Some interior/safety mods

[TomK]

Some may remember a pretty big 'moment' I had a while a go in the last combe video I posted. If not suffice to say I was a bit lucky loosing control of the car at over 120mph with a wall not very far away at all. It focused my mind on what was important to me, being alive and safe. The car now gets used 90% of its life on track so I decided upon installing a cage and some proper chassis mounts for the lap belts of the harnesses.
It's still a work in progress with regards to getting what trim I can back in but I'm pleased with how it's turned out so far.
1st off was to start getting rid of superfluous harness wiring to the bulkhead and removing the amp and brackets etc...

You can see here perhaps how the lap belts were secured to my original spaco seat via the seat mounts which is not ideal. The shoulder mounts also were mounted to the bulkhead providing a not ideal angle to the shoulder.

More clearing

There are 2 real options available for these cars when considering a half or full cage. Weisachs offer a bolt in option that keeps the original bulkhead and wraps around the trim. The issues with this was that to me the way it bolts to the rear arches is a poor (necessarily compromised) design, on the plus side though it is no doubt safe enough and does allow the retention of the 3 point belts tgat are housed in the bulkhead. On consideration I decided to get a custom cage built and remove the bulkhead completely, it allows for a far better design that ties into the rear strut towers and I'd also invested in some tillett b6 screamers that are not suitable for 3 point belts anyway.
So cue a long trip up to Preston to sw motorsports who I had found previously on the Internet having built a time attack series Z4MC.
Couple of weeks later I came back to this..

It's a half cage bolted into the rear turrets and welded in plates with studs at the front. It's a good solution for me as at some point I may take it to a full cage which means that this work won't be wasted.

Got it back to glos and set about getting the tillets in.. Which took hours obviously, right faff to get them right.


And a bit of tidying up back there..

All in all I'm super happy, went on track again last week and it felt great, seats are fantastic and very low (actually maybe too low), and I felt very safe which I guess was the whole point of this exercise

 

[beanie]

Cage looks great and those seats are something else 8) Definitely a good move for a car that lives on track

Given all your mods I wonder what it weighs now?

 

[MrPT]

That's a really clean looking job.

 

[buzyg]

That's going to be cracking lad.

 

[Mr Tidy]

That's looking great as a track-focussed car - enjoy!

 

[TomK]

Thanks for the positive comments guys I have to say I was a bit apprehensive putting it in for the chop, but it was the right thing to do for me, I have a little daughter now and safety has been bumped up a whole lot in the priority list! It's also been quite cathartic in that I'm now way over the point of worrying about whether I would ever return the car to stock etc.. that definitely ain't going to happen now

Cage looks great and those seats are something else 8) Definitely a good move for a car that lives on track

Given all your mods I wonder what it weighs now?

I last had it weighed when corner weighting it early this year. iirc it came in at about 1370kg with around 3/4 tank. Normally adding a cage would add weight of course but in this case we think the net result will be a weight loss, that bulkhead weighs a ton, and the layout of the chassis lends itself to a simple yet strong cage. The 1370 number still had a standard passenger seat in so I would expect to be sub 1350 now. I'll know the exact figure in a few weeks. It goes well for sure, I was at a trackday last week with a friend who has a 997 gt3rs and there was nothing in it even in a straight line, it's for sure faster than another chap I know who had his gt4 there. Impressive what these cars can do with a little (ok lot of ) tinkering

 

[crustyclown777]

I love it without the rear wall. I kinda want to chop mine out, only to create a larger boot area. But it’s a one way process ha.
Looks very smart though. Enjoy.

 

[MrPT]

Normally adding a cage would add weight of course but in this case we think the net result will be a weight loss, that bulkhead weighs a ton, and the layout of the chassis lends itself to a simple yet strong cage.

It really does. The coupe contains all of the additional steel required to properly brace the roadster and I’m sure it won’t suffer from losing a few chunks here and there. In practical terms you barely lose anything, unless you were particularly attached to the subs or rear storage bins! Crusty’s right, it actually looks better now.

 

[TomK]

Normally adding a cage would add weight of course but in this case we think the net result will be a weight loss, that bulkhead weighs a ton, and the layout of the chassis lends itself to a simple yet strong cage.

It really does. The coupe contains all of the additional steel required to properly brace the roadster and I’m sure it won’t suffer from losing a few chunks here and there. In practical terms you barely lose anything, unless you were particularly attached to the subs or rear storage bins! Crusty’s right, it actually looks better now.

Indeed, the bit that was cutout I would say was hardly structural at all when you look at it properly, the strength lies in the floor pan. The cage will also certainly add stiffness back to the chassis.
The main practicality you do lose though, and it's a big one, is the ability to run 3 point belts (and that is also most likely why the piece cut out is so heavy as it needs to support the load)... That'll kill the idea for most I suspect.

 

[RedUn]

Looks great Tom! Fair play to you for going to the next level you could run slicks now you have a cage? 8)

 

[Vanne]

Nice job Tom, looks great and i bet will give a lot of confidence. Good choice on the chairs mate. top notch.