Postby Hasbeen » 31 Dec 2016 01:47
In 1965/6 I was racing a Lotus 20, Formula Junior, as was a good mate of mine. He had a very low speed accident, [under 40 MPH] when another car spun infront of him, hit the safety fence, & bounced back onto the track in a somewhat modified condition.
My mate ran over the mess, & was inverted & reversed in doing so. Colin Chapman's idea of a roll bar bent forward, over his head, holding him up so his head could not move. As his head was the lowest point the result was as you would expect.
A couple of years later another mate inverted a Lotus 19B down Conrod straight Bathurst, at pretty high speed. I doubt even a tin top with full roll cage could have saved him, the roll bar certainly didn't.
I have another couple of mates, who came out of their cars, [as did Stirling Moss], in quite high speed accidents, & were still around to tell the tale for some decades.
None of this proves anything. What will kill you in one accident will save you in a slightly different accident. However, badly built, inadequate roll bars are more likely to kill than save. The same goes for seat belts, again depending on circumstances.
I refused to drive a space frame F1 when compulsory seat belt rules started to be enforced. The decision should have been mine, not some faceless officials. I had another mate killed when his TR4, at very low speed, tripped, chucked him half out, then fell on top of him, all at about 10 MPH. That a seat belt would probably have saved him, did not mean one was suitable equipment in a light space frame car of my era.
I am not trying to change any one's opinion on safety, but please, if you fit a rollover bar, make it about twice as strong as you think is strong enough. Unless immensely strong, they are worse than useless.
Hasbeen
