Watch it again. This time, press pause as soon as it leaves the catapault and use the right-arrow key so you can move it frame by frame. It roll and flips on both corners of the screen surround a number of times so it’s already bent out of shape well before it finally settles onto it’s top.
Appologies about the HD roll bar images though. They used to have scare pictures of cars with no roll bars. I thought the link was to them. The fact is though, nobody knows if the roll bars actually saved them or not. The cars look a mess but that doesn’t mean much. I’ve heard about a number of of people rolling MX5s and never heard of anyone being seriously injured as a result. There was even a case a number of years back (10 years?) of a blue Greddy turbo that rolled onto it’s roof and the style-bars stayed upright and held the weight of the car!
I’m not anti-roll bars. I have a HD Deuce on mine but that’s as much for strengthening of the chassis and looks as safety on track. If it was just a road car I wouldn’t have bothered.
40 mph Tops rollover in an mx5, that sounds like a competition, a whole new form of motor sport. Yes you can remove that style bar without fear but if your really worried wear a skid lid, it will give you far more protection
Ben, yours is a different class bud. Imagine oganised events in closed Sunday afternoon super store car parks. competitors get bonus points for the least amount of protection, so full roll cage, harness, lid, gets least points. Head restraights removed or cut off maximum points. You turn up in your project and get double points. Youd win hands down without even getting two wheels slightly off the ground. The only way to compete against that would be door removal and flat tyres on one side.
Tyres, thats a good one ( Shhh don’t mention snow tyres)
Suspension,
discs,
Pads,
Bushes,
Bracing,
S/steel nuts and bolts, thats as proved a good one in the past
Grills,
Number plates, stick on ones also bring on a good moan with the law of the land
And towing with a Mx/Roadster, that’s a belter.
Oils,
OE parts or aftermarket?
And even better s/hand parts.
My god the list is endless…
Lol
I wonder if the other rag top forums for a one make model clubs pull there one make of car to bits on therir own forums because it is unsafe( because it was made to be a drop top car at the production line/factory, and is the best selling drop top ever) and does not come with a roll cage for a trip to the shops at under 30 MPH in dry weather only in summer taxed for a couple of months a year adding a couple of hundred miles at most and over polished, and never ever getting anywhere near a motorway let alone track time???
Not many a guess, i hope the other club forums are haveing a good laugh at this, i thought it was a pi$$ take, it is nearly as good as the thread about not wanting to drive with the roof down in summer because it is to hot, OC you really need a section for pure gold threads like this, they are just class.
This is very informative, it would seem lots of people persons thought a smile bar would save their bonce.Well done Hazukiboy of Weymouth for bringing it up " God gave us motor cycles so that we could go forth and bang our heads very hard on the Earth, some of us did so,and low, found it to be painful or deadly. The lucky ones of us saw the light and began to wear protective head gear so that we could laugh at the thought of the hard Earth,and this made us feel safe as to ride more quickly> But we longed for the wind to be present around our bonce. Then from the East came a four wheeled motor cycle that would prevent our boncess bouncing apon the Earth unless we were very silly, and it would liberate our craniums to the four winds, thus also providing the means to go fourth in very little attire and to smile" And the band played on.
Alright mate, it would be down every day over there you lucky s*d , whats the new words…well gel , and even with my style bars fitted pride and shinny you want to see what we are getting here at the minute, it does not know what to throw at us, so everything is on stand by in the bat cave,so i can drive around, SShhhh even a stack of rims with snow tyres on, don’t go there, lol
Hope you get 4 punctures and you can not use your eunos
I AM enjoying this controversial subject very much, in fact I’m going to put my lifejacket and safety glasses on in case there are some puddles around later.
No Ben your wrong, it’s a full face shield and Chem suite, waist high rubber boots that must have steel toe caps, 3 people on stand by one taking notes with a clip board and a cherry picker.
I can’t really see the problem. It comes down to personal choice at the end of the day.
If you decide to fit “style” bars that’s fine. Just as long as you know that’s all they are: “style” bars. They will offer no protection in an accident.
If they are fitted in the belief that they will offer any kind of protection that’s the problem.
I removed the style bar from my '5 as they were only held on with a couple of M6 bolts and if, heaven forbid, I was involved in an accident I didn’t fancy a 10 kilo piece of tubing swinging round in the car as the method of fixing to the car was in my opinion poor engineering. If that’s “health and saftey” then so be it. I put a brace bar across between the seatbelt towers and feel a lot safer with that. It won’t help in a roll but at least it won’t kill me by smashing the back of my skull in.
I accept a certain amount of risk but don’t feel the need in increasing it for the sake of fashion. If a “style” horn push with a 6 inch spike sticking out from the middle of the steering wheel would you fit it?
As an Advanced Motorist as I see you are, I think the best way to drive an MX-5 is to drive it in a manner whereas the horse and rider car and driver are never really in any real danger of a roll-over - something like in the photos below:
I guess what I`m trying to say is: we only live once so LIVE! Strap a supercharger on and drive it like you stole it presuming of course, that you can actually drive…lol!
The funny thing is that would almost certainly make you drive a whole lot more carefully, so probably it would improve safety! As I biker, I know that the danger of imminent death at the slightest mistake really does focus the attention and makes you drive a lot better. We might be the most likely to die in a crash, but as a result we’re the least likely to have one in the first place.
I do know what you mean. You have to have a certain amount of “danger” to get the enjoyment. That’s why I had a decent Arai helmet, full leathers, good quality boots and gloves and a back protector. I wanted to make sure I’d be ok if the worst happened. I was also able to go quicker as I felt safer with the protective gear.
It’s all about not increasing risk. I felt a style bar was an unnecessary risk as the fixings for a style bar are pretty pathetic (M6 bolts for heavens sake!!) and it was too close to my head if anything happened. So I removed it and fitted a brace bar.
