provo

I heard a rumour that there were CAMS officials present at the Sandown meet and that they were concerned about the safety of modified GTR's in that the times they are getting, and speeds they are achieving are not far removed from racing/touring cars. They may be considering a ruling that full roll cages are to be fitted to modified GTR's. Anyone heard anything about this???

From todays Age Newspaper.....

'fraid so

Cheers Andrew, The tyre pressures and trailer hook-up (ride height) were checked by the trailer hire guy. I guesstimated there was between 100-150kg of weight on the tow ball (it's recommended that you have 5-15% of the weight being towed on the tow ball), I stopped twice between Ararat and Ballarat to check that nothing had moved, and the car was tied down with webbing and rope plus the steel winch cable. I was cruising along at 90-95km/h and everything was handling fine until the long steep downhill section at Pikes Creek on the Western Hwy when the fishtailing started, and didn't stop despite attempted acceleration (the suggested method of correcting this problem). Apparently, it is legal to tow up to 1.5 times the mass of the towing vehicle with a braked trailer - not that I'll ever try this again - the car will be delivered straight from the repairers to Racepace by truck! Most importantly, AAMI (Ford) and Just Car Insurance (GTR) have covered the damage. Though I'm sure the insurance on the GTR will skyrocket next time the policy is up for renewal.

No, the only WRX track meeting i've been to was Sandown in June. Cheers, Neil

When I say "relatively'', if it was a commodore and not a GTR, it would have been about $12,000 to fix, but because of the price of parts etc on the gtr you can multiply by about a factor of 4! All panels down the passenger side rooted, nose ripped off (going to put a nismo front bar on as a replacement), passenger side suspension components damaged etc.

Thanks Aaron, The ford was good - allowed me to get out of this scrape with minimal injuries - but as for the "sexiest" 4-door, I'm not so sure

Errr Hi everyone, It is my GTR. the accident happened a couple of weeks ago, and the only one injured was me - torn muscles in my back and neck (pretty much better now). The car is not written off. In fact the damage was relatively minor and she should be back on the road hopefully by the end of August.

Ooops - right colour, wrong model - BBGTR did express some relief after that sprint session - it was amazing that there was no serious damage done

Must have been a WRX then, suppose I was crapping myself too much to take it in - just shows how reliable eyewitness accounts can be under stress

Good to see so many skylines tearing 'round the track. Twas my first track meeting with WRX/SAU, and first time at Sandown, hope to get to a few more rounds. The flaggies/officials were fantastic braving the arctic weather. My best lap was a bit off the pace at 1:25.19 but seeing as I'm an old fart (relatively), new at this game, and was only hoping to get under a 1:26 it was "mission accomplished" . Congratulations to the guys for all the PB's. Sorry about the "anxious moment" near turn three when I nearly t-boned a black R34, one of the 3 cars (which I joined ) spinning in front of me. My car seems to have developed a problem ?? turbo oil seal given out at the end of the meeting - using about 600ml oil per 100km! Blue smoke from exhaust etc. Taking it to Ben the GTR-meister for diagnosis and management next week. Cheers, Neil ?? See you guys at Winton

SAU Nickname: provo Car Make and Model: 1999 R34 GTR V-Spec Circuit Name: Sandown (11/6/2006 WRX/SAU Sprints) Lap time: 1:25.19 Modifications Engine: N1's, full Nismo Weldina exhaust, ECU Power: 307 rwkW (Racepace) Suspension: stock Tyres: 265/35 RE55s Brakes: stock Brembo's, Endless CCR pads

Here's the pics....

For manufacture and installation of the harness bar (which took several hours) it was just over $600. It's an extremely robust installation and all you can see of it once the parcel shelf is back in is the eye-bolts. Meridian haven't e-mailed me the photo's yet - I'll post them as soon as I get them.

After much deliberation....whether or not I wanted to lose the rear seats (still have enough kids at home that rear seats are useful), relative safety of harness v's 3-point std belt with/without roll cage, nasty photo of WRX rollover with uninjured driver etc etc etc. I decided to go ahead with the 4-point harness. Initially I mounted the shoulder straps to the rear passenger seatbelt mounts but likewise, found the angle was too acute. A trip to Meridian yesterday resulted in a very neat installation of a harness bar under the rear parcel shelf, with just the eye bolts poking through. If anyone is interested, Meridian took some digital photo's of the install and I can post them here when they e-mail them to me. Tried out the harness at Calder today and it felt much much better cornering with it on (hope I never have to find out how much safer it is!). Cheers, and thanks to everyone for their contributions in this thread.

PS - photo looks fake

Amazing photo - if the driver got out of that with no roll-cage and only a harness you've convinced me!!! (Talk about "A picture says a thousand words"). A couple of Q's to Andrew.. Do you have a roll cage in you car? If not, what sort of harness will you be fitting, who will fit it for you, and is such a thing street-legal? I've seen some ingenious roll over protection fitted to cars (not a full cage) which offer some protection and preserve rear seating - do you know of any GTR's fitted out like that, still allowing the rear seat to left in place? Cheers, Neil

On review, this topic seems to be quite contentious. As far as I know, there are no scientific studies one way or the other concerning the safety of harnesses with or without roll cages, but the rationale for fitting the harness only when coupled with a roll cage is along the lines of my previous post. This is not only my opinion but seems to be a concern raised by several others... "The rationale is that in a rollover, the racing harness will not let you get your head out of the way by bending over to the inboard of the vehicle as you could with a stock street seatbelt." http://www.motoringfile.com/2004/09/14/sch...em_for_the_mini "Harnesses have their own drawbacks. First are roll-over concerns. You should NEVER, EVER use any 4, 5, or 6-point harness in your vehicle without a roll bar. In the event of a rollover a multi-point harness will hold your body upright as the roof collapses on your head. At a minimum you should use a good 4-point roll-cage to help prevent this from happening. The stock 3-point harness, however, does not suffer from this problem. During a rollover accident it will allow your body to move downards with the roof in most cases, helping to prevent crippling neck and spinal injuries." http://www.corral.net/Tech/Interior/CG-Lock/Page_02 Cheers, Neil

Because, when you are firmly secured in your harness, your shoulders are fixed and your head, pivoting on your neck becomes the highest part of the interior of the car unless there is a roll-cage installed.

IMHO unless you have a roll cage fitted, it is risky/unsafe to strap your self upright in a seat with a harness.

SAU Nickname: provo Car Make and Model: 1999 R34 GTR V-Spec Circuit Name: Phillip Island (11/12/2005 AROCA sprints) Lap time: 1:53.97 Modifications Engine: N1's, full Nismo exhaust, ROM-tune ECU Power: ?? Suspension: stock Tyres: 265/35 RE55s Brakes: stock Brembo's, Endless CCR pads First full track day.

My plates just arrived... "GZ1LLA" Took about 5 weeks because Vicroads were having a debate over whether or not to keep issuing plates where a 1 replaced an I where the full alphabetical plate was already in circulation!

Dear All, Thanks for a great cruise. Nice to meet some of the faces behind the forum usernames and see their AWESOME cars. Sorry I had to depart early but I had to be back in Ararat before the kangaroos come out. Hope to catch up with you all again. Cheers, Neil

Looks good, well done. Here's my baby... http://img63.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img63&image...=gtr021b5sj.jpg