Drag Racing Discussions > Front Engine Dragsters

Fire suit requirements?

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Eaallred:
Hi everyone,

New here, working on my first FED. It's an old slingshot built in the late 60's/early 70's, driven by Bill Edwards. At the time I was told it ran a 392 fuel motor. From what i'm told anyway. Pretty cool old car, can't wait to get it going again.

But now it has an aircooled VW engine in it. Not sure how many years it's had this setup, but it's been a while.  I'm an air-cooled VW guy, so it's right up my alley. I have a street legal low 10-second VW bug, so this should be a lot of fun for me.

As I'm still putting this car together (sold to me as a roller) I am wondering what I need for a fire suit. As of now for the street VW I have SFI 3.2A/5 pants and jacket, and SFI 3.3/5 gloves and shoes. I have a neck collar, but will probably pick up something like a HANS device before I make any real hits in this thing.

Just running gasoline, no methanol, and it's still naturally aspirated. No turbo, blower, or nitrous. It should run high 8's at sea level

Is my current gear good for this second car, or do I need to get a second set of gear for this car? I've looked online till blue in the face, but can't find the info.

I'm getting it ready for a chassis cert and am going to start process of licensing shortly after that. I just don't want to waste anyone's time at the track if I show up with safety gear that is not acceptable for use in a FED.

Any advice appreciated, here's a pic of the car before any fuel system, electrical, or other work got done on it:

dreracecar:
The NHRA book states

  That any car that has an automatic trans inside the chassie(with the driver) without a complete floor covering over the trans, the driver must wear a 3.2a/15 suit (pants /jacket). If there is a sealed firewall panel between you and transmission, then you can wear driving shoes , if not and the trans is exposed then you must wear fire boots.

 A fire suit is the last thing anybody should be cheap on.(just a statement) I alway reccomend customers buy the next grade higher then class minimum. The numbers /5, /10, /15, /20 mean the amount of time in seconds before serious damage to the skin occurs in a fire if the person was just wearing that item

BK:
Your -5 stuff should meet the minimum. IHRA does not require the trans to be covered. One thing to watch I had one inspector require the helmet to have an SA rating because the engine was up front. Nothing says you cant wear more than the minimum. Just running gasoline doesn't mean its safer. A lot of people believe alcohol is safer than gas. I'm one of them.

ricardo1967:
Welcome to the forum Eaallred.

When you have a chance, please write a thread about your cars, they look nice!

George:
When applying safety standards take a step away from the car and imagine someone else in the car. Say, like a friend or family. Is a minimum good enough? Be ready for the worst and hope it never happens.

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