CAM LOCK BELT SYSTEM SAFETY

Here is a short safety story about something I don’t think you ever thought about. How would you like to be trapped in your race car and unable to get out? It’s a scary thought in an accident or fire situation. It happened to a friend of mine when he pulled into his paddock space after a session and tried to get out of his race car.

Earlier in the season he installed a new set of Pyrotect Cam Lock belts. Here’s where he made his mistake. He didn’t like the sticker that was attached to the center of the Cam Lock rotating opener so he took it off. This allowed the counter sunk set screw in the center to loosen up and eventually fall out.

When the set screw fell out, the rotating release cover also fell off during a session. So when he pulled into his paddock space and reached down to rotate the release cover it was gone! This meant that there was no way he could open the restraint system. He was trapped in the race car until someone came over, found the rotating cover on the floor of the race car, and held it in place to open the Cam Lock.

Don’t let this happen to you. If you disturb the sticker that keeps the cover plate set screw from loosening up, you should put some thread locker on that screw to keep it in place.

I have looked at some other manufacturer’s Cam Lock systems. Some do have set screws and some do not so you need to look at your’s to see if this applies.


Dick Ryan

What...?? another low bid item/assembly made in Idunno ?

The 'sticker' was never meant to be removed......just like the sticker on your matress......."penalty for removal". It has the pointy arrows 'open" and "closed" printed on it.

However....a sticker should not be used to retain a screw............

Low price crap or not, if it's certified and legal to run, then it's good info to be aware of.
Back when I was racing boats we had a similar (but opposite) issue with steering wheels.
We didn't find out about the problem (and deal with it in the rules) until after it killed a driver.
I'll wager many crews stumbled on the problem and dealt with it as part of regular maintenance so it didn't become evident to the tech committee until the crash.
No internet back then but if anyone had written about it in the monthly rag, that driver might not have crashed.

clayt wrote:Back when I was racing boats we had a similar (but opposite) issue with steering wheels.
.

Reminds me of when I worked for a high dollar boat racer in the last century. He was absolutely brutal on equipment. A rev limiter meant nothing with his type of driving. We were at Lake Berryessa up north for a 9 hour race....the three screws holding the steering wheel to the boss came unscrewed ( or maybe pulled out of the alum boss) at 70 mph, boat went up on its side and sunk.....luckily in only 25 feet of water. I learned how to raise a boat using inner tubes and rope.

And yes your right Clay...pointing a problem out and getting the word out is a lot easier with the internet. Follow up is the important key (do I have one of those?...should I check it ?

Similar deal. The big nut that holds the boss to the shaft came off.
The rule change was everyone had to remove that decorative chrome cap that covers the nut and three bolts. The cap was hiding possibly loose hardware.

Rev limiter? Must have been a GN or something.
Did the OPCs run rev limiters?

Posted: Wed Nov 26, 2008 3:18 pm Post subject:

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Rev limiter? Must have been a GN or something.
Did the OPCs run rev limiters?

Nope....back in those days we bought 427 FE fords from Holman and Moody. 7000T pieces......then went thru them.

Everyone used flat bottom boats and vee drives. We developed a boat that had the v-drive way forward 3 feet. Narrow shaft angle. Worked great and it hammered the competition. Ocean racing was fun.......at the end of the round Catalina ski race you went to the doctor to have your insides realigned and put back where they belonged from the pounding.

I was referring to the class 'GN' semi V from way back...

ed: oops. Now that we've completely hijacked this thread. Sorry!

The problem with "safety gear" is much deeper than just checking for proper installation and use. There was a time when I just called Bill Simpson and told him what I wanted. A time when I went over to Fred Crow and picked up custom made belts and nets....Apparently those days are gone. Now, even Crow gets stuff from China....the quality suffers, too. The personal protective gear you get when ordering from most of the big companies is, at best, subject to close scrutiny....Caveat emptor! Buy cheap stuff and expect top quality (safety) is ludicrous. What's the old saying??? "Got a $10 head, buy a $10 helmet"!

To the photos (great stuff, I might add) of the old boats....We sure wasted a lot of money of fancy stuff that did not work all that well. E.g., the four 58 IDA Webers on the "plenum manifold"...Serious waste of $$$$$ but, sure looks "racery"! --- BTDT.

Rod

FWIW, I had a problem with the Pyrotects in the Sprite in which the pin that retains the belts in the camlock would rotate and allow one of the belts to pop out. Happened under braking into turn 12 at Fontana.

Replaced with a set of Crows and have been quite happy. They made up exactly what I needed and I picked it up a day later. Much better quality than the Pyrotect stuff.

[quote="clayt"]I was referring to the class 'GN' semi V from way back..

You got me looking at some old pix and stuff that I have........all the boats that we race with had U-00 00 being various numbers.

looking at all the stuff some of it comes back to me.....fun times and a lot of work.


''''''''''''stuff that did not work all that well. E.g., the four 58 IDA Webers on the "plenum manifold"...Serious waste of $$$$$ but, sure looks "racery''''''

Yeah Rod...I remember some folks used stuff that really didn't work too well.

In the midget I have a nice set of Willans. But in the Top Alcohol Funny car and the Nostalgia Fuel funny car I work on they both use Taylor motorsports belts. They are very nice and in Orange County.

http://willansmotorsport.com/

http://www.taylormotorsports.com/