Rollbar Specification Change for Wakefield and Nationals

[400TT]

You guys do realise that's basically the end of the GT40's competing. They go faster that the required time and roll bar is not 50mm above the drivers helmet, that's if they have a roll bar fitted.

Due to the placement of the roll cage in a GT40(in the front of the engine bay), the roll bar ends up slightly lower than the main roof height and I don't know of a GT40 in existence where the helmet does not press against or come very close to the roof. One of the GT40's that comes down to the Nationals from here even has a Gurney bubble(raised bubble in the roof) for the driver to fit in with a helmet on.

I was actually enthusiastic about fitting a roll bar to my GT40, got the rear clip cut out to fit it. But it's a huge job and due to the mounting available I'm not sure how structurally sound it will be. It's easy to get them fitted when the chassis is made and is now an option, but retro fitting them is a pain.

For a lot of Cobras, that big a change in roll bar height will mean the soft top no longer fits. And most Cobras do not have the structural mounts there to start with.

I agree you can't be too safe, but our usual Cobra manufacturers & fitters will not be able to fit these roll cage changes in before the Nationals. So that means running around using any tom, dick or harry.

I'm certainly going to push for pre-scrutineering to occur locally up here this year for the major items. Just too big a risk now to travel all the way down to the Nationals to get knocked back and not compete. We've taken the risk in the past and some members have had hassles, just not the ideal way to do it. We have skilled people like OzVenom, Warwick Harrison etc that are certainly capable of doing the scrutineering, but can we find someone skilled that has the time.

What should have happened was at the last Nationals, the scrutineers/committee should have inspected the vehicles in question, looked at what safety features they had and looked at how they could be improved and the problems/difficulties in doing so. Then supplying the new requirements 12 months in advance.

I know what the easiest option is, race on plain street tyres so that the times do not break 1.12 barrier. Is that safer than racing on track rubber, defintely not in my books. Or will they not bother attending, now that would be a disaster for the QLD club.

Lets just hope that if any changes are made, they are swift as this doubt is not helping enthusiasm for the event.