I wonder if the collective few could give me their views on my harness predicament.

I have tried my first sprint event and will be going for a hillclimb soon, with luck. I was told by the scrutineer' that I would not be allowed in his events again with a 2 inch 4 point harness, it has to be 3 inch.

I was in 2D Road going class.

I believe that I need not be in FIA approval for Sprints and Hillclimbs just in good condition, and not been in any accident that may have stretched it.

The question is, should I be possibly looking at an out of date FIA harness, or one of the non FIA 3 inch harnesses that should be CE marked?

Yes money is getting to be an issue at this rate of spend.

Cheers

Adrian

Looking to do the same thing soon, out of interest have you a clubmans B licience, is your rear hoop MSA certified?

Cheers Mark

Hi Mark, I have a Nat B non race licence, the rear hoop is not certified but built the best I can to the blue book regs.

Here is a link to a thread I had when building it:
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=180121

I guess it depends on what class you are trying to enter, think if over 2,000 cc you may need a full cage?

Adrian

Thanks Adrian

My rear hoop is made from the correct CDS, just need to add a diagonal to finish this bit off, car is 900cc turbo so not a full cage required although I have one albeit not to spec.

Looking at road going classes to keep it cheap

[Edited on 2/7/13 by mark chandler]

Your harnesses are absolutely fine as they are if running in a roadgoing specialist production class and don't need to be FIA approved or in date.

Indeed a standard 3point intertia real with lap and diagonal would also be perfectly fine, although I wouldn't fancy running one of them myself

Hi i agree with smokey in road class you can use saftey belt if you car has an mot it is road legal it will pass for road legal class needs stickers for on off and yellow tape on battrey earthetc but thats about it i have out off date fia harnesses which strickly speaking should not pass mot lesson to be learnt is study blue book its a pity scrutineers dont do the same

Adrian h bet you where at three sisters

how did you get on adrian?

The scrutineer is the one that said I had to have 3 inch and it is not worth the hassle or arguing, he does all of the North West. So I will only end up being the loser.

Yes it was 3 Sisters and I was abysmal! There were 6 cars in total in class 2D which is the times ranged from 47.36 seconds in first to me in last at 60.24 seconds.

What did confuse the hell out of me was that my entry list only showed 4 cars in class 2D. Two Westfield's a VX220 supercharged and my car. two more cars from 2B ended up in 2D, I guess they removed their windscreens to be in 2D?

But I mostly enjoyed it. I was made very welcome by other competitors, a Stephen Herbert and Stephen Everall, both Westfield owners, both tried to help with suggestions, but in the end I was completely outclassed on driving skills and speed. I found it unbelievable how much money can be spent on engines, tyres, batteries, carbon fibre parts all for that fraction of a second faster. Vauxhall XE engines that produce over 220 bhp clocking in a five grand, Duratec with around 270 bhp. A seven grand VX220 with a five grand supercharger, the Lithium polymer batteries that weigh next to sod all, tyres with supersoft compounds etc and I am still talking in the road going class here.

So all in all, there will not be a chance for me to become competitive as the level of financial commitment can not be there in the foreseeable future. But what I can try and do is pick and choose the venues, slowly buy the gear to make the car and me a bit safer, and learn the limits of the car and myself and improve on them.

I want to try these things, the next to try is the Hill climb at Scammonden, been speaking with the scrutineer for that tonight and he said just get signed up and enjoy it, so that is what I hope to do. Just got to get a work college to cover my call rota.

Would I recommend it to others, probably.

Adrian

[Edited on 2-7-13 by AdrianH]

id say thats a good day and a good start. id be happy with that on my first outing. its all about gaining experience mate. people do spend an awful lot of money and i was dismayed by how other cars were faster than me on my first trackday. but by the end of my second one i had improved massively and even overtook a few

I have done two track days and I still struggle with speed though corners. I end up braking to much and then trying to accelerate out, the ponies under the bonnet struggle a bit there, so I have to learn to carry the speed, practice, practice and more practice is what I need.

How are you doing in your events Danial, I read you where going for sprints and Hill climbs had any success?

Adrian

im not fast enough at moment and have only ever driven my car twice so learning also! a few more track days and ill consider doing one.
i was the opposite to you and taking way too much speed into corners then stomping on the brake and locking up! i was much better second time out and managed a few good stints!

Well done Adrian pleased you enjoyed it and was out there doing it. It takes a while to learn a track and the windscreen rule in the northwest puts you in with some quick cars agian the blue book says windscreens are free i started in the road car class with a1800 pinto and was up agianst 5000 tvr got my arse kicked dont worry about the class look at cars more like yours and compare time look at secter times see where your losing time most time is lost at the start lean how to get off the line friendlyest motor sport i have ever competed in tyres are the bigest improvement you can make dont have to be new i have supersoft kumhos on front paid £20 ebay. Hills are all about corner exit speed try to stay mega tidy look at the fast times on top gear i come from rallying and was sideways every corner till i saw how slow i was
Daniel get out and do some events lean the venues hope to met you both at an event
Cheers Ali