Hi,

Just got done tackin in my Competition Eng. rollbar kit. I now have a concern before I finish up.

Is my door bar too low?

The top of my crossbar is about an inch or so lower than my shoulders (which is correct) and I decided to weld the door bars in a little lower then the crossbar for ease of entry/exiting the car.

Now the rulebook seems a little ambiguous for this part.

nhra : "cross bar must be installed no more then 4" below, and not above, the driver's shoulders, or to side bar."

So, does this mean that my door bars CANNOT be lower than the crossbar? Even if they still go across my shoulder and elbow on the way to the footwell area?

 

Crossbar needs to be positioned so that the shoulder belts go almost straight off your shoulders back to the crossbar. There's a little bit of room either way which is acceptable.

With your elbow down at your side, the door bar must pass between your shoulder and your elbow. Again, that leaves a wide range to be acceptable.

Looking at the hole for the belts through the seat and where the door bar is positioned, I don't see any issue although the door bar does look a little low. The door bar could be a little bit higher on the main hoop.

Looking at the pictures, I think the door bar should attached to the main hoop roughly where the upper marker line is. Just below where the hoop starts to bend.

If you want it easier to get in and out of the car, make it a swing out bar.

With a full cage in my car and X'd door bars, there is no easy way to get in and out of the car. A removable steering wheel is a must. Even with just a 6 point roll bar, if your steering wheel doesn't tilt, it will cause difficulty.

 

So, if you are a tech guy, you couldn't technically fail me because although my door bar is a tad low, it's still well within range as it's well above my elbow when I put my arm down.

My crossbar is perfect height, I measured that a few times and had a buddy help get it perfect.

I just read the rules and interpreted it in a way that my door bars cannot be lower then my crossbar on the main hoop.

 

If I was working in tech and I have on street legal nights, I would not fail that bar setup. Everything falls within the guidelines.

The door bar does not have to go that far forward either. You can mount it higher up on the main hoop and the front of the tube can attach to the floor just forward of the seat and would still be acceptable providing it still passes between your shoulder and elbow.

The roll bar setup only really needs to protect your torso so your legs can extend out past the tube mounting point.

In a good setup, your seat could be back more or the main hoop can be forward more. This would mean the cross bar is bent to allow the seat to be closer to the main hoop. Your helmet should to be no more than 6" from the tubes but resting your head back against the seat will put it within 6".

I have my racing seat attached to a tubular framework that's attached to the cage tubes. My seat isn't attached to the floor. I also have it mounted in a reclined position for more headroom.