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Dang it. I've got a big pasture roping I'm in that weekend in Arkansas or I'd meet you out there. I don't team rope much anymore but this is a commitment I made last year. Let me know where you are going after that. Where are are you located?
I'm located in Kansas City, MO.
A bunch of us go to RPM in Iowa for their open track days on Friday's where there is no session's, $120.00 from 9am till 6pm. A group us met up there last Friday and ended up with 1 Cayman, 2 997's and 6 M3's and 1 e30. The track GM came over and thanked us. Lol
Even more Brilliant! It's current sponsor is all of the upgrades on the silver car. Lol.
Did you know a bolt in roll cage isn't really a roll cage and shouldn't be used for racing? Or at least that's what I've basically been told by multiple trusted sources. That a welded cage is much safer and offers much better rigidity and performance. Well crap it's always something.
So here's the plan. Innovative Autosports does a beautiful job on full SP996 conversions so I'm going to have them build the cage. They have to pull the roof and front and back glass to do it right so they I'm going to have them replace the roof with a Spec compliant sunroof delete and the back glass with lexan. I wasn't wanting to let them have all the fun so they've given me detailed instructions on how strip the rest of the interior prior to bringing it to them. I will do all of the AC delete, door and radio wiring removal all the way back to the connector, and strip the tar sound proofing. I'll still let them relocate the alarm module to under neath the dash and spot weld drill out a few extra pieces from the back seat.
And oh, by the way, if I can have it all done and down to them by Tuesday, they can finish it before Labor Day. Otherwise, I will have to wait until after race season. Guess I'm not going to be spending much time in the office the rest of this week.
I can definitely attest that a roll cage does not need to be welded to work, the regulations when I was rallying in the UK was for "foot plates to be welded and cages bolted through these. We had one huge "off" using a pile of logs as a launch ramp which you will see. We both survived, car not so much but it did still drive.
Here is a video of me (co driving) and the little Peugeot getting broken.
A welded cage will stiffen the shell more effectively but as with all things in life its about the detailing and how the cage interfaces with the cars structure.
I think the bolt in would be fine but I want to build this out the right way and not cut any corners, especially on safety. The guy doing it does amazing work and the nice thing about SP996 is it's not an endless pit. Even if I never race, at least I have some limits now to how far I take it. And if I ever sell it, the fact that it's built right and to a standard should have value to some people. Or at least that's my justification for the day.
Haha! Silly blokes. I took off some of the stripes to tone it down a little which has it looking even more British Air. Ugh, lol, ugh.
Now then about the diet, here's where we begin. Pulling the mufflers, brackets and getting a lightweight battery should be an easy 60-70 lbs. I'll have to work a little harder for the rest of it.
I think the bolt in would be fine but I want to build this out the right way and not cut any corners, especially on safety. The guy doing it does amazing work and the nice thing about SP996 is it's not an endless pit. Even if I never race, at least I have some limits now to how far I take it. And if I ever sell it, the fact that it's built right and to a standard should have value to some people. Or at least that's my justification for the day.
Custom weld in allows the cage to built around the drivers seating position and also adds more structural rigidity vs bolt in. Only reason to do bolt in IMO is for ease of reversing it. Obviously that's not gonna happen on this car.
Exhaust, AC, radio and speakers, interior and sound proofing, lexan, SR delete, battery and passenger seat should get you pretty damn close to the weight you want. Sounds like a fun project.
Yep!.... RPM doesn't look like to bad of a drive from OKC. I might try and make it up there this fall. Is it a pretty fun track?
A lot of the seasoned racers turn their nose up to it, but I like it. It must be fun as I can't stop going there! Lol It has a decent straight and a few challenging turns that I'm still working on.
It also has good run off so if you want to work on your late braking etc... there is very low risk of hurting you or your car.
"Why are you doing this to me?" Don't worry, everything is going to be fine. You're going to like the new you.... Making progess and amazingly it still starts.
07-13-2016, 05:27 PM
