Hi all.
As I have said earlier, I am preparing my car for club class Time Attack.
For this the car must remain standard but must have Harnesses fitted. To do this I am also going to fit a Sparco light weight race seat. However this will leave the car without a drivers seat module and airbag.
so the question is does any one know if the rest of the airbag systems in the car will work with one airbag/ seat missing.?

 

OK .
To make the question real easy.
What happens if you have one airbag removed from the system.
Surly some one might have an idea....please.??

 

Hello @Frank ( Sunnyside ) ,
From my understanding, if the airbag light is on, then the whole system is disabled, so, one unplugged/removed airbag most likely will cause an issue, I am not 100% on this, but that is my thinking.

NOW, what if one were to insert a "Fault Resistor" into said airbag plug/harness for said seat, therefore, fooling the airbag control module located in the center console above the shifter into thinking the bag is in place..

Like these.
.



Johnny

 

Thanks Johnny.
That's a neat idea.
It's posed the question to me.
With a 6pt Harness and race seats do I actually want the air bag system working.
I will be on my own strapped in. I don't think it would benefit me in an accident and what if I drove into the sand pit areas and accidently activated the system . I bet that would make a mess of the interior.
I will have to have a think about it. Perhaps with out the standard seats it would be best to leave the system in a fault made and not working.??

 

You do or you don't? I've raced quite a bit over last decades and there's no way I'd accept a functional airbag system in a car when I'm strapped to a 5- or 6-point harness in a racing seat, complete with a helmet and a HANS brace. Obviously no actual race car has airbags and I don't have a clue what club level time attack cars are all about these days. Our regional class GT-R:s and BMW:s were stripped, caged and basically closer to FIA Gp.A and Super Saloon than anything even remotely street-driven.

 

That is mt thoughts the more I think about it.
Have a wee look at the Time Attack site
timeattack.co.uk
It's also very big arround the world. Big money involved for the top drivers.
Club cars are the entry level. The site gives the regulations for each class.
As its against the clock and nor grid related racing it falls within the FIA regulations as its own class of motorsport.
Once I have a season under my belt I can upgrade my club uk motorsport licence to a national licence. I will then source a cheep gt and make a Gt Modified class car.
But I need to know I will like it before going into it too seriously. Hence using my road car in the club class.

 

I have had to replace my trailer straps as the old ones were for my GPA Escort Cosworth Rally Car and not rated high enough.
Got my Helmet and straps ready as well.
Working on the seat as soon as I have some time.
Car has been on the trailer and tow hitch weight point of 150kg established.

 

I was (loosely) involved in early time attack racing in Europe when it was a niche imported from Japan in the 90's. Gave up on that pretty quickly and stuck to circuit racing because of door-to-door battle appeal, so I'm not familiar with the scene itself anymore. Just with the fact that using a street-driven car in any form of competition activity isn't IMO a good idea, and IIRC you can still get your rookie license stamped by racing pretty much any car in lower classes, according to FIA regulations. I think I'd rather look at rent-a-racer offerings instead of hacking into a Bentley if I didn't already have a bit more appropriate cars for the purpose.

Food for thought.

 

It's been the big question most people ask Why a Bentley.
The answer basically is that, I drive mine all the time. I love these cars and basically ideal for me take that pleasure even further. They are also cheep.
My 2008 Speed when I bought it was north of £60k 12 years ago. I can now replace it like for like for less than 20k.
A 2004 car ideal for stripping out and caging are now 8k in Auto Trader.
I am far too old to be a highly competitive driver. So long as my times get better and I learn more an more about driving our gt cars quickly off the public road then I will be happy.
I like the idea Time Attack has purpose.
I obviously don't want to damage my car but at least it won't just be on a track day. Time Attack is Motor Sport so what better to race our Gt cars in that environment against the clock and not directly with other competitors. Very similar to the rally ethos of rallying against the clock.

 

I'm not asking why a Bentley, I'm all for it. I'm just questioning the whole principle of racing any street-driven car. I've been there, done that quite a lot at one time (gymkhana, club events etc.) and given up because they're a huge compromise and rather fragile when pushed to their limits.

In short, it's much more fun to drive back from the track with your busted up racer in a trailer than having your street car towed and not being able to drive it daily for a while. That's why I still have a few "leftover" GT-R:s, a Corvette and a bunch of other more or less dedicated fun cars. Considering the recent resale value depreciation I could justify getting another Bentley just for the heck of it, but wouldn't consider modifying my current one for track duty in any way.

 

The method in my madness is I would love a Gen 3 road car.....so let's see where all this takes me. I might have my 100k mile Gt Speed available in a year or so to modify.
One day I will try and get some pictures of my GrP B clubman GM rally car and my Clubman GrpA Escort Rs Cosworth and Clubman Grp A Sierra 4x4 Cosworth Rally cars.
Gone are the days building these types of cars. I spent the best part of my military years spending my wages and competing in UK National closed road rally championships. I just want some cheaper fun in a car I love to drive.
TIME Attack car classes run strick regulation per car class and you compete in that class. Even tyres have to be road going not race.
It can become very competitive with iirc 10 rounds per year using the uk's main race tracks.
I have a trailer from my old days and a group of mates as service crew. So.I have to say I'm a bit excited.

 

There's nothing wrong with that. Racing gets very expensive very fast in most FIA sanctioned classes. You could've bought a Bentley or possibly two for what we spent each season of saloon car racing, not even including the purchase & build costs of the car itself. Year in, year out. Fortunately we were (partially) a factory sponsored team so it wasn't all out of pocket. On the other hand some classes can be run on a relatively shoestring budget and they're pretty much the only sensible ones unless you have a solid sponsor base.

Having seen quite a bit of this since the 80's, learned my lessons and paid my dues, I'd still rent were I to graduate for a higher license and concentrate in building a solid racer for the class I'd like to compete in as a result. Be it a Bentley or anything else you might want.

 

I think that's sound advice. Thanks.
If....and it is at the moment "if" I like the Time Attack experience after the first season it would make sense to use my workshop and my skills and build a much more hard core out and out Time Attack car.
Time will tell......on both fronts lol.