ROLL CAGE DILIEMA
 

Ok so I have a 79 Trans am that is a show car but it also makes a lot of horsepower with a 468 single turbo motor . I want to go to the track to see what it will do and it should be in the mid 9 ,s .... My buds say I should put a roll cage in it first , but i only plan on going to the track one time to get a idea of what it will run and I don’t want to make the car a race car and ruin my stock appearance. I don’t want to risk my life either... I thought about a bolt in roll bar but not sure if they would save me if it rolled .... plus my plan was to make some 1/8 miles passes first then make a full 1/4 mile pass before they kick me off for not having a cage ....what do you guys think ?

If the car runs into the 9's in 1/4 or past 6.40 in 1/8 you must have a certified roll bar and competition license in both nhra and ihra. Plus all the safety gear and sfi equipment parts. If you find a outlaw track, just jump in and go. They might want you have a helment. If that

I'm not near that fast but went 10.90s when the roll BAR rule was 12.00s(now my car is "safer suddenly and can go 11.50s). The 6.9s in the 1/8 track never a word. One track 10s were no bid deal as they didn;t look, Ennis, and Baytown both are hard ass. San Antonio the tech guy was nice I got two passes before he came over and said slow it down.

That said one day we forgot to let the slicks tire pressure down,I trailer it with 20 psi so it does not wiggle, blew the tires off bad, got out of it shifted and did it in second. I can see that if something goes wrong even in the 10s low 11s you are going to hit hard potentially. Why I slowed the 78 TA down to 11.50s and am building the IA/Camaro with a cage.

Also at one of the local car club track rentals saw an overpowered ZO6 hit the wall hard enough to break the rear trailing arm.

I myself am kind of the outlaw guy and do outlaw stuff.
That being said if you know your car and it's potential, Go for it.
But be carful and know your limitations. I would want to no myself too.
Have fun.

GT.

Our local track, Gainesville Raceway, is owned by the NHRA and as such the 'rules' are probably a little more stringent than most tracks. The tech guys know pretty much every car that comes out on a regular basis, so when a new guy shows up they usually look the car over a little closer, especially under the hood, and always ask if the car is quicker than 11.50 in the 1/4. If you say no and then go out and run low 10s or high 9s you will probably catch a lot of grief; not to say it might not be worth it but just be prepared.

I'd take it to the track and make some easy passes to get a good idea of the car's potential and go from there. Easy, legal passes and sneak up on 11.49. If it hooks good, some 330 or 1/8 mile runs will give you a good idea what it will run in the 1/4.

If it is a show car be careful about warping the body between the window and back glass. You should at least have good frame connectors in there and if you are running the stock 10 bolt with factory u-joints make sure you have a trailer to get it home. The 10 bolt should survive but the rear may wrap up to a bad angle and snap a u-joint, so some type of traction bar should be on there to limit spring wrap up at launch. A driveshaft safety loop would be good, too. If you are running street type radial tires (not race radials) all of this may not be an issue for you but neither will be 9's.

Steve

Go to the track, make 2 easy passes just feel out the steering, suspension. Make sure the car doesn't wander at high speed. Then hammer it! Yes you'll get tossed out, but who cares- you only wanted to go once anyway...

Oh- and have a buddy go get your time slip. At my track if you aren't legal they wont give you the slip- so we send someone up in a tow vehicle to get the slip- tell 'em the car broke.

As suggested by others, go make some short hits hard and long hits soft..
Back in 02, I showed up with a new combo that lacked all of the necessary safety equipment... i told tech i was gonna run some high 10's...first pass was 8.90's... they got a little mad and shut me down...

This subject makes me wonder whether any chassis dyno shops offer computer-controlled quarter mile runs? All the automakers have such things- and much more, like simulations of driving Nuerburgring, etc..

How about a G-meter phone app and a deserted highway?

Ok thanks for the advice guys , the closest track to me is Orlando , Fl . they have a test and tune day coming up next month and it’s in the daytime ... my car has bolt in sub frame connectors and and set of Caltrac bars also the axle tubes are welded to the Center section .... anybody near Orlando ?? Would be cool to see other pontiacs there.

I'm taking mine to the track tomorrow night for test & tune and was worried about running faster than 11.50 without a bar. A buddy, who use to work at the Gainesville track, told me that they will give you a warning the first time you run too fast & kick you out the second time.
I don't expect to run faster than low 11's, but if you make a 9 second blast, they may kick you the first time. At least you'll get one good pass in. :D

Speargun, have you thought about coming up to the Midnight Madness Test n Tune tonight? I will be taking my Trans Am out and would like to meet up and see your car. I can't make it out on Saturday for the 5pm event but if we don't cross paths this time maybe you can make one of the Oct. or Nov. events. Either way good luck.

Not as much fun but you could make a hard run to the 330' and see what that time is and 60 ft without getting thrown out. You could calculate a 1/8th mile on some 330 runs and be pretty accurate.

Run it hard to 1/8th.

Yea that that sounds like the plan go to the 1/8 mile and after a few passes make one final run to the 1/4 ....

Go race, when tech asks what your car runs tell them 11.50's and have fun.

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That's what I do. Sometimes they catch it sometimes they don't. If they do play stupid. Good luck.

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When I went to Gainesvile for test & tune night, the tech guy came out, looked at the car and said. "What do you think it will run?" I told him 12's???
He handed me a wrist band and said to have a good time. He never even looked under the hood or anything.