Roll bar/cage restrictions

[TouringBubble]

From what I have read, there is really nothing in the rule book about cages. It says if you have one, reference specs in another series.

Given the suspension setup of the Beetle, I'd really like to tie the roll bar in to the suspension to increase rigidity. The suspension is not connected to the body, so this would require attaching the bars to suspension directly and not just to a shock tower or similar.

Anyone have problems with this?

Mod Rear car in case someone doesn't know ...

[DrewsiferxXx]

"The suspension is not connected to the body"

so the car floats? (sorry natural born smart ass)

directly to a leaf spring mount?
or did you say it has independent rear suspension? got a suspension Diagram?

[TouringBubble]

Lol ... exactly.

It's IRS. Looks like the suspension is part of the chassis/frame which the body bolts to.

Here is a diagram of the Ghia which is set up exactly the same ... You can kind of see what's going on.

[TouringBubble]

Here is the rear suspension by itself. Nothing attaches directly to the body itself ...

[slowautoxr]

Sounds like you're taking advantage of rule 6.2.E.7 and 8.

[DrewsiferxXx]

Yeah looking at it, seems you got free reign there.
There's a line about not weakening the structure, but you should be fine there.

Again, the suspension set up looks like an old subie....
I got struts that connect to the chassis, but those control arms are similar.

[DrewsiferxXx]

are no disk brake upgrades available?

you need a wrx engine at that red circle....
the starter hole even looks the same!
lol



maybe weld your cage near the green circles? that big tube looks like a great place to attach stuff!
i assume that has a torsion bar in it?

[TouringBubble]

The guy that brought this up to me suggested connecting the cage near the top of those bars near the shock attachment point. I need to get a better feel of how the suspension actually moves before I go welding on things.

This is what I'll be looking at ...



I think this is a swing axle and not an IRS, but the uprights are similar, as it the relationship to the body pan. This is my Dad's buggy which I think is a '68.

I'd like to be able to retain the ability to remove the body without destroying the cage in the process. So, finding a way to pass the cage through the body to the suspension without terminally fusing them is the question. Also, is it even worth it to go that route? I have to look and see if there is anything that will need the body removed for service.

[TouringBubble]

Actually, it looks like I might have a solution based directly on 6.2.E.8 that doesn't involve passing through the body of the car.

VW guys seem to use these "Kafer bars" which just triangulate the the upper shock mounts.



I can easily weld in a solid version of this with the same triangulation. That will stabilize the shock mounts with the rest of the more solid suspension components. Tying this in to the cage would be even better, but might not be needed.

[Ryan-L]

I'd be researching what the guys do for the real Baja 500 and 1000 races in the VW class

[TouringBubble]

They run tube chassis ...

The Baha shells have more clearance in the rear, so they often do something similar to above, but add a "halo" above the trans for more support. I don't have the room to do that with the stock body. The Kafer Bar is the solution most all VW guys use with the stock shell.

[Ryan-L]

Nah not all of them I know that this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCORE_Class_11 class doesn't. When I was there in 2001 a lot of them where full pan cars.

[TouringBubble]

Class 11 stuff has to stay mostly stock from what I know. If they use anything, it's the Kafer bar. I'll look over the Class 11 forums again to dig down. Thanks for the suggestion.

Also ... just realized you are running MR as well ... good to have competition, but there go my chances for winning anything ... lol.

[DrewsiferxXx]

Those bars ought to do it.

[TouringBubble]

Those bars ought to do it.

That's what I'm thinking. When I pull the body off I'll look over the placement of everything and pick up some mild steel square stock and make some braces. I'll also look around for places to box in components that might fail ... I'm hearing that the rear control arms are kinda weak.