Roll Cage Design

[rdc]

Me and two buddies are in the early stages of building a class 5-1600 racer. Our ultimate goal is to race the Baja 500 next year or the year after. I would like to ask the dezert people a question or two regarding roll cages. We are not sure what kinda of roll cage to build/buy. The score rule book states that if vehicle weight is under 2000 pounds a wall thickness of .090 in. can be used. However, if weight exceeds 2000 pounds the wall thickness must be .120 in. What do you recommend and/or suggest? Your help will be greatly appreciated.

By the way how much does a typical 5/16 weigh?

Ric

[vorra65]

You probably want to go with Chr-moly throughout. Keeps it light and strong. Alot of different designs, all depends on what makes your onion ring. Go to my homepage, you'll be able to check out the cage I did for my 5/1600. I race VORRA in the Sportsman Class. Not enough Baja's to justify a 5/1600 class. Hopefully someday I can get down South, or over to whiplash to run with those guys.

[Cameron]

You may want to start with a Chenowth Class 11 cage and modify it to suit your needs.
I have seen several 5-1600's that have gone this way.
I am presently building a Baja pre-runner with my Dad and we started with the chenowth cage.
The car still has a long way to go, but it looking good so far.
Best of luck with what ever way you go.

<font color=red>Cameron</font color=red>
<font color=yellow>BRAT Racing # 936</font color=yellow>

[rdc]

Thanks for your input. We will most likely start with a class 11 cage.

[rdc]

HEY BRO

YOUR BEST BET WOULD BE TO BUY A USED RACECAR OUT OF THE DUSTY TIMES
THEN LEARN TO PREP IT
THEN LEARN TO RACE IT
THEN SET OUT BUILDING YOUR OWN CAR AFTER A COUPLE OF YEARS OF RACING
THIS WILL SAVE YOU THOUSANDS AND LOTS OF HEART ACHE
AND ALOT OF TIME
YOU WILL SPEND MORE IN THE LONG RUN BY FAR BUILDING YOUR OWN

SEE YA REICHERT

[rdc]

Hey man thanks for your input.

[vwguy]

well to start with how long have you been in the sport and do you know enough about vws to work this class then you have to decide if you want to go as long travel as possible or keep it mild and that should help you decide what route to go as far as deciding if your gonna build a cage off of a stock chassis and have a stock steel body or completely fabricate a frame and throw fiberglass on it.

get back to me if you want more info or more specifc advice

[rdc]

I personally don't have a lot experience with VW's but I'm willing to learn. In fact that's what I'm doning now learning.

Long travel would be nice but for now it's not in our scope. We want to learn more about the sport before making a high dollor purchase. At this time we only want to take it up a notch or two over stock dimensions. We already have a pan, body, and a modified class 11 roll cage. The uninstalled cage we have goes from front to rear.

Let me ask you a new question. Is it possible to convert a swing-axle suspension to a IRS type suspension? Our pan was built in 1960.

Your help is much appreciated.

Ric

[rdc]

Yes, you can convert swing axel to IRS you can buy the IRS conversion brackets anywhere "Mc Kenzies, Car Custom, Kar Teck" the good race brackets are about $100.00 bucks.

[rdc]

Thanks dude.