To anyone with the Autofrom rollbar . . .

[rcl4668]

I am considering the autoform rollbar (the second generation version with the horizontal bar out of sight below the panels between the rear seats). I am looking to see how much clearance there is from the top of a driver's head with a helmet to the top of the rollbar. Local clubs in my area require 1'' of clearance from the top of the helmet to the top of the roll bar. Pictures would be great but even if you could sit in the car and take a measurement. BTW, I am only about 6' tall but have a fairly long torso.

Thanks for any help/leads you can provide.

/Rich

 

[SylvanSRT]

you should be fine. i'd call JonB at PartsRack he'll get you the best price

 

[ViperGMC]

Pictures and a measurement are a two man job, much easier solution. Just scrunch down in the seat if some club **** is actually going to take a measurement. Just from eyeballing the height of my bar it should be fine. You can always get a seat lowering kit too.

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

One would need to kow how tall you are. Lets say I'm 5'5"....I am sure there is plenty of room! If, though, I am 6'5"...it would be very different.

 

[Cris]

"BTW, I am only about 6' tall but have a fairly long torso."

 

[SilverViperSRT]

I'm 6 also, with the lowering kit of 1 inch and the new AutoForm Roll bar I have 1 inch of space WITHOUT an helmet. You may need the 2 inch lowering kit.

 

[rcl4668]

Thanks for the helpful input everyone, especially SilverViperSRT's "real world" observations. Unfortunately, I am not willing to go with the 2 inch lowering kit as I understand it completely eliminates fore/aft adjustability of the seats. Also, I need to have both the driver and the passenger/instructor's heads (w/ helmet) have at least one inch of clearance. So I would need the kit for both seats. I tried my Bell XFM-1 full face helmet on and it adds over an inch to the top of my head.

I must say that this whole situation is fairly frustrating. I had been in communication with my local dealer and JonB about the following mods:

-- P4510174 *Race Oil Pickup (comp coupe oil pan)

-- Team Tech 6-point harnesses

-- Autoform rollbar (new version w crossbar below panel)

Total this would have cost roughly $6,000. My concern is that I show up to a track event only to be told that despite these extensive modifications my car does not pass safety inspection.

I guess at this point I will be taking the MINI Cooper S or my 4,000 lb M5 to the track instead. Geez . . .

/Rich

 

[rcl4668]

As a last ditch attempt to see if I ca make this work, is there anyone in the NW Oregon/SW Washington area who has the autoform rollbar who might be willing to let me sit in their car?

Thanks.

/Rich

 

[ViperGMC]

Don’t give up!! I have tracked with many different clubs and have never observed club being that strict. Don’t ignore my suggestion on you body position either, depending how I adjust my seat and my body and how tight I do my harness, I can touch the top or have more than 3” of clearance, I’m 6’ too. Pull your seat forward and recline the back, it will allow you lay down more. That will get you through inspection. No one is going to shoot a laser measurement wile you are in pit lane ready to run the track. Again I have run plenty and that has never been an issue. I would like to hear if any other roll bar users have that tight of scrutiny.

There is nothing like a Viper around a track, you’ll think your Cooper and M5 are a pedal car

 

[SylvanSRT]

i wouldn't worry about the tech if the check the 2" clearence all you do is slide the seat forward and recline the seat back! most places are not that strict. i have all the mods you are thinking of doing purchased from PartsRack you should definetly be do those at a minimum for safety in tracking the car

 

[rcl4668]

Thanks again everyone -- I actually received an e-mail from my local car club stating that after consulting with JonB (who it turns out does tech inspections for this local club!) they are willing to let me run with the autoform rollbar. I will be proceding with the autoform and the comp coupe oil pan but will be holding off on the teamtech harnesses for now. Thanks again to Cascade Sports Car Club, JonB and everyone who provided their insights on this issue.

/Rich

 

[Michael Hatch]

I'm just getting ready to get an Autoform RB also and am surprised to hear it's not tall enough to meet the regs.
I'm also surprised to read about how to get around the inspectors. I would think the one inch height requirement is there specifically to keep us from getting crunched in a rollover. Without the bar being above our heads, whats the point?
Secondly, to rcl4668, you may want to rethink holding off on the 6pts. It would be much wiser and safer to get them as well. Besides, the car will already be apart for install of the rollbar so you will save the install fees on the belts compared with doing it later. Just my 2Cents.

 

[INSOMNIAC]

Thanks for the helpful input everyone, especially SilverViperSRT's "real world" observations. Unfortunately, I am not willing to go with the 2 inch lowering kit as I understand it completely eliminates fore/aft adjustability of the seats. Also, I need to have both the driver and the passenger/instructor's heads (w/ helmet) have at least one inch of clearance. So I would need the kit for both seats. I tried my Bell XFM-1 full face helmet on and it adds over an inch to the top of my head.

I must say that this whole situation is fairly frustrating. I had been in communication with my local dealer and JonB about the following mods:

-- P4510174 *Race Oil Pickup (comp coupe oil pan)

-- Team Tech 6-point harnesses

-- Autoform rollbar (new version w crossbar below panel)

Total this would have cost roughly $6,000. My concern is that I show up to a track event only to be told that despite these extensive modifications my car does not pass safety inspection.

I guess at this point I will be taking the MINI Cooper S or my 4,000 lb M5 to the track instead. Geez . . .

/Rich

You might think about getting the Autoform Hardtop. The Autoform Hardtop is SCCA approved. That way, you wouldn't need to bother about 2" clearence or whatever.
Or if you want to track without a roof over your head, you can get a custom roll bar or even a roll cage built for less than half of the Autoform rollbar price and meet the specific rules of your local track. Just to let you know, although the Autoform rollbar is a nice safety mod, it's not SCCA or NHRA approved.
Definitely, get the Comp Coupe oil pan and the Teamtech 6 point harness and track the Viper. That's what it's for anyway.

