Drag Racing Tech - Roll cage opinions from the fast cars

Trying to decide on whether or not to have swingouts on the roll cage I'm going to get built. The local shop has an awesome design that is a tight fit and works nicely. I've always thought that the moment connection would hurt stiffening the front/reat of the car. It's on it's way to a being a race car that will see the occassional cruise and wanted to get some opinions.

Thanks.

I like swingouts and it makes it nice if you need to take the seats in and out of the car. If you want, later on down the road you can always remove the swingouts or just weld them in place.

get them, I regret not having them now!!

This is pushing me in that direction.

Swingouts are the way to go!

Mark

I'm putting swingouts on my new Chromemoly rollbar we are building now :)

Didn't have em on my last bar...worst thing is that the paint on the door bars wear away down to bare metal leaving it kinda ugly :(

I'm a little surprised nobody has voted against. Would have guessed that PITA of not having them wouldn't have been selected over the stiffening effect for the launch.

I am paying more now to get them installed after the fact :(

If you happen to injure yourself ie: tweak your back or something similar...getting in and out of the car is nearly impossible!
Chris

ps- If you want to help stiffen the car throw in a set of 100 dollar MAC subframes :)

OK, I'll vote against it since it this is a safety item, and in a car that needs a roll cage you shouldn't be worrying about amenities, and emphasize safety.

But since I think you actually meant roll bar instead of cage, then the car isn't a serious car going that fast, and a bar with singout(s), is just fine. :)

OK, I'll vote against it since it this is a safety item, and in a car that needs a roll cage you shouldn't be worrying about amenities, and emphasize safety.



swingouts are legal for 7.50 and slower. After you go 7.49 you can't have them anymore. Thats the ET break when safety becomes #1 I guess ;)

Brian, Thats true, but if you had a vehicle trapping 145mph+, would you really want a weak point anywhere around you. ;)

not that I'm fast, but I wouldn't want swingouts in a racecar.

Maybe in a streetcar/weekend warrior/daily driver. but not a racecar.


I've never had swingouts, maybe I don't know what I'm missing :emb:

I have had both set ups.

I had a 6 point roll bar with swingouts. The swing outs constantly nicked my window tint. No matter how I tried I would forget and open the swing out too far and nick the tint. Actually I found them to be more of a pain in the arse than I thought they would be. Just one more item to batten down before a run.

I now have a 12 point roll cage. My chassie builder advised against swing outs for saftey reasons. They are a weak link. I find it very easy to get in and out of my car and I'm a big guy. Just have the side bars custom made. I'll post a pic of mine on my web site. Give me a few.
Tom

There you go. BTW this cage is NHRA certified.
Tom

I'm a big guy too, and my 6pt does not have swingouts, and has a standard height for the side bars. Yeah, I bump my ass on it getting in and out. But after doing it once, I became much more careful.
The other guys was right. If you have a sore back, it does make getting in and out alot more of a PITA. I twisted my back last fall, and got into the car easy. Getting out was alot more trouble. I guess you can say "screamed like a little girl with a skinned knee"

Wolfe makes his bars come down to where they are barely legal...come right to your elbow. This would be fine for something into the 9's. After that, I'd get a regular door bar.

I have the wolfe cage, I got the swing outs, but never use them to get in or out, Im only 150 lbs, My bigger friends use them and it does make working on anything interior wise much easyer. I would say get them and later on if need be weld them in.
Good luck

I have the wolfe cage with swingouts. I figure that they're there if I need them. I just slide over them to get in and out but they do make it nice if someone needs to get in the back seat or if I'm working on the interior or up under the dash.

Alright, now we're into some of the good, bad and painful of to have or not to have. I'm getting a real strong vote from two important players. My wife and chassis builder are both voting against swing outs. One says the safer the better, the other says the more rigid the better. Alright get your mind out of the gutter, we're still talking roll bars. Tom the roofer, your set-up looks nice, was originally thinking of something similiar.

What about Wolfe's low-slung side bars? Are those not NHRA legal? They appear to be low enough to easily get in and out of.

The one cool thing I liked about the swing outs were that you can totally remove them for street use if you continue to drive the car on the street. Then just toss them in on the weekend or while at the track.

I opted against them on my new cage just for the simplicity and structural integrity.

I'm six one and 240lbs. and get in and out of a PRO MOD, so get over it. If its a race car, suck it up and climb in. Street car swing outs are fine, but some of the new cages have that bar kick down so its alots easier to get in and out.