cage fabrication equipment advice

[sdwarf36]

The regular window net is made to keep any body parts from going out the window. If you head has made it that far, its still traveled too much. The triangular ones you showed earlier are mounted to-or close to the seat to prevent movement that far. (Iv'e seen both run together.)
Roy's car had your typical circle track head rest mounted to the seat-It was pushed over 6-8" -stopped only by the cage. Bent enough that it didnt sprung back.
I unfortunately dont have the room for a full containment seat- But I am going to try to make some form of structular head restraint That I can still manage to climb in+ out of the car thru the roof. Seeing Roys head rest + that video is an eye opener.

[Chief Geek]

Thanks. You've all confirmed my suspicions. Maybe I should use 2 triangular "side nets", one each side.

If I go with triangular side nets on both sides, and assuming I can get a broad/tall left-side net large enough to cover most of the window opening, do I need a window net as well?

Paul

[walterclark]

The net on the door side should be very fast to disconnect and get out of the way. I am not sue those triangular nets have such a feature and they look like it would be pretty easy to extend your hand and arm out the window beneath them. I would go with the traditional rectangular or trapezoid drivers window net on your left.

[Chief Geek]

The net on the door side should be very fast to disconnect and get out of the way. I am not sue those triangular nets have such a feature and they look like it would be pretty easy to extend your hand and arm out the window beneath them. I would go with the traditional rectangular or trapezoid drivers window net on your left.

Any advice on the best way to minimize how far my head and shoulders can fly to my left?

Does a window net have to be hard against the window opening (roughly in plane with where the glass goes), or can it be several inches inboard of that plane?

I'm trying to mimic the side-of-head support integral to your seat. I remember the high-speed metal forming Roy did on his seat with his head.

[Pascal]

It might be worth looking into some of the head restraint seats again, plenty of seats where the head restraints aren't all that intrusive. I've never found the head restraint portion of a seat to get in the way of how I would normally enter/exit a car.

[sdwarf36]

It might be worth looking into some of the head restraint seats again, plenty of seats where the head restraints aren't all that intrusive. I've never found the head restraint portion of a seat to get in the way of how I would normally enter/exit a car.

I have to enter (and be able to get out of) my seat straight down from the top. The bracing for my cage gives me little room fore+ aft. I would have to be able to get my whole body in front of the head restraint portion before I could lower myself down + slide back into the seat. I'm going to do some mock up work + see what I can do. It might mean moving a brace on the cage.

Kevin-can you measure how wide it is side to side +for your head restraints? And how far forward from the back of the seat?

[KevinGale]

Kevin-can you measure how wide it is side to side +for your head restraints? And how far forward from the back of the seat?

It's about 13" between the head restraints. The left side restraint comes out 8" from the back of the seat and the right side comes out about 13".

With my car that has a diagonal bar in the cage that means it is effectively impossible to go out through the roof even if someone did take it off like we did for Roy.

[KevinGale]

With my car that has a diagonal bar in the cage that means it is effectively impossible to go out through the roof even if someone did take it off like we did for Roy.

Of course given our safety crew I imagine they would just make a few snips and the stuff in the way would be gone.

[Chief Geek]

It might be worth looking into some of the head restraint seats again, plenty of seats where the head restraints aren't all that intrusive. I've never found the head restraint portion of a seat to get in the way of how I would normally enter/exit a car.

I think the Saab's window opening is only a few square inches smaller than the Miata's door hole. ;)

Perhaps I'm over thinking the door hole thing, but I want to make it as easy as possible for Rich to keep racing with me and the door opening is quite small and very low.

Both of us are 6 ft plus, 180 lb plus, "older", and neither of us do yoga. True story, I pulled the Miata into the driveway, had to park quite close to the Mazda2, and realized that, from the driver seat, I was looking up at the the bottom of the 2's door mirrors.

Paul

[walterclark]

The net on the door side should be very fast to disconnect and get out of the way. I am not sue those triangular nets have such a feature and they look like it would be pretty easy to extend your hand and arm out the window beneath them. I would go with the traditional rectangular or trapezoid drivers window net on your left.

Any advice on the best way to minimize how far my head and shoulders can fly to my left?

Does a window net have to be hard against the window opening (roughly in plane with where the glass goes), or can it be several inches inboard of that plane?

I'm trying to mimic the side-of-head support integral to your seat. I remember the high-speed metal forming Roy did on his seat with his head.

Often one of the problems with window nets - attached to the side door bar and halo bar - is they are too far inboard and interfere with the driver or seat...I know mine would be. There is no rule stating that the net has to be against the window opening. Indeed, mounted to the cage that can be nearly impossible unless the above bars are up against the door and very close to the window opening.