Re: lets get that rollover thread goin'!

[albert jenab <jenab@xxxxxxx>]

Hey Greg, are you part-owner in an organ bank or something?

Gotta agree with Duane here on this one.  There was another turn 4 incident at Summit a few years back involving two instructors in a 325 (if I remember correctly).  They got airborne then upside down and crushed the roof down to the doors.  They attributed their ability to continue breathing afterwards to the fact that there were no harnesses in the car.  Stock roofs are made to sort of handle gentle rollovers, not ones where you get seriously vertical before landing.

One other thing about harnesses.  You do any kind of heavy impact, front, rear, or side, and the loads get transferred to your neck much more severely than if you had stock belts.  Think about it.  Your body is held fixed in the seat and your head just keeps on going.  This is amplified when you are wearing a helmet (good reason to buy expensive lightweight carbon one).  So IMHO, neck collars are a necessity.  I end over ended a car  a couple of times a while back, and even with the collar, needed 3 vertebrae fused to fix the ol' neck.  No collar at the time would have meant no more breathing.  And the collars don't work without a full-face helmet.  So using harnesses on the street is REALLY stupid.
- -Al

At 12:22 AM 9/29/98 -0400, you wrote:
>Greg,
>
>I gotta take some issue here.  That is not BS. Not a figment of someone's
>imagination. Bottom line is if the car rolls hard enough, the roof comes
>down.  If you have big time comp belts on AND the roof comes down, then the
>top of your helmet is now the swivel point for the car.  Necks don't do that
>real well. Dave Hogg rolled his '98 M3/4 Sedan at Summit Point recently as
>you know and here's his description:

<snip>

>Duane Collie
>RM3DR1/UUC/PizzaFest 2 (good weather predicted so far!)
>

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