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Safety Matters in Motorsport |
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 Sheldon Talking about Roll Cages  Murray O'Neil discussing Harnesses and Seats  Inside Kim Naylor's Car  Dave Wilson's RX7  Phil Stewart's V8 Touring Car |
By Jody Seabright Wellington Car Club hosted a very successful Club Night on Tuesday 19 July. Held at the Rutherford & Bond Toyota workshops, there were more than 65 people there, looking at a number of cars on display, including the rather bent Toyota of Kim Naylor. With the theme of the evening to look at safety features in our race/rally cars, Kim’s Corolla was the first point of discussion. Looking at what features worked and what could have been better, the main discussion was on the roll cage, safety harnesses, battery box, and seats. An important consideration with Safety Harnesses is the locking mechanism and fixing points. With 4 point belts there is the possibility of “submarining” out under them, so 5 point harnesses or more (7 point are now available) offer better protection, as do wider belts to disperse the load in a crash. Also a cam-lock type coupling is better. With a tongue type (as on your road car safety belt) these are almost impossible to undo when they are under tension, as was found in Kim’s crash where the car (and obviously driver) were upside down. With Roll Cages, a number of points were made by Sheldon from Motorsport Developments. Although the basic designs shown in Schedule A of the Motorsport Manual are adequate (and the minimum requirement) there was a number areas that could easily be strengthened for little additional cost. This included gussets and triangulation bars to make the whole structure stiffer. And also consideration given to the mounting points so that the shell of the car isn’t moving differentially to the cage, not to mention the quality of the materials and the welding in it’s manufacture. Relevant points on these issues were shown on the 4 other cars there. Sheldon & Phil Stewart had Phil’s V8 Touring Car there and pointed out various features of what is approaching the top of the NZ motorsport tree. Don McLean had his Datsun 260Z there, which he has owned for 20 years and it has been through a number of improvements. It now has a very comprehensive cage, including a Nascar style ring attached to the main legs in the driver’s cockpit. Also there was Dave Wilson’s RX7 which is being rebuilt and is an example of a club car that has a number of enhancements to the standard design of a cage. Finally Alister Swan had his club Corolla there which has an “off the shelf” bolt in cage that has been re-engineered to be fully welded. With the more complex cages these are now being specifically engineered for the car and are supplied with structural calculations to show that they will be strong enough. Although this adds cost, it also improves safety and especially in V8 racing the cages are being used more and more to fine tune the handling of the car, making it an integral part of the cars performance. Seats and HANZ devices were looked at, with a sort video clip supplied by Racetech showing how even a relatively minor incident can throw the occupants around inside a car, even with all the required safety gear. The point being made that the MSNZ Schedule A requirements are the minimum (not the maximum), so the selection of the seat, how it is mounted to the car, and what head restraints are used, all add up to driver & co-driver safety. Always buy the absolute best that you can afford. The evening ended with Phil Stewart showing pictures of his car after the big accident he had at Pukekohe two seasons ago, where he was “T-boned” by a car at 160km/h. This showed what 42Gs does to a well built and strong V8 Touring Car and had many there thinking of taking up Tiddly Winks. The point again was that although Phil had a badly broken pelvis and other injuries, he is still here walking around and looking forward to a new season of racing. Wellington Car Club wish to thank, Kim Naylor for allowing his car to be looked at & for coming down himself. Rutherford & Bond Toyota for providing the venue, Sheldon from Motorsport Developments for bringing down Phil Stewart’s V7 Tourer, Phil for talking about his accident and what he is doing now. Also thanks to Don McLean for showing his car and providing the video projection equipment, Alister Swan and Dave Wilson for displaying their cars, and Racetech for bringing in a display of some of their safety products. |
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