Saturday, April 21, 2007

You can never over-do saftey




The other day while I was visiting the body shop to check on my car there was another customer also checking on his Mustang. He walked over to my car and told me he had been checking out my car. "Seems to me you have way over-done the roll cage. Isn't that a bit over-kill?" I smiled, grit my teeth and asked which car was his. He took me over to a very nice Mustang and it was very clear that he was very proud of it. He went on to say, "I have driven this baby since 1966 and except for a few new pieces of chrome and the paint it's purrs like a kitten." I leaned in looked at the speedometer and it read 81,000 miles and then I asked if we could look under the hood. After he opened the hood I began to realize why the roll cage in the California's Best GT 350 R looked a tad overkill and I smiled and said, "That's a great looking six banger you have there. Pretty fast is it?" He closed the hood and said, "You'd be surprised."

When it comes to over-kill with anything related to safety... there is no such thing. The photos above are a beautifully prepared GT 350 that has ran in the Targa Newfoundland and was running in the Chihuahua Express in Mexico that is taking place this week when driver Tom Silver had a brief encounter with a mountain. As you can see, the car was destroyed but due to a good roll cage and great safety equipment the drivers are out of the car posing for a photo. On the other hand, if they would have had the guys's red mustang with the six banger neither the mountain nor the car would had suffered any damage at all simply due to the fact that the six banger's rubber band can only be wound up so tight. LOL. But seriously I have learned over the years that the less a driver has to worry about during a race the better off he is. Thanks to IMPACT ENGINEERING the last thing I will have to worry myself about is safety. Over-kill may be their middle name but over-priced they are not.



The Chihuahua Express is a practice run for the upcoming La Carrera Panamericana. Team California's Best is glad to know both Tom Silver and navigator David Fuss are safe to walk away and talk about an awesome adventure they had in Mexico thanks to good safety equipment.

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