Hey guys,

How high of an risk do you think there is of a person (passenger) sitting in the passenger seat of the crappy NB1 seats hitting a Hard Dog ACE bar in a rear end scenario? . I know the ACE is the most rearward placed bar you can buy.

I currently live in a fairly large Canadian city (no not igloos), and my largest accident risk in my miata (daily) is being rear ended. I know a few people who have been rear ended. I'm usually watching my environment carefully ( leave some room in front of car, lights always one, etc.), but there is only so much you can do.Now, I've no problem with the risk driving the car in the city with a bar for myself- my only dilemma is that I sometimes drive passengers around and wouldn't want to risk someone else hitting the bar.
As of know I'm not tracking the car due to this, and the plan is to eventually make the MX-5 into a track car when I move on to another vehicle (no passengers then).

Also I'm not trying to ignite the overall safety debate (the other site gets caught up in this nicely) - just wondering of the specific scenario I've pitched.

As always,
Thanks for the help fellas

 

Risk is high of being hurt or killed without high density padding (not low density pool noodles). Buy the padding and vinyl cover kit from Hard Dog tailored for the bar. Looks good and well worth the price.

 

I've been confused by some conflicting information about the padding. Some posts say its made to be used with a snell helmet and not a bare helmet-less head? Judging by your post I'm assuming that is not true?

 

I also live in a large city and am paranoid about this.

I swap Sparcos/NB2 seats in and out often. Sparco top of seat is slightly above Hard Dog bottom of bar but NB2 goes right under if back and reclined. I have the padding but if the NB2 seats are in, I will not drive if the passenger won't have the seat back at least an inch ahead of the bar and fully snug their seatbelt. (full disclosure, my regular passenger is my wife and I kind of like her).

Any padding, even if for helmet use is better than a naked bar

 

This.

 

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...p?Product=2397

 

Second the dual density foam. I have it on my rollbar.

 

Thanks for the posts.

If i get a rollbar then the padding is a necessity.

As I understand it going lapping without a bar is a terrible idea

 

I know that I'm running contrary to popular opinion here - especially in the US - but I've lapped without a roll bar and didn't lose any sleep over it. The question to ask is what kind of lapping, and how often you're going to be doing it. I'm pretty sure you're local to me, and I lap at ASE. It's a small, relatively tight course with top speeds in the 80-85 MPH area in my car at my skill level. There's not much possibility to roll the car, and even if I did, I think the stock rollover protection is within its design envelope for that case. When I weigh that against the risk of banging my melon against a roll bar in a rear-ender during the 95+% of the time I'm driving unhelmeted on the street, I think that running no bar is a reasonable choice. Plus it means I don't have to spend any money or contort my lazy *** for a roll bar installation, which is a bonus.

Faster track, car, or driver, or more frequent track use, and I may come to a different conclusion. I think everyone should weigh the risks for their own particular situation.

 

Miatas can roll over at very low speeds if they contact tires, berms, walls, ditches, other cars, etc. They are less likely than vehicles with higher centers of gravity. But the rollover protection is the windshield folding flat even with the top of the doors. The top of the hood, doors, and trunk will be flat on the ground and there's not much chance of opening the doors in that case. Sometimes fuel leaks out, too.

As for me, I use a rollbar.

 

I present in evidence my friend, let's call him Dave. He has been a Miata owner for years, tracked his boosted car many times with a rollbar. Dave wanted a Mazdaspeed, like really badly. He found one in Texas, flew from Toronto, bought it, drove towards LA for a wedding before turning around to drive to Toronto. He never made LA. He rolled it twos days into his ownership on an ordinary road with a tight curve.
He spent a year in hospital, medical evacuation flights back to Toronto when his travel insurance ran out, and now three years later, still cannot stand for more than a few minutes at a time.

Why, because the weight of the car upside down was being held partly by his head and neck. There's a reason why most, if not all convertibles use some form of hoop or reactive (pop-up) bar these days - it ain't for looks.

 

To wit:
These guys were maybe going 15-20 mph at the actual point of rolling over.
It certainly did happen easily. Forward to 1:29 to avoid having to watch too much silliness.

 

No roll bar:

 

50-60ish MPH at the time of contact maybe?

Crazy roll over crash in a Mazda Miata - Video | eBaum's World

 

 

Looks like a great open air car now. Blackbird approved.

 

That's nucking futs.

 

That's all I could think of for those pictures. "Welp that blows, I guess it's a dedicated track car now"

Unless you die

 

Right. I am adding arm restraints to my list of things to get...

 

I had to have them for Chump Car before the rules changed, but now that I have them, I'm going to start using them on my street/HDPE car at events.