johntorg

Some other examples of Redneck ingenuity

mark kibort

winders would critzize any fix that didnt cost $5k to be fixed by someone else. He went off on me because my seat , properly installed was too inclinded, BUT he is going easy on YOU! i dont think that glowing red hot muffler will hurt that nylon strap, do you???

winders

Mark,

You might want to check your Hans Device thread again. I did not "go off" on you regarding your seat. Other folks did and you deserved it.

I don't care if me not wanting to be on the track with a 944 held together by nylons straps bothers you or the OP....

Scott

4WHLDRFTN

NOT THE HANS AGAIN,,,,,

mark kibort

doesnt bother me, and it is a valid concern. compared to using all FAI equip, properly installed, this is a world apart as far as safety. personal prefernce, vs dangerous. so, i didnt deserve that. sure, you can always be safer, especially if you have the bucks, but my racing is on budget and fits all club racing rules for safety. i thinking using a sinch strap , 1" above a exhaust pipe, holding up a major structure of the car, is streatching it a bit!
for the drive home, yes, on the track, no.

I remember a points race i was in where my competitor had a busted wheel. i was racing against Pobst in the GAC M3, and was trying to keep up,when my computer left me on th emain straight. the broken wheel guy was in the pits. I figured it out, loose main plug from the rattling of the new birms at laguna, and started the car and took off. the broken wheel guy, wth a wheel barely hanging on by hits hub, cracked all the way through and moving! tookoff and chased me. theoretically, he had to be on the same lap as me, or i would beat him in points.. that kind of STUPID stuff, sometimes gets past the officials due to their man power to officiate. the guy ended up finishing the race with no incident, but that kind of stuff can kill someone!

winders

Okay, you have misspelled it too many times for it to be a typing error: it's FIA, not FAI....

Scott

67King

If this picture is of you, it does not:


PCA Club Race rules, page 6, paragraph 14 state:
"The headrest must extend above the midpoint of the back of the helmet on the vertical plane of the seatback with the driver in the driving position."

I don't know why the F&^% you are so defensive about people looking out for your safety. If you don't give a ratt's butt about it, maybe you should choose a different sport with less stringent requirements. Perhaps you ought to listen to people giving you advice, and you'd learn that the reason you find your HANS so offensive is that your whole restraint system is not properly installed.

mark kibort

you guys shouldnt get your panties in a mess without understanding what you are looking at. all the belts are new. all are affiixed with the greatest care.

this is not driving position, because i have one arm up and taking a picture, and sitting kind of high in the seat.. in driving position, that back of the helmet midpoint is below the seat back. im only 6ft tall. the guys jumped all over this.

I think the main objective of folks here is to be know it alls, i dont think they care a rats *** about anything but their own views being heard to feed their egos. I would hope to be wrong and a few do, such as myself when giving advice on safety issues.

you for example are talking about the "entire restraint system not properly instlaled. really?

stand up and own up to what you are talking about. belts are, in always, to the exact spec of the hans and rule book.
3" apart. less than 20 degree angle sholder to attachement points , FIA belts (YES WINDERS<ITS A TYPO. I RIP THESE POSTS OFF a little quicky between work stuf, so get overyourself, MS spelling bee)
so, if my belts are so improperly installed, lets hear about it. so far, nothing have indicated such. angles and distances , asside from the sinch brackets , which should be only 2 " from the bottom of the HANs might be off a little, and thats a moot point because im re installing new belts as these are out of date now. the car has never failed a tech, in 12 years, and SCCA is pretty good about their anual inspections. (so was WCGT when i ran those races)

I just got off the phone from a buddy of mine, whos BMW has been built by a good pro shop, and he has the same complaints i have about the HANS. we were laughing as the guys here are in denial. the hans without the wings is a pain in the butt, because his belts slide off and he moves around a little more than before HANS. He got his in '05 as well, and his seat is much newer now., and is full containment.. its kind of hard to get out of the car with the hans on, as the back catches on stuff as you egress. guys, im just providing feedback. I may seem like im a short cut artist, but im not . I do the best for what i can with the funs and resourses available, and i think many know my car and me, say its a safe set up.

to your point, im bringing it up to discuss it, not to get blasted by guys that are "used " to the fit of the old HANS. good suggestions were made and im taking that information to make the fit better. currently, its all legal and correct.

