When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
VIR is starting to enforce a long-standing rule that is stipulated when a club rents the track. Here's the wording:
“Track Prepared Car” as used in this agreement will be used to define any Vehicle in which the cockpit has been altered or modified in any way so that any part of the chassis or any firewall has been exposed".
A driver of a track prepared car is required to wear at least a two-layer, SFI-rated fire suit. I'm scrambling to get one before my event this weekend. I imagine this really only applies to HPDE drivers since racers probably have fire suits already.
For us Miata drivers, the installation of a roll bar, racing seats and harnesses does not factor in their contract requirements. I asked that specifically. The VIR grid workers will be checking to see if any part of any firewall is exposed. I assume for Miatas that means the rear deck, behind the seats, and the footwell.
I will probably put carpet back in my car in the near future, so as to have some clothing options in the summer.
I’ve tried it at a summer track day and only made it thru the 1st morning session in July and Texas. However, it can double as a snowboarding suit for those 20 below zero days.
Our main car has a hard dog roll bar but we built a spec to sell and did 1 summer track day in it. With that full roll cage, I just don’t see how I could get out quickly wearing that suit if I had to. Hence the reason for that full fire suppression system. I regularly see a guy in one of those Porsche suits that looks quite comfy but haven’t looked into it to see if the patches can be taken off. It’s fun passing him in the turbo as well.
Obviously it's less safe to just put back the carpet and drive in regular clothes, but I think that suit blows any weight advantage of removing carpet and the jute sound deadening out of the water.
You could run a Cool Shirt, although it would also require mounting an ice-water tank somewhere in the cabin or trunk.
It's what I use when endurance racing and it makes 2 hours stints behind the wheel tolerable. I sometimes turn it on and off to stretch out cooling capacity and, whenever I turn it back on, the feeling is orgasmic.
Last edited by DeerHunter; 02-15-2024 at 01:46 PM.
Homemade cool suit system owner here. Mine uses a round igloo drink cooler so that the lid seals and water does not slosh out. Uses a 12 volt boat bilge pump. Orgasmic is a good word for it on a hot day. It literally feels like someone poured a bottle of ice water down the back of your neck. I located the factory drinking drain hole where it empties right over one of the trunk rubber drain plugs for easy clean up.
Spend one HPDE weekends worth of money and buy yourself a higher end product that is 10% of the weight and actually breathes.
The modern materials in the high end suits breathe great and if you dont want to wear anything underneath it, you dont have to.
I appreciate all the inputs. I had actually thought of all those things myself, but there's more to the story. The fire suit requirement also applies to passengers, so I can't take a student out for a ride in my non-carpeted Miata unless he/she is also wearing a two-layer, SFI-rated, fire suit. The only logical answer is to replace the carpet. Unfortunately, I got rid of it. It was taking up too much space and I never thought I'd need it again.
My plan is to borrow a fire suit for the weekend, so I can send the one I bought back unused, and install carpet before my next event.
I have carpet and the firesuit. The carpet with no padding is lightweight and quells some noise, vibration, and heat. I did also put some of the peel and stick Frost King foam/foil insulation on the package tray to help with the boominess of the sounds.
A lightweight, quality firesuit is worth its weight in skin grafts.
And it sets a good example for your students to put money in safety equipment. :shrug:
I have carpet and the firesuit. The carpet with no padding is lightweight and quells some noise, vibration, and heat. I did also put some of the peel and stick Frost King foam/foil insulation on the package tray to help with the boominess of the sounds.
A lightweight, quality firesuit is worth its weight in skin grafts.
And it sets a good example for your students to put money in safety equipment. :shrug:
I'm all good with your whole post. However, if reinstalling carpet doesn't change anything, there's no reason to spend the money. I wasn't able to get a definitive answer today. I asked the guy working the grid what I needed to do to my car so I didn't need a fire suit. He said if the interior didn't look like it came off the showroom floor, I'd need a fire suit. That's not how I interpret that sentence I posted from the contract.
I'm astonished at the inconsistency in safety protocols. VIR hasn't enforced this "rule" for the 13 years I've been doing track events. But now, I need a two-layer fire suit. I've been at an event where the club allowed short pants and short sleeves, but were adamant that people in convertibles had to wear arm restraints. Some clubs say both windows need to be down. Others state if there's no one in the passenger seat, that window can be up. The Audi Club wants to run with the windows up (and use turn signals for point-byes) because they think it's safer.
HPDE has been around for a long time. We should have this **** figured out by now.
Happens in pro level motorsports too. We'll have a pit lane attendant yelling at us for a foot on the wall while standing on a segway (since when are wheeled items allowed in hot pits), and in another instance we were required to have fire suits and closed visors while fueling, and a lady and her stroller walked through our pits.
No one group is going to be perfect, and no one group is all correct. Sometimes it's safer to have windows up, sometimes safer if they're down. In the end, the only consistency is your desire to be on track. So, do what you have to do to your car or yourself to be allowed on, and move on with your life. Personally, I wouldn't go on track without a helmet, hans, and at least a one layer fire suit. I've seen heater hoses explode, spewing hot coolant on the legs of a driver, and I've seen burns on a bare leg from exhaust heat.
02-14-2024, 01:11 PM
VIR and "track prepared" cars
0
