Larry,
I had the rather dubious displeasure to roll my racing Spitfire 4times after
an axle broke going into turn one at Summit Point in June. I had added a
strut forward to the firewall but otherwise all was as stock. I am here
today as a result of the integridy of the bar. Even after the violent test
mine had, I have, after very close inspection, found no cracks, splits or
failures of any sort. I have nothing but good things to say about the
Autopower bar in my car. It stood the test and passed. I know nothing about
the shop you speak of, but I would be inclined to agree with your belief
about their motive. I have installed 6 other Autopower bars in other cars
and have seen nothing to make me question their quality.
Best regards
Russ Moore
Fingerlakes Triumph Club
At 09:33 PM 8/15/97 -0400, Ljbtvr@aol.com wrote:
>Roll Bars-
>Recently I went for a ride with a friend who was having a professional
>install a roll cage in his RX-7. The friend already had an Autopower bar in
>the car and had the rest of the kit to make it into a cage and wanted the
>shop to weld in the pieces along with some other performance work.
>
>The shop, which professionally races RX-7s refused to use the Autopower
>stuff. They said that they had a customer who had had an Autopower bar to
>which the shop had added their own pieces to make it into a roll cage.
> Subsequently the car had been involved in a rollover crash at a race and the
>only parts of the cage that failed were the Autopower welds. Fortunately
>nobody was hurt. Also, they said the locations of the bar's attachment
>points were weak.
>
>My friend decided to have the shop build a complete cage and is now looking
>to sell the Autopower unit.
>
>I must write that the shop's claims could have been merely a way to get a
>little more business but I believed them and would have done the same as my
>friend.
>
>Flying Fan Blades-
>About 10 years ago I was at Summit Point walking through the paddock when I
>came upon a fellow hillclimber who was doing some road racing in his Datsun
>2000 roadster. His bonnet had a 5" slice through it which I inquired about.
>
>He said that coming out of turn 9, just as he went under the Electrodyne
>Bridge he heard a big bang and one of his metal fan blades came flying past
>his head. "I think it's stuck in the bottom of the bridge!"
>
>Needless to say, I became acutely aware of the advantages of plastic fans.
>
>Larry Bickel
>ljbtvr@aol.com
>Lancaster, PA
>'68 GT6, my sleeping racer
>'71 TVR 2500, my street car and sometimes racer
>'85 Dodge Van
>'83 Chevy S10
>'80 Yamaha 650
>
>BTW- Did someone say "Niagara Falls"?
>
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