Re: FireExtinguisher Story

[DeWitt Harrison <de@aztek-eng.com>]

On Tue, 08 Jun 1999 17:21:50 -0400, Michael Zamikhovsky wrote:

>Steve Currie - d21 wrote:
>>DeWitt Harrison wrote:
>> >Whether the fire extinguisher stays put depends on how strongly its
>> >bracket is made. I do not advise relying solely on the quick release
>> >strap normally supplied with these devices. Some additional structure
>> >to prevent forward movement during extreme deceleration is usually
>> >needed.
>>
>> Very important point here.   Once at Mid-Ohio, my buddy was driving my VW
Golf
>> when the fire extinguisher went off.  Corner workers were very impressed with
>> his ability to pull over and put out the (nonexistent) fire.
>>
>> SCCA specs even required an upgrade to a metal holding strap from the cheap
>> plastic one provided with the extinguisher.
>>
>> Steve Currie
>
>If one goes to any Fire Extinguisher company and asks for a model with vechicle
>bracket they will automatically provide proper metal one that will pass
SCCA and
>FIA and any other.
>Mike Z.

If you mount the extinguisher on the floor, transversely, ahead of the
driver's seat
as proposed, just satisfy yourself that there is no way it could break loose and
take off your heels in a frontal crash. The metal bracket and strap that
came with
my extinguisher didn't satisfy me mainly because it didn't appear to be very
able
to resist forces perpendicular to the bottle's axis. Most SCCA extinguisher
installations I have seen involve strapping the thing to the roll cage in a
place
which does not position the driver in the extinguisher's impact zone in the
frontal impact scenario.

Actually, violent frontal impacts are probably more common in street driving
than in competition, the former being of more concern to most of us. The
drawings of floor mounts I have seen in the Audi euro parts fiche strongly
suggest to me that the Audi engineers were thinking the same thing.

DeWitt Harrison
Boulder, CO
88 5kcstq