Ill post another picture with someone else taking the picture of the positon of the helmet and the top of the seat. (if that is your only complaint)

Thanks for your comment though, I do appreciate the discussion and can take the ribbing, to a point.

Sterling Doc

There is not a big enough facepalm out there. Holy thread derailment.

Back on topic. The failure mode of this "fix" is not dangerous, and it was effective, so it was a nice save.

One other way to fix this is to urethane in the stock mount. We just changed 944 Spec rules this year to allow filling in the "windows" of the stock mounts to prevent (or treat) this type of problem.

johntorg

At last a voice of reason. BTW, I took the picture after I started to loosen the straps. They held the torque tube perfectly tight for the entire 17 lap race. I finished 2nd out of 5 in GTS2, At the risk of even more flames, here is a link to the video of the race. The little red car is a Megabusa, which drove me crazy for most of the race. I really have to learn how to stay ahead of a car that is much faster on the straights and much slower in the corners.

johntorg

why don't you tell me how you really feel?

67King

Mark, clearly we aren't the one with our panties in a wad. You've been told everything that is wrong with your system, and you show pictures trying to elaborate, then get mad when we don't know it is not a representative picture. In a thread you hijacked. Not to mentoin the fact that you accused the device of being poorly engineered and the mandate to use it a farce, when it is clear you don't know how to use it (and would rather just trash it than learn the proper way).

Your adjustment bars are rigid. The belts need to wrap around the device to work properly, but the rigid adjustment bar won't let them. You also need sliding tethers. I have an older HANS without the lip, and until this week, had 3" belts. If you move the belts so the adjustment bar is lower and buy some sliding tethers, you will find the HANS to be imperceptible after you've been belted in for a couple of minutes.

Back to the OP - John, what exactly failed? I know my first reaction was incredulity, as I thought one of the hard parts broke (mount on the chassis, or the brace that hold the spring plate in place and mounts to the chassis. It sounds like what broke was rubber, and what you did just made it more rigid. World of difference between the two. I still can't tell you I thikn the block of wood was a good idea, since it presumably had no positive retention feature (i.e. only held in place by being clamped between two pieces).

johntorg

This will be my last post on the topic. it has been amusing to see the reaction from all of you.

First The rubber in the mount apparently disintegrated allowing the transaxle to move all over the place.

For those ignorant (and that applies to some of you) of the mechanics of the 944, this does not cause catastrophic failure, since the transxale remains firmly attached to the bellhousing and torque tube.

The straps are not holding anything in the car, they are keeping the tranaxle from moving around.

For the member who commented the the solution had to do with being too cheap to replace the part, please read the original posting. No mounts available. I came to race and this was an effective and available solution.

Would I do it again? In a heartbeat.

For those of you who worry that a car that is not 100% as the factory intended might disintegrate in front of you, I suggest less demanding sports, perhaps knitting or synchronized swimming.

That's my last cup of gasoline for the fire.

67King

John, had you stated that the RUBBER failed in your OP, I think the response would have been significantly different. The only thing about which we were ignorant was interpreting what you meant by the term "mount." The term "bushing" would have been unambiguous.

mark kibort

sorry to hijack , ill restart a post to find out what points you are trying to make, using this post above.

the adjustment bars are in spec, and i dont mind not having the sliding tethers, as that is not the issue at all. its how you are bolted to the seat.
all angles are pefect, distances are perfect and the only thing that was true by anyone's assesment, was that the seat was too short, actually, in reality, it meets that spec too.

Ill post some pictures.

carry on with this at-the-track, synch down strap save!

Mark