What cages (if any OTS ones are avail) are there that don't involve cutting the door and making the window inoperable?

I kind of like this design...





Now that I'm getting a lot more involved with motorsports I don't feel that my HD roll bar is adiquite anymore. And for next season I want to go to a full cage. But since my car will be a street driven car (to/from track and for fun once in a while) I can't loose the operation of the side windows.

As it stands now, there is more than enough space for door bars next to my seat. What should be the min space from the door bar to the seat in a fully caged car?

 

will you be wearing a helmet whenever driving the car?

 

This is a good point. You do not want to get into an accident in a car with a cage without a helmet. Smacking the cage with an unprotected head could cause death in an accident that otherwise would not result in death.

At minimum you would need to wrap the bars in high density impact foam. It's hard to the touch, but gives when hit hard. I've got it on my hard dog bar just in case....

 

No, but I will be in a bucket seat wearing a harness and there is no way my head will come close to any bars.

 

I do everything I can to resist caging my turbo car.

 

You should rivet HANS anchors to your skull. I'm willing to do this for you.

 

The convertible top skeleton has metal bars above my head and on top of the side windows, plus protruding metal parts on the folding mechanism (again above the side windows) that are infinitely more capable of hurting my head in case of an accident.

No one ever complained for those?

Btw, I have OMP HTE seats that have protective side tabs, no matter how hard I try to bash my head against them, it doesn't even hurt. So I think a cage wouldn't be a problem without a helmet in in these seats.

 

The "my head will never touch" argument is bad enough, but seriously? Do you really think you can "bash you head against them" with the same force that an 80-90 MPH collision will cause?

 

This thread wasn't made to discuss the consequences of driving in a caged car without a helmet. All I want is a ******* cage that doesn't cut the doors.

I'll drive my car the way I feel like it.

My head, when strapped into the seat is 5+ inches away from anything other than the headrest. If I rolled in a stock 3 pt. I would understand the argument but with my 6pt. I'm no going to worry about it. Chances are, if I'm in an accident at 90MPH in a Miata I'll be dead either way.

 

My head is literally less than 2 inches away from the tabs. 2 inches. If my head can accelerate within 2 inches quick enough to hit the soft tabs and cause anything more than light bruising, then I think that my spinal cord would have already snapped before my head even hit the tabs.

 

Very true.

I am unaware of any prebuilt cages that allow for the doors to remain stock. I think this is because it offers less protection than getting the door bars a little farther away from the driver/passenger.

That being said, I don't think there is anything stopping someone from having the "door bar" portion of the cage custom built to fit your needs. Check the racing regulations to see if they regulate how a cage is built.

While it is probably not optimal for crash protection as a cage built into a gutted door. It has to be better than a door alone.

 

You can always go to a cage builder and tell him you want "baby" door bars that go into the door but don't restrict the window.

 

Harness (and seat belt) straps are designed to stretch in an accident to spread out the change in velocity over more time, to reduce the peak gees. Ever seen crash test footage? They stretch a lot.

--Ian

 

Not with a 6pt.

 

Fully operational stock windows with door bars. Custom build by TC design locally.







Then i decided not to be retarded and drive a caged car on the street:

 

Disagree. I'm sure there have been many 90mph miata accidents on the track with full cages where the driver walked away. And they were probably wearing a helmet.

Why even ******* bother putting in a cage to pretend that you give a **** about safety?

 

Because a cage will give the illusion that he is safe. I think it's a really and truly stupid idea, but that isn't what was asked, so I will save myself to time and stop here.

^ That green cage is always amazing. The gutted doors are sexy too. No idea a door shell could be so good looking.

 

+1 The contrast is **** with the painted interior.

 

**** then someone please buy my style bar because it impressed all the `dumbassess much more than my real roll bar ever has.

 

Right now black jesus is speaking to me and commanding me to drop my car off in Cali with TC Designs. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!