818R Roll Bar

[Bob_n_Cincy]

I saw in interesting picture today of the blue/white 818R with a little hoop above the driver.
Bob
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=34404&d=1412659644

[FFRSpec72]

I saw in interesting picture today of the blue/white 818R with a little hoop above the driver.
Bob


Not sure why this was done but if it was done because the drivers head was not below the roll bar then this would not pass most race orgs as "The main hoop (behind the driver) must be the full width of the cockpit for all cars. It must be one continuous length of tubing with smooth bends and no evidence of crimping or wall failure. The main hoop must maintain a single plane."

[Santiago]

Surprised I missed that...

I think Blue #5 has an older bar design. The same set of pics also show the newer red mule, and it's bar looks decidedly taller:

34409

34410

At any rate, I agree, that doesn't look like it would pass tech. The only way I see it doing so is if the main hoop does pass in terms of driver clearance and they treated the extra bump as a builder preference for their own level of safety, in which case they may ignore the (non-tech req.) preference of the builder. Maybe.

I still think FFR knows folks in the tech shed. =)

Best,
-j

[Joe Scott]

Hey Guys, the older #5 blue car is still the original prototype chassis from a while back. the height of the roll bar on the red car is production. we added the little hoop bar just so Dave could race the blue car at VIR this last weekend.

[Jim Schenck]

The Blue car being the prototype has a lower main hoop than the production chassis (like the red one). Our usual driver John still clears that bar but since he was driving the red car now and we are putting other drivers in this car we added the hoop. It is legal like that because we are running the car in HPDE and occasionaly TT but not in the race group. The Red car has a NASA log book for wheel to wheel and is the car we will be using more going forward for testing purposes.

[Santiago]

Joe and Jim, I noticed that the red car has the passenger side cross bar. Some folks had asked for this as an option but were told it isn't on the production chassis.

Also, in the VIR video posted recently it looks like the red car also has an additional brace from the point that the additional passenger bar meets the door bar to some point in the forward chassis. Were (or are) these extra braces deemed unnecessary, precautionary, or for testing purposes? Curious to know what the current state of chassis development is on the car.

Best,
-j