I found a photo of the roll over hoop assembly for an F- Type posted below.

 

Curious of the diameter of the bar and the thickness of the metal.

 

I speculate this would offer similar protection as the roll-over hoop from the Porsche Boxster, offering "some" protection in an event of a rollover, but the A-pillar is still expected to bear most of the weight. Again, that's just me speculating...

 

I have seen this before as well as some detailed photos floating around the web of the bare mono-**** chassis.

Somewhere out there there has to be a video of one of these cars rolling over in this day in age!

The Jaguar sales brochure also talks about some of the construction methods of the vert as this is the 2014 brochure and the coup was
not out yet.

Visually that hoop looks pretty dam stiff to me based on the crossection and actual shape of the hoop.
The mounting/attachment points are obviously reinforced with solid aluminum.

Interesting to me is the crossectional shape. I am sure this wasn't picked out of thin air. As anyone with an engineering background understands
about hoop strength.

One other thing to consider is that convertibles and production roadsters are designed structurally different from cars with roofs to meet side impact and
for handling as a car with a roof back in the day handled differently then a vert.

DOT in the 70's virtually killed the E Type sales in the USA, in the 70's by requiring those ugly *** big rubber bumpers.

Anyway the moral of the story is don't flip the car over!

 

I think the difference is that IIRC, the Boxster hoops actually pop up in the event of the car going inverted. The F-Type's are fixed so your head will still hit before the ground hit the hoops. I know with the BMW Z's, those had to be extended by the dealer for track track days but they could be put back down for normal driving. You still won't pass a broomstick test for any organization that forces it.

Yes, but there are requirements around metal type, diameter and thickness for crash structures in racing (as well as deign). For example, just any old eBay bolt in racing cage won't pass a racing inspection. There is a whole different level of vehicle inspection that happens for tracking a car (at least with 'most' track organizations).

Yes, but DOT doesn't test rollover protection. That's not part of their crash testing. For example, Miata's come off the showroom floor with no rollover protection. That is said in a different way as that is the most tracked car on the planet so you would think Mazda would have a factory option.

Agreed!

 

I remember that one soft top that rolled during a race. Driver totally fine, full rollover:
Anyone actually know the equation to figure out how, on open road with no obstacles, you could roll this car, as heavy as it is? It's not a Suzuki Samurai. I have to assume you would have to be going a certain speed, and take a sharp corner while accelerating, etc?

Mind you the below is street racing (vs an A8) in China, but i am tall and can't get these images out of my head, not ever:

 

Put a front wheel up on a curb at speed and any car will go over.

 

That last picture showing the supporting structure of the bars bent, unfortunately shows that those are not a crash supporting structure.

 

Never mind.

 

I race a Miata in the SuperSpec Cup series, full welded cage, 6 pt harness, fire suppression and suit, nets, full safety gear. I BELIEVE in safety gear for any "track car"

That said, I'm thinking about buying an R convertible as a daily driver and I hope to be able to track it a few times in Southern Cal just to get familiar with the handling. I don't plan on pushing it to the edge. I'm assuming the list you posted reflects NASA rules.

This seems to tell me I could run an R convertible at a NASA event, not race, but get track time. Am I understanding this correctly? I have seen stock convertible Rs with the optional bars on track at events run at Sonoma and Big Willow.

What actual experience have people had with being allowed to run or barred? Thank!