2007 C6, Z51 m6 convertible, power top.
First, mostly stock, and the drag strips are letting me on the track without a roll bar. I'm running 13.00s (never made it into the 12s) at 109mph.
The car was bought as a driver, I intend to run it into ground or trade it for another driver.
I'm a tall driver, like the seat all the way back

I've seen two options for bolt in roll cages. RPM and HPD.
I have a few concerns.
1) NHRA says they have to be attached to the frame, its unclear how or if they do that.
2) My height, if I want to go on a road course, I'm not sure either of the bars maximize the available head room. Right now, With helmet, I think I'm OK with the seat all the way back.
3) Both designs seem to encroach on how far back you can slide the seats.

So I looked at custom.
$3000-4 from local sports car fabricator
$4000 from local drag car fabricator (does really nice stuff, is also NHRA inspector).
- same shop said, leave the car and $7000 and they will make it look like factory (interior etc.).

I bought the car for cheap. I don't intend to modify much. Headers and intake only. I'd be money ahead trading for another C6 I think.

So... what are my real options? I love the car, hate to dump it for a rollbar, but its limiting what I can do with the car.
Should I trade the car?
Custom seems too expensive. Am I not asking the right places?
Off the shelf might not be as optimized as I want. Am I just being stupid?

Thanks

 

Member since 2011. Only 10 posts. 225 people have looked in your profile to find additional info, such as the city/state where you live, but found nothing. Asking for help to find someone to fab a rollbar is useless without a general location. I know a good place in Phoenix, but not anywhere else.

You are correct that rollbars need attached to the frame for NHRA/IHRA. Eight years ago, I prototyped a roll bar for my car that was approved by a NHRA certified inspector. I needed to build 10 to break even on costs at ~ $1200. Amazingly, only a couple people responded, but lots of people still bought rollbars from suppliers that failed to meet specs, since the average tech guys never checked to see if those rollbars were legal or even safe (and they weren't).

Fast forward to 2020 and NHRA/IHRA has relaxed the rules to allow running 9.99 and slower without a rollbar for 2008 MY and newer production cars except for convertibles.
So your solution is either to get a legal rollbar (a major PITA for a vert) or a 2008+ coupe.

I can't comment on road racing rules, since it seems there are lots of different organizations and no standard set of rules.

 

You cannot make a bar high enough to be road race legal and keep the top. A full cage yes, but not a bar

i have a guy in NC that will build anything you want at a fraction of those prices, but you’ll lose to top if you want if legal for road course

 

Profile updated.
I live in Maryland roughly between Baltimore and Washington DC (a few miles off I95).
The shop that does the fabrication work on other cars I've owned is Autofab (I think the town is technically Elkridge). They are known to some Corvette guys because they make a solid axle conversion for C3s. Good guys, reasonable hourly rates. https://autofabracecars.com/ But they are the ones that said $7000 for a "like factory" roll bar.

I picked up the '07 from a friend of a friend. I was looking for a daily driver to put lots of miles on (100 miles a day) and I was texted the picture of the vette - high option car. It was offered to me at a price I couldn't refuse. Fortunately I got re-assigned and stop putting the miles on the car. Its a Z51 (bad Idea for the roads around here) Magnetic Red with black/tan interior. I spend my weekends chasing electrical gremlins (moisture under passanger seat corroded the connections and the seat heater and air bag sensors are giving me fits). Check engine lights for evap and right catalytic converter... TMPS sensors just about dead. Gas tank fuel level gauges replaced and still not working right (maybe one sensor wrong type).
I have taken the car to the drag strip, best time of 13.2 at 109mph with a 2.00 60ft. I was told the effective altitude that day was 2400 ft - no idea what that translates to. For Test and Tune at both Capital Raceway and Mason Dixon, they didn't car about lack of roll bar.

As best I can tell, the Summit Point Raceway (road racing) will be much stricter.

I just about have all the equipment that I need to fabricate (attempt to fabricate?) my own bar. However, I have never worked on a roll bar/cage on a full frame car and the clearance around the seats is exceedingly tight. Buy a kit from S&W and install it in your Camaro or Mustang, and I'm your guy. I have no idea how the chassis is configured around the '07 Vette. My only clue at all is the pictures NHRA put out for attaching a bar to a Z06 (etc.) aluminum frame. I have zero concerns welding a mild steel bar. I have lots of concerns bending up the bar and attaching it to the frame.
I guess I could start digging around with a magnet and see where the metal is (need to pull passenger seat anyway ... *&^*% seat connector!)

 

Forget the NHRA rulebook pics, since they are impossible. They have no idea where the frame is on a C6.