SLK etc. A while back I e-mailed Audi UK customer service dept and enquired about the usefulness of the TT's roll hoops is they were "put to the test". I got a nice e-mail replt informing they they were fully designed and tested etc. to perfom in the event of a roll and were a safety device not just cosmetic. I was surprised they were prepared to put that "in writing"! Cheers Rich...

edited beacuse I forgot to write anything last time!!

There are some big differences between the Griff/Chim and the cars you mention above.

Firstly the other cars have roll over protection built into the windscreen pillar. The TVR pillar has one job only, and that's to hold the glass in!!

Secondly, in these other cars, the bulkheads that the roll bars are mounted into are 1) much closer to the seats and 2) much higher up than the TVRs. This means that the protuding part of the bar is much shorter and thus would not require as much bracing as the TVR's, which has to go all the way down to the chassis.

It seems quite logical to me that the TT or Z3 style bar is reasonably safe - asnd certainly far more so than, for example, the Peninsular TT style bar for the Tiv.

Also the TT/Z3 is high volume, and er, German (even uif made in the USA in the case of the Z3), and I think I am right in saying everything fitted to them has to be TUV compliant. Implying it is tested for safety.

>> Edited by griff2be on Friday 24th January 10:19

[Podie]

RichB said: On the issue of twin-hoop roll bars being cosmetic, most "sports" acrs of today seem to have these; Audi TT, BMW Z3, Merc SLK etc. A while back I e-mailed Audi UK customer service dept and enquired about the usefulness of the TT's roll hoops is they were "put to the test". I got a nice e-mail replt informing they they were fully designed and tested etc. to perfom in the event of a roll and were a safety device not just cosmetic. I was surprised they were prepared to put that "in writing"! Cheers Rich...

The car was designed and built with them from the factory... so they make them a structural part of the car... and as they are fitted as new, they have to be crash tested.

[RichB]

Yes but none of them are back braced or triangulated and as the guys on here who race keep saying they wouldn't trust their bonce to anything like these. R...