s2guinness

For those of you with the Hard dog, is it managable for weekend driving/driving yourself to the track?

I have read the comments advising against driving with a roll bar without a helmet and fully understand but don't see how I would be able to resist a drive on a sunny day with this car sitting in my driveway.

tinkfist

I daily drive my S with the Hard Dog installed. I decided to put some high density padding on the bar to increase the safety of the setup.

sshim35563

Can someone give some insight into getting a hard dog compared to a cusco. I know that the harddog passes inspections for road racing...but i don't like the fact you have to cut the interior on the sides. What is the disadvantage of geting a cusco if you just want it for HPDE use on the northeast?

Not trying to jack the thread, but it is someone related.

1AP12NV

While I understand the comments of those posters who feel that the roll bar is an added risk when driving daily on the street, I feel that for me this position is unnecessarily cautious.

In my opinion the chances of getting into an accident where my head would contact the roll bar (which is pretty well above and behind my head where I sit in the car as I'm pretty short) are actually less than the chances of having come in contact with the stock roll hoop assembly. Would the stock metal roll hoops been any kinder to my noggin than the hard dog? Possibly given any cusioning of the impact that the plastic around the stock hoops would have provided, but I can't help but think that if my head came in contact with them that I still would have been put in a world of hurtin.

At the end of the day, the amount of risk you find acceptable and how you manage it is up to you and you should not let any other member of this board, wether they be overly cautious (as some are) or overly carefree (as some others here are) dictate what you find acceptable.

Hell every time you sit down in your car and pull out of your garage you are accepting a fair amount of risk in terms of the actions of other drivers. For me driving occasionally with a roll bar and to and from the track is acceptable as well.

1AP12NV

The disadvantage would be that it will not meet the requirements of some clubs / tracks.

I won't get into the Cusco bashing (because I feel alot of it is based on rank speculation) , but I have to admit that I feel much more comfortable with my hard dog. That is speculation on my part as well, but it does make me feel more comfy

FF2Skip

Had enough fun last year to do it again?!

Most clubs do not check the structural integrity of the bars. They more often than not simply check to see that you have one. SCCA would be the exception.

Also, we've rented the same track for Monday April 7. Perhaps you'll be able to join us again- stock hoops are fine.

s2guinness

Skip - you mentioned a harness being a potential requirement if you have a roll bar, I assume you are referring to a five point seat belt or something similar that doesn't have play like a normal belt would?

I think that would be a definite to keep myself planted. I might get some looks when I roll up to the local links in full racing trim but it will be worth it at the track.

FF2Skip

[QUOTE=s2guinness,Jan 17 2008, 12:39 PM] Skip - you mentioned a harness being a potential requirement if you have a roll bar, I assume you are referring to a five point seat belt or something similar that doesn't have play like a normal belt would?

124Spider

While I agree with the general bent of this paragraph (each person should make his own determination of what's "safe"), I find the assertion that some are "overly cautious" to be downright laughable. It shouldn't take too many roll-over incidents to make one very cautious. Don't think it can happen to you? Ask the surgeon whose hand was crushed (he'll never perform surgery again; and the crash wasn't even his fault); ask the Mini who made a little mistake, and ended up pitching end-over-end several times; etc., etc. etc. And these were just incidents at our local track when I, or someone I knew, was at the HPDE. And these were not races. OTOH, also ask the racer who made a mistake, hit some steep curbing (two cars in front of me), corkscrewed into the air, came down on his roof (Spec Miata), and only suffered a broken tooth and wrenched back (don't try that in your S2000 with just a little roll bar).

Yes, each person should make up his/her own mind, but it's important that each person understand that the risks are real--bad things really do happen out there at HPDEs, and there's really no such thing as being "overly cautious" when it comes to safety on a race track. I chose to stop driving my S2000 on the track, and, instead, got a fully-prepared race car. That's "sensible," not "overly cautious."

1AP12NV

[QUOTE=124Spider,Jan 17 2008, 05:55 PM] While I agree with the general bent of this paragraph (each person should make his own determination of what's "safe"), I find the assertion that some are "overly cautious" to be downright laughable.