Fire Extinguishers
 

Hey all - after my buddy's NA miata decided to blow a rod through the block and spill oil which turned into a fire, I immediately decided its time for me to get a fire extinguisher for my own track day build. Unfortunately everyone seems to have very different opinions so I thought I would see if the boys in here had come to a quorum based on experience actually needing to use them. Additionally, I'd like suggestions on where you all think it should be mounted to actually use in an emergency. I've seen bolted to the passenger side floor (gross) and also strapped to a harness bar (seems like a hazard in a crash).

EDIT: I've also seen some shenanigans with "element" extinguishers which are tiny and could be hidden easily, but is this a case where size matters?

Bigger is better in this case. I have a 2-3lb Halon mounted in front of the passenger seat.

Something is better than nothing, throw a element fire extinguisher wherever you can, glove box or map pocket for the time being.

Otherwise, function WAY over form. If it's bolted to the passenger floor but easily accessible, that's probably a great location for it. There are a few that mount off the front bolts of the pass seat, then a quick release bracket bolts to that.

If you're serious, get a lifeline fire system like the link below, bolt it to your passenger floor, and route some nozzles to the engine bay.

https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pr...xoCcUAQAvD_BwE

I will definitely have one before doing anything major. My 97 turbo spontaneously caught on fire cruising on the freeway several years ago and burned to the ground. I suspect it was due to injector seals, but who knows. Fuel somehow was allowed to spray into the engine bay, which likely ignited on the manifold or whatever. A fire extinguisher would have saved my car.

Here is a pic of mine. I don't think I would opt for Halon because of the price. This was a take out from my companies GT1/super production car that is no longer in service.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...7e37ce1cde.jpg

While I think adding a fire system to a track car is a great idea, note that the intent of these sorts of systems is not to save the the car in the case of a fire. It's really intended to buy the driver a few extra seconds to get the car stopped and GTF out of it after the car bursts into flames at 100 mph. So for a dual-purpose street/track car there is value in having both kinds of extinguishers. As for where to put it, either floor-in-front-of-passenger-seat mount or harness bar mounts can work fine, there are mounts for roll cages that will hold it securely enough not to become a missile in a crash.

Back when I had a small extinguisher mounted on my roll bar (was required by a track day org I used to go to 20 years ago) I occasionally got questions from people at traffic lights about it.

Them: "What's the fire extinguisher for?"
Me: "Uh... extinguishing fires?"

Another one I got several times was about whether it was "NAAAWS" :)

As far as types go, dry chemical is the cheapest and works well, but will make a huge mess because the powder bakes onto hot surfaces (that's how it work) and you may never get it off.

--Ian