SCCA Roll Hoop Rule Changes

SCCA has obviously altered its roll hoop rules several times in the last 40 years. I expect many of you can eyeball a Formula Ford and immediately see which era it was last legal to race in, whether its roll hoop has been updated, etc. - Can someone please give me a quick briefing on this topic?

This example piqued my curiousity:
http://www.britishracecar.com/KurtFi...la-T200-EJ.jpg

On most vintage-raced Formula Fords we see a brace from the top of the roll hoop to the rear bulkhead (behind the engine). With braces coming rearward at a sharp downward angle instead of coming back to the rear bulkhead, I suspect this roll hoop hasn't met SCCA requirements since the 80s. Do you think it's likely this rollhoop and its braces might be original to a 1970 Lola T200?

Can any of you tell me when the more-rearward braces were mandated?

How has the height requirement changed over time?

When did SCCA require forward braces and a second hoop at the front of the cockpit?

THANKS!

IN SCCA, forward braces have been required for some time. Also a forward dash hoop or a full high cage has been required for some time.

"Grandfathering" older designs went away a few years ago.

Since 1978 (when I started in SCCA) the main hoop has been required to be at least 2 inches above the top of the helmet.

Sorry I do not remember exactly what changed when.

I believe it was around the 1986 rewrite of the Formula Car Specifications the forward braces and forward roll hoop was incorporated. Of course, I could be completely wrong.

There are a handful of T200 series cars listed in the archives on race-cars.com:


http://www.race-cars.com/carsold/ffs.htm


Most of them have a single support mounted.

As far as the rear braces, they have to have at least a 30° angle, relative to the main hoop. I can't tell if the pictured braces comply without measuring.

The SCCA rules mandating the forward facing roll bar braces and front roll hoop were loosely enforced for quite some time. During the mid to late 1990s I was running (thru the end of the 1999 season) in both middiv and cendiv with no front braces and the original dash hoop which was surely out of spec. My Royale RP24, like many older designs, had a one piece top/tail section that went behind the driver's shoulders but in front of the roll bar, which means one would have to butcher the top section to accommodate the forward braces. I sold the car to Bryan Kohn and last time I saw it it still did not have the Foward braces, but that was in 2000. My guess is that it has been long since updated to the proper specs.

My brother is currently restoring an Elden Mk 10. The original intent was to build something compliant with both vintage and SCCA club ford specs. Again, a car where the original Falconer bodywork goes behind the shoulders in front of the hoop. After consideration of the current SCCA requirements, it is being done up as vintage only.

I've been looking at late 70s to early 80s (pre swift db1) Formula Fords lately with the intent of running SCCA FF or CFF. If I end up buying a car that is non-compliant to the current specs I will be updating it all the way, including the anti intrusion bars along he top of the cockpit sides. If I have to do meatball surgery on the bodywork to make it fit, so be it.

I'd like to run agains my brother someday in an SCCA regional, but with the disparity of safety specs it looks unlikely that will happen.

All that being said, it looks like the roll hoop on the Lola in the pics is clearly out of SCCA specs.

Kip

The forward bars and dash hoop must have been pre 1980 as we were updating T440's and T340's in that period as the grandfathering came to a close - don't remember doing any after about 83 when I merged with Essex Racing

Working from memory, the rules changed in 1969. In '68, my FC roll hoop didn't need any bracing, but we had to add bracing in 1969. There was no requirement that the bar extend above the head. I guess back then we considered heads to be consumable. I don't think there was any requirement addressing tubing size or wall thickness.

Larry Oliver
International Racig Products

My 72 Titan FF had rear roll hoop bracing, but no front bracing.

Larry

I don't know when the rule changed either, but for anyone wondering if the T200 actually ran that way in period, here is an image taken from the Balttimore Sun newspaper in 1970.