1. ROLL CAGE DESIGN
The roll cage: one of the most critical safety features available and required in a race car. The
roll cage: one of them most stiffening chassis components available in a race car. The roll cage:
if you don’t have one, you simply just don’t understand it’s importance. The roll cage is there to
help reduce chassis flex and increase the drivers safety. You may think, “Only two jobs?! Roll
cage’s don’t seem that important to me!” If you do think that, congratulations on being wrong!
Those two jobs alone can, not only, save lives but improve handling. This article will help teach
you why it’s important and describe its design.
Without a roll cage, if a driver crashes into the wall at high speeds: there is a high chance that
he might not walk out of the crash. If that same driver had a roll cage, his chances of safety are
increased. The roll cage provides a rigid structure that boxes-in the driver. If a car has a weak
roof-top and it rollovers, the roof may collapse. A roll cage’s rigid structure helps prevent that
break in structure from occurring, potentially saving the drivers life. That alone makes a roll cage
worth it.
Another added benefit of introducing a roll cage into your vehicles infrastructure is that it
reduces the chance of chassis flex from occurring. Chassis flex is when the structure of your
vehicle itself warps during any gravitational forces applied to it through heavy breaking, heavy
acceleration or drastic high-speed turns. This chassis flex is a rude demon that may temporarily
change your suspensions alignment without you even knowing. This can change your caster,
camber and/or toe. As you can see, that damages your vehicles handling and cause your car
to perform in a manner you are no accustomed to. Just another reason why roll cage’s are
important.
When it comes to roll cage design, it is important that the designer does not skip any steps
and uses sturdy material. DOM type steeling should be used because it is stronger than mild
steel tubing. When it comes to the bending of the tubes of a roll cage, it is important that a pipe
bender is not used because it reduces the strength of the pipes; potentially causing them to
collapse during an accident. A mandrel bender should be used for perfect and strong bends.
Know this, straight bars are stronger than bent bars. The more bends in a bar, the weaker it is.
This is why it is crucial to have a roll cage with minimal amounts of bends in the tubing.
The number of points in a roll cage design determines the number of bars in the roll cage. The
general rule is that anything below 5 points will only have B-Pillar Bars and the C-Pillar Bars.
Anything above 6 points will have A, B, and C Pillar Bars.
Now you know the basic of roll cage design and hopefully can build a roll cage that will protect
you and your ride!
http://www.autonest.org/modifications/roll-cage-design-basics