 

[rcl4668]

Michael --

Yeah, I spoke with Jon B at PartsRack and evidently the harnesses can be tucked to the sides or the rear of the seat when you don't need them so I went ahead and got 6-pt Team Techs for the driver side and 4-pt harnesses for the passenger side.

/Rich

 

[SylvanSRT]

good buy on the roll bar. most clubs require that the passenger(or instructor) have the same level of protection that the driver has. for the few extra bucks i'd put the six pts on both sides

 

[luc]

Pictures and a measurement are a two man job, much easier solution. Just scrunch down in the seat if some club **** is actually going to take a measurement. Just from eyeballing the height of my bar it should be fine. You can always get a seat lowering kit too.

What a stupid answer.

Why do you think that a driver need clearance between the top of the helmet and the roll bar ?

Aa for a calling a club tech a "club ****" for enforcing safey rules that are there in the first place to protect YOU, that just go to show that YOU don't need an helmet since YOU have nothing in it that need to be protected.


Luc 00GTS

 

[ViperGMC]

what a stupid answer.

Hold on little fella, no need to get rude. I realize it took you 3 days to formulate a response my post, but in the meantime the situation was resolved.

This is a driving school club event, they only require 3 point seat belts, (that’s a standard seat belts to you). Safety is very important, but let’s not get carried away. This is not 40 cars racing door to door maneuvering for the best line into a tight corner. This is BMW’s (family car), Miata’s (small sports car), Corvettes (viper want-a-be), Viper etc (those are street cars for your understanding) with driving instructors learning (driving instructors are like teachers for cars) how to drive. You obviously have never participated in these events; otherwise you would know the standard of safety that is appropriate for these events. Let’s see, JonB gets on the phone with the club and they approve the roll bar. Do you now see what the standard is?

My point was that just by how you adjust your seat, you can change the height of you head by several inches. SLV3434 basically said the same thing I did

“i wouldn't worry about the tech if the check the 2" clearance all you do is slide the seat forward and recline the seat back! most places are not that strict.”

If you read my other post, you would see that I explain it even more. My comment about the club **** (**** is a derogatory term that is used to describe someone that has control issues), is occasionally you run into a tech that get a little carried away with his/her power and lets it go to his/her head (my use of the word head here is a pun). If the tech is making climb into the car and measuring your helmet, then I would say that is getting carried away. Most of the club events I have been to just give the car a quick glance and that’ it. Viper Days probably do more than anyone else, they actually check the thickness of your brake pads (brake pads are little pads that stop your car).

Plus you don’t own an SRT or an Aform roll bar. What do you know about this subject. I do and run them at the track with plenty of club experience. Take a look at my signature and you’ll see that I have more safety equipment than most. My comments are my opinion just like the other 12 posts on this thread, rcl4668 can take what he wants from the info, which he has done. You have obviously been a member for a while and I guess own a GTS so what’s your deal??

I think you are also the one who doesn’t like it when posters list other cars they own/owned, jealous I guess. Go ahead blast me back, I can list lots of cars that I have owned and still own.

 

[luc]

"You obviously have never participated in these events; otherwise you would know the standard of safety that is appropriate for these events"

"Plus you don’t own an SRT or an Aform roll bar. What do you know about this subject"

Beside being an SCCA National license holder for the last 15 years, racing a Trans-Am car (1991 Roush Mustang T/A)in GT1,crewing for friends racing in World Challenge GT and running an open-track/racing club (NCRACING.ORG),not too much.

I will agree than my post was a "little" rude but you should accept the fact that your's was not very smart.

We don't have safety rules just for fun and trying to go around them will only result in the driver(s),meaning you, being more at risk on the track.

As a club, most of the problems that we have on a track come from the novice/intermediate groups, not the advance or race group, one of the reason being that they have less experience/skills but also that they don't have a good "understanding" of the risks involved in open-tracking.

Harness,regardless of the brand/design, will stretch and the safety rule requiring clearance between the top of the helmet and roll bar is there to deal with this problem.
Finding a way to go around this rule will not stop the harness from stretching and believe me, you will have a hard time "scrunching down in the seat" if you're upside-down.

Luc 00GTS

 

[Vipera Russelli]

I have the Autoform roll bar (the original version) and track my car all the time. VIR and K&E required that I install the 2-inch lowering kits so that I could get as far below the roll bar as possible, which I thought was a good idea too. I'm 5'9" with a long torso and the two-inch adjustment (to my surprise) was just right -- the peddles are adjustable, my reach to the steering wheel is almost perfect and now I'm looking through the center of the windshield when I sit up straight. Plus, I was able to reinstall the amp under the passenger seat when I switched from the 1" lowering kit to the 2" kit, since the latter doesn't have a cable running from side to side to release the forward and aft latches. I like the position better with the two-inch kit, the seats are mounted solid as rock providing better seat-of-the-pants feedback, and now nobody ever changes my seat location.

 

[Viper X]

I have an Autoform roll bar, Autoform top, Team tech six points and the two-inch seat lowering kit. I've done a bunch of track events now including Viper Days. I'm a bit taller than you at 6'4' and have never had any issues.

FYI, if the roll bar were any taller, the top would not clear it, so you couldn't close your convertible top. Not a good idea.

My wife is 5' 8" and can also drive my car with the 2-inch seat lowering kit. She simply moves the pedals closer to her and adjusts the reclining mechanism on the seat back. No problem.

If you lower both seats, you may want to relocate the amp which is under the passenger seat. In the lower position, the seat sits right on top of the amp.

Good luck,

Dan