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It looks like they were driving with the roof removed. Potentially the stress would have been transferred to the frame better if it had been on.
I don't know about that. Every photo I've seen where the A or B pillar was damaged, the top was off. Seems like the slightest movement would allow the latches to detach.
Do full road racing cages add that much weight?
I know the typical 6 point drag racing roll bar only adds about 40-50 pounds to a C5 and the forward 'A pillar' bars/cages add roughly another 30-40 over that.
I'll assume that a fully triangulated/cross braced/tied to the frame cage is more complicated than even the typical amateur level drag race cage.
That's what a NASCAR CUP car cage weighs. It's possible a cage for a Corvette could be lighter. A cage for something like a F1 car certainly is, but that uses exotic materials that're out of the price range of a car like the Corvette.
I think locking the top on gives both the pillar and the halo the strength.
The top locked in gives negligible strength, it is latched not bolted, three points instead of four and hollow and extremely thin cast aluminum glued to fiberglass or acrylic. Just a fall from the car if left unlatched will fracture the casting. In fact the last time a top was close to being structural may have been the C4 when unbolting the top and driving the car around one could feel the frame flexing at angles on steep driveways.
Full SCCA legal roll cage in a C5 is around 100 lbs max. Requirements: All main tubes 1.75 dia x.095 wall DOM Steel tube = 1.5 lbs per foot. It takes less than 40 feet of tube to make a full cage in a C5, plus 30 feet for door bars.
Some Open Road racing rules require .120 wall tube, that is 2.0 lbs per foot. My C5 with interior stripped, no heater or AC, no side windows, full cage 2880 lbs.
07-29-2006, 10:09 PM
