rmag

James- I'm in Mclean, so not that far. If you want, come on over sometime and I can show you how the install goes. Also, if you interested, and don't already have one, I'm going to put my Cab Tequipment bar with cross brace up for sale soon...because getting rid of the turbo (my GT3 arrives in a few weeks)

Maybe we'll even break out a stopwatch for Dell

Hey Dell...you run with the top down at the track(with arm restraints)?

996 Convert

Ryan, that's perfect. I was going to wait for the next DE season to get a rollbar, but this works for me. When's a good time for you? I go to McLean pretty much every weekend so just let me know. Shoot me a pm and let's figure it out. Congrats on the GT3. You must be chomping at the bit.

LVDell

Good one

Nope. And matter of fact, up until recently I ran with the hardtop on as well for added safety. But after thinking about it, the hardtop adds 74 pounds in the absolute worst place possible (top of the roof) so I ditched that and go with the ragtop instead.

I can't ever imagine running with the top down. At least with the top up I feel as if I am in a coupe and "feel" much safer.

LVDell

Ryan, my family is in McLean and I used to be in Falls Church. Absolutely love it there and was going to move back after our 4 yr assignment to Vegas but the traffic was just to much to bear so the wife and I chose the Raleigh area. The Raleigh suburbs reminds us of the beltway but without the traffic. Plus we are a very close 4 hours by car form there so we go back often to visit family and friends.

996 Convert

My first DE was with the Ferrari of Washington and the required all cabs to be run with the top down. I don't think anyone had arm restraints. It was pretty thrilling and you are ceratinly very aware of your surroundings. At my next event (PCA), it was top up only and I felt like I was in a cocoon. Not sure how much that canvas would help if the unthinkable happened. If anything, I would think the pieces in the top mechanism could break and do more harm than good.

LVDell

req'd to run with the tops down??? confused on that one. But then again, I have never understood the F-Car guys at the track. Hell, they stopped letting us run with them at their events since they didn't like that we have more than a couple cars per run group and could throw debris. Bsaically, they were Sunday drivers on a close course. Wussies.

996 Convert

Yeah, I was surprised too. But a lot of the guys were driving their cars pretty hard. I went for a couple of laps in thie one guy's gallardo se and he was driving the **** out of it. That car is amazing. There were also a couple of 996 cup cars in the black/red group that were stinking fast. The fastest car was the FoW race 430 which was pretty sweet. They would run that thing at random times and once it was on the track at the same time as me. Picture a green as green can be noob giving the point by to this beast that came out of nowhere.

rmag

PCA Potomac makes you run top up unless you have arm restraints. Didn't know the rule about arm restraints until last event when I saw someone riding in their cab with top down. The "feel of speed" at 140-150mph down the straights must be quite a difference with it down.

rmag

Yep -Traffic here sux...only place to really open the car up is at the track! The double hydro clutch on the turbo made it a little easier on the leg (but clutch has no feel to it)...but going to get a good leg workout with the GT3

LVDell

Good workout to have Ryan

rmag

Dell - We just got James rolllbar installed! A couple things we found out. It takes longer to put a bar in the first time, then subsequent times. The side carpet and liner end up getting compress once the rollbar is installed (see pic below). So once this is compressed by the bar (after it sitting in the car for a couple weeks probably), to put the bar back in, it lines up perfectly and the front bolts just slide in. We tested this on my car and to put the bar back in and it literally took only a few minutes. However, Installing it in James car was a bit different. It took over an hour We struggled getting the front bolts to align (and after reading your experience, we were extremely carfeul not to strip the holes...) We did figure out a tip, which if people do when they install the bar for the first time, it shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour.

Huge time saving tip:
We noticed that when installing the bar, the front bolts actually needed to to go in at an angle vs straight in. Angle meaning (from left to right), the tip of the bolt actually needed to be angled more towards the front of the car. To accomplish this, without the rollbar in, we put the long bolts into the front holes and screwed them in pretty good. We then took a hammer and hit the side of the bolt until, instead of going in perpendicular to side of the car, the bolt went in at an ever so slight angle. (Hit the bolt tip towards the front of the car). After we did this, we dropped the bar in, and the bolts almost immediately caught. We spent over 40 minutes trying to get the bolts in before we did this and got nowhere. Afterwards it took maybe 5 minutes per side

Anyhow his car looks sweet with it in

LVDell

Awesome to hear! Did you use a stopwatch?

All kidding aside. That is really good to hear and gives me hope that maybe I can remove and re-insert. Just not ready to take that plunge yet but will think about it. Great write-up

rmag

One better...we hired a certified offical timer

LVDell

996 Convert

Damn Ryan, beat me to it. Thanks again for your help. Great write-up. Better than I could have done.

It certainly seems like a 30-minute job on subsequent installs, especially with two people. Taking it out is literally a 10-minute job, as even a novice such as myself could do it alone in 10 minutes (I have guests visiting from out of the country and had to shoehorn four people into my car). Also, the compression that Ryan mentioned will occur within 24 hours. Incidentally, although I had bought a ratcheting strap, I forgot to put it on when I was taking the bar out, but it was not a problem getting it out. I'll see if it is still necessary when I install it for my next track day in a few weeks.

Dell, I don't know how your shop gets away with charging you for three hours, but Ryan and I will only charge you for two next time you're in McLean!