Radiator protection bumper legal? (Page 1 of 2)

What we did was replace the stock plastic composite bumper with one made from left over roll bar material. It doesn't take up any additional space and the stock bumper cover fits over it just fine. If you get though what we built then the hit was bad enough that something was going to get broken anyway.

If you are going to reinforce anything I would go for adding it in the stock location. As indicated above it won't mess up your airflow for cooling. If you are going to add something at that height make it a lot less restrictive to the airflow than it currently looks.

The general rule is, extra protection is OK as long as it does not extend beyond the stock factory outline of the car.  Extra radiator protection is still a good idea, even now that the race series is less contact-oriented.  If a wheel or some other debris comes flying off the car in front of you, or a bird flies into your car, it's nice to have a deflector for these objects.

Rule 3.13 isn't limited to things which extend past the bumper, but prohibits "structural elements that extend past the original bodywork line" presumably in any direction.  This bar certainly looks like it extends upwards and sideways beyond the original outline of the body.  In other words, if this item were affixed to a perfectly stock, original car, it would literally (and figuratively) stick out.  Particularly as it was added "to protect the radiator" it sure sounds like the definition of a nerf bar, which is exactly what the rule is intended to prohibit.  I'd say you should get an official ruling before showing up with it, or at least have tools on hand to remove it when you get there, if necessary.

Bring a grinder with a cutoff wheel to the  race.  If they don't like it, bring it back 5 minutes later without the bar.

Disguise the bumper as something else. 

Light bar?

Tow hook mounting point?

I'm sure the Forum Commodians will chime in. 

Yeah, not legal...

This is why 80's big bumper cars are so cool!

fakest ad ever :-) "registard" was the tipoff.

At least he showed the proper respect by faking an ad ;-)

That cage is errr.. spectacular.

Well, it is what it is. One of our big motivations was to find as new a car as possible because they are safer with improved crash protection. For example the factory dash bar is like 5" in diameter and there is a factory reinforcement bar on the floor behind the front seats. We figured the more safety designed into the car the better. That this car was purchased on a Lemons budget was the result of careful and patient shopping. Not long before this we strongly considered a 99 VW New Beetle with the 1.8T advertised for $900 but got spooked by the fact that it was a VW. Nuff said.

Otherwise our goal is to just have fun. We don't really care if we get penalty laps. Plus we aren't messing with the drivetrain or suspension so we have no idea what the durability will be.

Here is a picture of the interior

This is the wonderful 2 piece main hoop

The quality just speaks for itself

This is the door bar terminating into the door post