Race Car Crash Safety.
 

Hey all. Just pondering how safe my car is if i had a crash/roll in it while at the track. And what sorts of things can be done to improve my safety. Ive got a bunch of questions and hope some people can chime in with answers. (some Q's are probably pretty stupid, but Im going to ask anyways). And also get some discussions started on the subject. Ive kind of broken it down into categorys, but alot of it is cross related.

Its intended for my SG forester, which is pretty much a track toy now. It is road registered, but only goes to and from race days now. Or to and from tuners/tyre places etc.

First off. Is there any good reading online on the subject that i can look over. something kind of official and not just random un-verified guess's. (CBF trawling countless threads on the internet to decipher out good info.)

[U][B]Fixed back race seats.[/B][/U]
Can they (and race harness) be used without a roll cage? Have heard this isnt the best idea cos the roof will squash you in a flip over etc. But even if so, would the added benifits outway the risk of such a thing actually happening?

Head protection/full encapsulation seats. How much (if any) better are these over race seats without the wrap-around head guards? Pros and cons? At what point would these be needed over standard race seats?

Is there anywhere in perth that stocks a good selection of seats so i can try out a seat for fitment? A bit worried about buying online and then getting something that doesnt fit my body shape.

Mounting the seats. What is the best way to do this. Are there conversion railings to fit race seats to Subarus. Is so, is this a better way to do it?

Are race seat mounts interchangeable. Eg. can you bolt a Sparco seat in with non Sparco rails?


[B][U]Racing harness.[/U][/B]
What is the best way to mount a harness? I understand its very important to get the angles correct for the top straps etc.

Does it require a roll cage? Can it be done effectively/safely with out a cage as far as mounting up the tie in points etc? And also as far as what happens to the car in crash. (roof coming in, car bending/tearing apart etc)

Harness bars. Are these required to fit harness's?

Can different brands of harness and seat interchange. Ie, could i use Omp seats with Sparco /Takata/whatever belts etc?


[B][U]Head and neck support.[/U][/B]
Can existing non HANS helmets be made fit a hans device? Or do you need to get a helmet designed to match a HANS?

Whats the best one to get?

Can HANS be used with any race harness/seat combo? Or does it need to all be matched?


[B][U]Roll over protection.[/U][/B]
What different types of cage are there? What levels of protection can you get?

Is there a place in Perth that does custom cages? Ball park price for an install?

Crome moly vs steel. Pros and cons.

Getting cages certified with various motorsport organisations. cams, andra, fia etc? Whats the go with that. Im only doing amature stuff now. but if i got a cage, id want it to comply with as many different requirements as possible.


[B][U]Driver apparel.[/U][/B]
Race suits. Are these just for wankers, or have a usefull purpose? I guess flame proof and also protection from abrasions/cuts etc in a crash. But how important is this in the scheme of all the other safety stuff?

Gloves, shoes, nomex undies etc. same deal how important in big picture?









Id like to oneday get the car setup with a super swesome saftey kit. but cant fork out for all of it one go. So im thinking of doing it in steps as i progress. What would be the best priority to do things in. bear in mind im only just starting out and only doing RAC at this stage. So its not too high speed, and its got a fairly safe track surrounds etc.

I ran a race seat and harness without cage or Hans. However, I fully don't recommend it!

With a cage etc, you have to ask, do you really want to race a forester? Yes it's dofferent but is that a good thing? All that extra weight up high? Having said that, there will always be people faster and more people will look at that crazy Foz over a slightly faster WRX!

I would get a cage, race seat, harness and Hans for sure!

Go see Go Gear. They have a few seats. Harnesses, Hans devices etc.

Cage, brad Stacey.

Speak to Ivan at Go-Gear he can answer most of your questions.

[url]http://www.perth-wrx.com/vb/809029-post82.html[/url]

Some more good info on the previous page of that link.

Save up until you are ready to do a cage and harness/hans together, otherwise do the seat/harness/hans together then cage it.

[QUOTE=RUSSGT;826970]I ran a race seat and harness without cage or Hans. However, I fully don't recommend it!

With a cage etc, you have to ask, do you really want to race a forester? Yes it's dofferent but is that a good thing? All that extra weight up high? Having said that, there will always be people faster and more people will look at that crazy Foz over a slightly faster WRX!

I would get a cage, race seat, harness and Hans for sure!

Go see Go Gear. They have a few seats. Harnesses, Hans devices etc.

Cage, brad Stacey.[/QUOTE]
Ive come this far with the car so far Russ, its like eating the last slice of pizza. The first 7 fills you up, but you may aswell just eat the last bit so you can throw the box out.

And yes, i do want to race the forester. its what its been built for. Why stop where it is.

And i dont know what your talking about all that extra weight on a Forester? FYI. These are the kerb weights listed on redbook. As you can see. Bugger all in it. Infact a 2006 WRX wagon weighs MORE than a 2005 Forester XT..... And once you swap out body spacers and lower a forester (to where it should be), there isnt a great deal of hieght difference. CoG would not be very far from an equivelently modded WRX.

MY05 Forester XT 5spd kerb weight 1425kg
MY06 Forester XT 5spd kerb weight 1475kg
MY05 WRX 5spd Sedan kerb weight 1395kg
MY05 WRX 5spd Hatch kerb weight 1410kg
MY06 WRX 5spd Sedan kerb weight 1415kg
MY06 WRX 5spd Hatch kerb weight 1430kg
MY05 WRX STi 6spd kerb weight 1475kg
MY06 WRX STi 6spd kerb weight 1495kg

I dont want to be the fastest car out there. But there is no reason why this forester cant be competitive with similarily modded wrxs/stis. and hell even beat a few of them too.

[QUOTE=nick73;826971]Speak to Ivan at Go-Gear he can answer most of your questions.

[url]http://www.perth-wrx.com/vb/809029-post82.html[/url]

Some more good info on the previous page of that link.

Save up until you are ready to do a cage and harness/hans together, otherwise do the seat/harness/hans together then cage it.[/QUOTE]

can you make that link show the whole thread. when i click it, its just one single post.

thanks. thats kind of the methodoligy i was wanting. i basicaly was thinking of putting a better seat in. but then started thinking about whats needed to make it safe.

[url]http://www.perth-wrx.com/vb/your-driveway/55970-betty-blue-post809029.html#post809029[/url]

Pages 2 & 3 mate.

Wow those weights are interesting! Far out! Well forget what I said!

As I said, more people look at the crazy forester than epanything else anyway! Keep it up!

Its all about roll centre.

Show me WRX vs Forester.

After smashing my pride and joy and having to pay to repair it I was unsure about what to do about the whole safety thing. Scary's post kind of summed it up for me, either go all out on safety or don't.

It's not like my car is unsafe, I walked away from a 40-50km/hr sudden stop on the armco. I broke my seat, it was laid back at a 45 degree angle, I'm lucky not to have submarined out of my seat completely.

I pretension my seat belt and lock it before every run. I reckon had I not done that on the day I would have ended up in the spare wheel well...

If I had your car I would go all out as the shell is ready to take all the extra goodies and you only use it for racing.

I still do daddy daycare pick ups/drop offs twice a week so a caged car is not an option for me at the moment.

[QUOTE=matto20v;826989]Its all about roll centre.

Show me WRX vs Forester.[/QUOTE]

I agree. thats why my forester has been spacer deleted and all crossmbers swapped to sti. Once you do this to a forester, its roll centers are identical to a wrx.

and ive even gone further with extended ball joints and tie rod ends up front, and ikeya rear arms to adjust rear roll center aswell.