Bulkhead Bracing Question

[Kenny T Cornett]

The UTK team is making up for lost gorund due to the fire, but we're finally back to frame designing (for 2008).

My question is about the bulkhead bracing...

The rules state that the bulkhead must be braced to the front hoop through three braces. If we had a "mid-hoop" in between the bulkhead and the front hoop, would that violate the rules? It's surely overbuilt by the way we're doing it (and quite heavy too), but it's easier way for us to get everything packaged the way we want.

Would we need to fill out a structural eq sheet? Is it just blatantly breaking the rules? Is it no big deal?

Thanks! (and sorry if this has been discussed before!!!)

[Kenny T Cornett]

The UTK team is making up for lost gorund due to the fire, but we're finally back to frame designing (for 2008).

My question is about the bulkhead bracing...

The rules state that the bulkhead must be braced to the front hoop through three braces. If we had a "mid-hoop" in between the bulkhead and the front hoop, would that violate the rules? It's surely overbuilt by the way we're doing it (and quite heavy too), but it's easier way for us to get everything packaged the way we want.

Would we need to fill out a structural eq sheet? Is it just blatantly breaking the rules? Is it no big deal?

Thanks! (and sorry if this has been discussed before!!!)

[John Stimpson]

Are you talking about the front bulkhead? If so, your'e fine.

Our car (and all of our cars over the last 4 or 5 years), have had an intermediate "hoop" or bulkhead between the front hoop and the front bulkhead. We run two longitudinal tubes forward off the front hoop to a square(ish) bulkhead, which are triangulated from both side and top views. This gives 3 braces on each side between the front hoop and intermediate bulkhead. Then we run two more longitudinal tubes forward from the intermediate bulkhead to the front bulkhead, which are also triangulated, giving 3 more braces. Without seeing a picture or depiction of what your'e talking about its hard to completely understand, but I'm pretty sure you're just fine.