skydragon

Humphh! 🙆🏻 😬

Massive commission, yes. 😬 If you want to use south korean products, rather than buy a proper motorsport tyre made in uk, then so be it... It won't be hot this year mate. I'm installing a propex gas heater in my trailer, rather than aircon. Along with the disco ball, flat panel tv and interior carpeting, the Gibbs Technology Cente will be the place to be seen this season 😬

Still early in the year I know...but BMTR have now got A24 compound ZZR's back in stock.

The Gibbs clan will be arriving by Thursday lunchtime, all being well.

Friend of mine is looking for a Duratec-based R300/400 or similar, in v. good condition. Preferably a clean, road use only example (not a SV) Cash waiting.... 😶‍🌫️

WD40 ?

Why don't you look at upgrading your existing car?

You'll need the prep kit too as this is part of getting an effective POR15 application. Another point to consider is that POR15 will not be jet black after drying and a bit of use. Therefore it's advisable (but not essential) to paint over the POR15 with satin black smooth hammerite after the POR15 has had a week to fully dry/cure. HTH

I think your level of head lean is quite unusual I agree Jez. I need to learn to keep my head upright, but there's definitely some physiological issue going on here where i always want to lean my head over when cornering (like it makes me go faster 😬 )....all part of being a feckin' nutter I guess 😔 😬 😬 Something to work on in the New Year along with sanity, patience, tolerance and my favourite... political correctness. I'm going to pad both sections of bar, but with something thinner than FIA padding. Safety devices sell a thin-wall cage padding made out of high-density polyurethane, so I'll give that a go. Edited by - skydragon on 4 Jan 2013 17:54:23

my Hillclimb Capri ( 5.7 v8 supercharged, side exit pipes, Woooahhhh!!! Have you got a link to any piccies/videos of the beast?

I don't reckon banging heads is too much of an issue I may be wrong Roger, but I think there has been a fatal accident due to this factor in the recent past. Driver killed, passenger disabled, hence why I made the remark. Willie - totally agree there needs to be a reasoned and balanced view and we shouldn't jump onto a topic for the sake of it, or all become H&S nerds. But conversely, when someone asks the question, I think it's sensible to look at the risks, so that everyone can understand/debate them and make their own judgement. ie. Sometimes people will do an activity without really knowing what the risks are. I'd hate for someone to suffer serious injury and then realise afterwards that they'd been taking an undue risk that they weren't even aware of. Your MG midget story is spooky. When I was in my early 20's and in RAF I worked for a while at British Aerospace in Stevenage. Coming up the A1 one day the traffic suddenly stopped as a accident had just happened. A MG midget was lying upside down in a field, smashed to bits. it was a good 100yds off the road and had rolled all the way there judging by the marks on the ground. Sat beside the road about 25yds into the field was the driver, who had been thrown clear of the car duirng the acciodent. I was one of the first people to reach him. He was badly shaken but conscious and talking, he had no apparent injuries apart from his head was split open, right down to the bone from his eyebrow, right up to the top of his head in a very deep wound. I remember thinking how bad it looked and guessed it must have been caused by the chrome windscreen frame. Your bolt head was probably the answer. Edited to add - I guess part of my viewpoint is based on having some past involvement in aviation. It's usual to openly discuss and review safety issues and more importantly accidents - the causes, effects and ways to avoid. It's proven a good way of helping progress flight safety. eg. One of my friends landed our (yes our) plane with the undercarriage up, causing significant damage. You could imagine this is something he wanted to hide due to great embarrassment. Quite the opposite - full official investigation, open discussions with other owners, pilots, press, etc, cause and effect, lessons learnt, new training procedures, etc - why? Because you will never learn otherwise.... 😶‍🌫️ Edited by - skydragon on 4 Jan 2013 13:50:40

I'll too have to enter through the top Ho, Ho, Ho 😬 give me a shout when you first try it, i need a laugh to brighten up these dreary winter days 😬

