Safety suggestion for roll cage
 

I've installed the front section of the cage in the GT3, and was contemplating on how safe it is to drive with it (on the street) without a helmet.

Removing it every few days is too much work.

After removing the oem Porsche cosmetic sleeve/padding that covers the cage (and offers no protection whatsoever), I experimented with sfi/FIA approved padding, which are safe when wearing a helmet but they are like hitting a rock, too dense and very hard.
Also they are bulky and thick, sometimes cheating the space needed for the helmet to clear the cage/padding. For example, with my height I always had a problem with the seating position and although, in an effort to gain some headroom, I 've installed lowered seat mounts and removed the sliders, still in case of a crash I don't think I would avoid hitting them with the helmet.

Recently, I found a product that you can check here http://www.stbarinc.com/orange-aid/index.html *no affiliation

I think that this is what I was looking for, it is still sfi approved (whatever that means :) ) , you can use it with a helmet, it's thinner, and it's pliable enough to press it with one finger. Although its compound is softer and thinner it performed very well in the published tests.
I gained some room for the helmet and I think that hitting this without one, wouldn’t be so dangerous as hitting the hard padding, the hard side plastic lining of the roof or ,of course, the naked bars.




Here are a few photos of the product together with some ideas of my own for installation and a small comparison with a regular sfi – fia padding .
Mainly I didn’t like the idea to glue it on the cage with cyanoacrylate glue as suggested by them and also hate its orange color..

So, I ordered some plain thin padding cover from OMP but instead of ordering the regular 40mm one, (40mm is the thickness of the cage bars) I went for the 50mm.
I cleared the back of the orange padding with aceton and placed 3M double sided tape, then I stuck the padding in the bar and rolled over it the black 50mm OMP sleeve that snags it perfectly for the oem cage padding look. ( No zip ties etc. )



I hope that this helps those of you that have the front cage installed and sometimes drive your cars without a helmet.

thanks for the post. i need thiner padding around the cage in a section where it squeaks from rubbing the interior plastics.

if you drive with full cage on street with no helmet you should wear harness to keep you in place as best as possible in the event of accident.

Me thinks it's unsafe even with that padding. Who knows how hard of a hit u get god hopes it doesn't happen. Wearing a harness wo a Hans another chance u take if your head snaps forward. Why not buy those Harley davidson minimal helmets. Looks
less odd then wearing a full face helmet in the street. Mike

tcs thanks.

Mike, helmet on the street is not permitted. I agree about the HANS but the schroth ASM Pattent on the 6 points minimizes that risk.
It's not perfect but with this setup I feel more comfortable and I think that it's far safer than the plastic oem pillar covers or my x wrangler's street legal roll bars..:D

lets see some pics!

Stay tuned for pics next week after I finish attaching to the cage the 40mm omp door side bars i just bought..

Wouldn't the airbag prevent you from heating the roll bar too hard? (at least the front one)...

Yes theoretically it would but the airbag is fully opened for a second.. So if you crash and the car continuous to move or roll, airbag is out of the game.. So yes and no together.

installed
 

It was easy to install except for the fact that I had to use talcum powder to make the 50mm sleeves pass over the orange aid padding.
Also at each end, I used a Porsche fabric tape for preventing the soft sleeves from tears.

The door bars installation I will post in the 996gt3 forum in due course.

That looks very tidy. I imagine for rules, you'd need to cover the A pillar segment and the cross bar above the seats. I'd also put a cover over the bolt-together joint and close up the gap between the roof rail and the cross bar.

Thanks for the product info. Eventually I'll wise up and put in a full cage and one of the points of procrastination has been the problem you've addressed. Thanks!

Thanks for the comments!

I 'll cover the A pillar once I finish welding the side bars, and after adjusting the roof bolt joint I ll cover that little gap too.
Above the seats I didn't think it was needed to cover it but maybe I am wrong.

John

It looks very neat, can you still lower the sun visors?

Which sunvisors? The ones that weigh 1,2 kg? :D



ps. If for an unknown reason you want them installed when you have the front part of the cage, you have to have them always down with or without the padding.

Bit of a thread bump, just bought some of the 'orange-aid' Slow used in this. Has anyone else done this with additional tips/ parts since 2010?