New car-rules explanation

[willieworld]

no doubt the tech director sent you here to get you out of his hair ---quit trying to change the rules and go race thats what lsr is about ---------willie buchta

[wolcottjl]

Here is my 1/4 cents worth of commentary.  You have a new car, probably spent a good deal of money on it if it can go 150+.  You don't want to cut up the inside for a roll bar, but you still want to take it to 150MPH legally.  Heck we all want to that's why we do what we do.
So you are searching for a way to do it without the damage to the interior.  Good luck getting the information and convincing Joe and Kieth to let you run.  Personally I wouldn't do it.  Why?  I have 2 kids to take care of for a few more years.  A lot of people don't make it after crashes at speeds a lot lower than what you want to run.  As people have said the rules are in place to protect you.  Too many Darwin Awards type people out there that would run something silly and kill themselves if we let them (maybe we should to clean up the gene pool).  You can argue all you want about the 135 limit in relation to old technology and new technology for crash survivability.  I think that the rules were probably put in place to allow at least someone with a Hot-Rod to run and they needed to determine a cutoff for speed somewhere.  A lot of crashes are due to involvement with other vehicles, impaired driver, turns, road conditions etc....  Running at Maxton solves most of these possible accident causes.  Then throw in a tech inspection to do a double check on your vehicle and the odds are a pretty good but not infallible.  Is 135 safe for anything?  In the right instance, heck no.  You could have a deer run across the track at the right time with you running at 135, swerve hit the guardrail at the tower, and kill yourself quite quickly in the rollover, impact, endover etc, no matter what new car you are driving.  Personally I would either put in the roll-bar or find something else to run.

[LittleLiner]

Disclaimer – I am not an official of the ECTA and I do not have direct knowledge of how and why the rules for ECTA are setup. 

That said let me put in my 25cents worth on this.

I think that stretching the upper limits on allowable speed for cars that lack the required safety equipment is not good for the sport in general and certainly bad for anyone that suffers injuries in the process.

I don’t know where the 135mph rule at Maxton came from.  I am only guessing.  But there is precedence in the sport for this rule.  If you go to the USFRA web page you can link to the rule for the 130mph club competition at Bonneville held during the annual World of Speed event.  Or just click here http://www.saltflats.com/I30_Club_2009.html

Those rules have an upper limit of 139.999.   Maxton has a limit of 135mph for similar cars.  To allow for speedometer/tach accuracy you can bump that by 5 mph.  So running under 140 will keep you from getting kicked out of the event at Maxton.

I am fortunate to hold an ECTA record and I did it in a car that met only the 135 or less mph rules for safety equipment.  All I had was a long sleeve shirt, Snell Helmet and stock three point belt, stock seat, no air bags, no cage.  126mph in a 1994 Suzuki Swift.  I have since sold the car and am building a car that will be running slower than 135mph.  My plan was to race it with the stock interior and safety equipment.  But i have re-evaluated the whole deal and even though it would be permissable to run without it I plan to fully equip it with cage/fire system/racing seat etc even though the car will only run in the 90-110mph range.

Your proposed F Production car obviously has more crash protection from the factory than my car did.  However, where do we draw the line?   

If you want to race the car and don’t want to add the needed LSR safety equipment then I suggest you look at other venues like Drag Racing Brackets, AutoX, Roadracing Track Days etc where you might be able to enter without the extra equipment.

I respectfully wish you good luck and with your effort whatever you decide.

[tedgram]

  I am planing on putting in a 6 point roll bar with out removing the interior (roof liner) will have to cut the carpeting for the mounting points. Thinking swing out door bars is there any problem with that? Car is driven daily on the street may run just over 150 mph.

[jb2]

Are ECTA rules similar to SCTA in that the car has to meet the safety requirements for the class based on the record?

[Cajun Kid]

jb2,,,, not exactly,,, your car must pass tech for the maximum speed it can or you plan to run.  Then you are not allowed to run faster than the tech sticker on your car.

(you may be given up to 5mph)

In June my Vicky finally broke the 150 mph barrier (I was teched to 150)  So before I run again,  I have to bring the car's safety systems up to the 175 or beyond tech safety spec's

Or run "under the 150 tech limit"  my understanding is once I broke 150mph, I am not given the 5mph allowance... Plus, now I know the car can go that fast... I Want and NEED  the extra safety systems.

Hope that answers your question ?

Charles