Now, Now, Now *nono* 😬 😬 I'll have you know the new diet and exercise regime is going well. I've got a feeling that adding thick padding to the hoop style rodasport cage means you have to enter/exit via the side rather than though the top, which is a no-no for me as i've got solid side doors now. Good news ref having the cage now fitted what type is it? Diagonal or Hoop? Interested to know if you could fit FIA padding (which I've just measured can add up to 35mm thickness) without it causing your race helmet to then knock against the outer bar (right shoulder side) Edited by - skydragon on 3 Jan 2013 22:26:19

Ian - Don't panic about this, it's just something to be mindful of and perhaps to review as you are doing. Ian, I'm a touch under 6" but i think the trunk of my body (arse to head length) is perhaps longer than the average 6 footer (??) I've just sat in the car in the garage (yes, sad I know) and tried some FIA padding. There is no problem using FIA padding on the inner hoop and I still have a fair amount of helmet clearance. But there is no way I could put FIA padding on the outer bar as my race helmet would constantly knock against it. The added complexity for me, is that with FIA padding around the inside of the hoop I wouldn't be able to get in or out of the car 😬 I need to look at something thinner to pad the bars.

Hi Jez, My car has a 'twin hoop' type roadsport cage on it and when I'm sat in the car there is well over 50mm between the top of my crash helmet and the top of the rear bar of the cage. As per MSA regs. The issue is, if I add thick padding to the cage hoops, as per FIA type padding, when I cant my head over it knocks against the underneath of the padding, which is bloody annoying. If you have a look at this piccie here you'll see what I mean. There is plenty of clearance, but not if i add 40mm or so of padding. There is nothing I can do in terms of seating etc to get further away from the cage, which is already a custom made job, approx 70mm higher than standard and I use Tillets on a lowered floor. I think this is a common problem with roadsport cages and you often see piccies of drivers with padding either side of their race helmet top ( like this random selected piccie here ) although my setup isn't as low as this, any contact would drive me bloody mad though as my race helmet would be continually banging against the underneath of the rollcage padding. I'm going to see if I can use some thinner padding type or cut down some FIA padding. Not ideal, but probably far better than nothing at all. Edited by - skydragon on 3 Jan 2013 21:40:33

Thanks for the confirmation Simon. That's great News, a 'new' double header *thumbup*

What I do find ridiculous is people who spend £700+ on a top-of-the-range helmet, then don't use FIA padding at all Agreed Roger. I'll admit that I'm one of the people who need to sort myself out in this regard. My cage currently has no padding on it, but will do come the new season (the car's off the road for the winter). My excuse so far has been I can't get the head clearance to use FIA padding (despite having a custom made taller cage). I need to experiment and work something out though over the next few months, so this topic is in my mind.

Hitting a padded rollcage wearing a decent helmet offers best crash survivability Hitting a unpadded rollcage wearing a helmet, is known to be fatal I'd guess bouncing an unprotected head off a padded rollcage isn't a great idea Let's not get onto the (separate) topic of HANS etc. Sticking on the question originally asked, the answers are all above.

Totally understood that many people wouldn't want the hassle of a cage and helmet, both from an experience and from a hassle perspective. But....that doesn't change the fact it is a way of gaining maximum protection. To draw a parallel, It's like those bikers who still wear full leathers on a hot summers day and avoid the temptation of donning jeans, trainers and a T-shirt. (BTW, I'm not criticizing anyone who chooses to drive a seven without extra protection, just pointing out some of the pitfalls of doing so. We all have to make our own judgement calls on risk versus reward) I think (rightly or wrongly) that a cage is possibly even more relevant on the road, where the chances of a really bad accident are probably higher than on-track. I also believe that it's quite probable I wouldn't roll the car in a accident, but the protection a cage potentially offers might help prevent injury should the car go under a lorry, through some thick hedging, if I collide with a motorbike, dog or deer, tree branch, etc. Richard, you need to make your own call on what risks you are prepare to take, but I'd suggest that using a cage without a helmet will ensure you suffer severe head injury or death, if you are involved in a bad accident. Let's take the following scenario. You are driving along the road doing 50mph and going round a wide sweeping bend, for no fault of your own a car pulls out in front of you. You brake and end up sliding the car sideways onto the front of a stationary car parked at the side of the road. Your car stops almost instantly. Your car's impact speed is less than 40mph. You are wearing a 4 point harness done up fairly tightly. The force of the impact throws you upwards and sideways, you are now 3 or 4 inches out of the seat and the G-forces mean your body weighs effectively 400lb. With this force your unprotected head impacts with the cross bar of the cage. You are dead. I cant really see that a cage in a 7 is any worse than the RAV same as an old Series 3 landrover I use to own, it hardly had a NCAP crash rating 😬. Chances are in a serious accident you'd suffer serious head injury if your head was whipped against the bar. I'd accept that risk based on the fact it was never driven fast and it's weight would probably mean any impact would be lessened for me. I had to accept however it was a crap car from a safety perspective and never used it that much.

