RE: Roll Bar vs. Harness Bar

[Mark Estes <mestes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Thomas, Well I can sympathize with your decision but in the end 
it's going to be your call. I can however share my own thought process
with you. I too started out doing open track and an autocross, when
I got hooked,  I debated getting a harness bar, roll bar or a 
cage. A harness bar is great for holding you in tight to the seat
during high speed corners so you can concentrate on driving instead
of holding on to the wheel. Roll bars are good for rollovers and to
boot they add some stifness to your body. But even with a padded roll
bar, without a helmet they can be at the least damaging or worst deadly
if you hit them with your exposed head. The harness bar on the other
hand can be bad also, in a rollover they don't allow you to slump over
in the event the top caves in. In effect your neck becomes the
supporting member of the roof (BAD!) With me anyway I decided to buy
a dedicated track car and install a full race legal cage, this made
my wife happy since if I didn't have her blessing on this new hobby of
mine I wouldn't be doing this anyway, And now a year later I have just
completed my Novice program in SCCA racing and will be doing four to 
five races + 4-5 open track events per year and am having the time of
my life doing it! Take care,

Mark Estes
BMW ACA, Portland.
'88 325is
'75 Mazda RX3
'98 Suburban 


>bars.  From what I can tell, the obvious advantage of the harness bar >is the ability to remove it and return the car to a stock look.  My >concern is being harnessed upright in my seat in the event of a >roll-over.  A roll bar would obviously be the best option in that >situation, but my concern with the roll bar is what the effect would be >on non-helmeted passengers (both front and back seat) in the event of >an accident on the street.  I would appreciate advice from anybody who >has had experiences with these devices.
>Thanks

>Thomas Thompson
>'96 M3
>BMW CCA National Capitol Chapter

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