I don't think there is a definitive answer to your question, as the outcome in an accident would depend on what the nature of the accident was and what physical loads were placed on you and the car during the accident, it is also affected by what harness and seat you have. A couple of points worth considering; - What kind of harness do you have in your car and how tightly do you wear it? Unless you have a six point harness and it's done up very tightly, you will probably travel out of your seat far, far, more distance than you think you would, in the event of an accident. (A 4 point harness is certainly better than a seat belt but it won't provide you with as much protection). - With or without a roll cage.If you have a passenger in the car with you. What will happen to your head when/if it collides with the passengers head during an accident?. - A decent helmet may help prevent injury and will certainly help prevent "damage to the head can easily occur in small accidents", but it will not necessarily save your life if your head impacts with a solid structure with sufficient energy. That includes the roll cage and a passengers head. My advice (and it's only my personal advise, based on observation and my own risk assessment) is to fit a cage, use a six point harness and wear a decent helmet. Also make sure any parts of the cage your head can impact with, are suitably padded. In my opinion (and it is only my opinion) you have four basic choices with a seven (there could be variations of these, but to highlight the risks I've shown the most obvious four). 1) Don't have any roll over protection 2) Use a roll over bar and don't wear a helmet 3) Use a roll cage and wear a helmet 4) Use a roll cage and don't wear a helmet Option 1 is madness IMHO as you have no protection. Option 2 is the norm, but you have little/no protection in the event of some types of impact and if you have a passenger in the car with you, I suggest the likelihood of serious head injury due to head-to-head impact is significant. I wonder how many Seven drivers consider that it may well be the passenger sat next to them, that causes severe injury in the event of a crash, rather than the car or another object? A good reason again to wear a helmet, even when a roll cage isn't in use. Option 3 is arguably the safest, but perhaps (in my opinion) only if a helmet is worn and a suitable harness etc is used. Option 4 is madness IMHO as the chances of you battering yourself to death as your head flails around in a bad crash is fairly high. Of course, most drivers (fortunately) never experience a serious impact and the above is not brought into force. But in the rare occurances when it happens, I'd suggest the above rings true. For me - driving a Seven fast without a roll cage/6 point harness/helmet would be like being one of these Greek motorbike riders you see on holiday...Suzuki GSX1000, no helmet, shorts, T-shirt and flip-flops...feels great, looks cool, probably never has a crash....but when he does have a serious prang it ain't going to be pretty 😬 😬 To serve as an example, have a look at this series of photos here this happened on the track, but it quite easily have been someone leaving a country road. The driver walked away with bruising. Almost certainly because of the helmet/cage/seat/harness in use. Hope this helps. Edited by - skydragon on 3 Jan 2013 10:13:59

The change in user name won't fool us class 4 boys and girls 😬 What you planning for 2013

In the boot

I've three nozzles ( I think this is factory standard) one above the DD-tube near the fuel pump, one in engine bay over induction side of engine and one in footwell (as Dave says) Edited by - skydragon on 23 Dec 2012 18:15:19

I collected my chassis from Arch yesterday Great news Richard Plenty of Christmas break fettling then. What colour is it (same as before?)

yea....a reckon a 'ripe' nomex suit would work well in that heat 😬 😬 😬