Does anyone know if an '02 cab will pass the "broom stick" test for a track day.....

I may be doing a track day that requires all cabs pass the "broom stick test"... I haven't manually raised my stock roll bar to test it. Thought someone might know.

'02 cab has pop-up rollover protection which "should" pass the broomstick test if you're not too tall and don't have an oversized helmet head (fire away!). Seriously, though, how will you manually raise the pop-up bars to even check? Just check with your event organizers and ask if your pop-up protection will suffice... many clubs allow them. Cheers

Thanks - I'm fairly short. I do know that they require it to be checked. I believe there is a manual way of raising the pop-up things, was just hoping someone had done it and knew for sure.

Some PCA regions will simply require all cabriolets to run with tops up, period. I would suggest sending an email to the DE/Track chair and finding out.

It varies from club to club and region to region. We have people in our local PCA chapter (Vegas) run with their tops DOWN on track days but I know after talking with RJ since I am moving to NC in a couple months that VIR will not allow that. It all depends is the correct answer so you would need to contact the organizers of the event. As for me, until I add another car later this year for track days (cough....GT3) I run with the hartop on my CAB for added stability. Yeah it adds 73# to the car but who cares. I still run lap times with the best of them.

Thanks for the replies - the event organizer just requires that the broom stick test be passed - top up, top down - no difference, just the broom stick thing. The event is actually an Audi club event and I'm deciding whether to use my 996 or my S4.

The broom stick tests...sounds like something one gets in Prison.

What's the broomstick test??

Where are you moving to in NC? Does this mean no more "Exotic Car of the Week" thread?

Place a broomstick from the windsheild header to the top of the rollbar - there needs to be 2 inches between the broomstick and the top of your helmet. So, you really need to manually pop up the roll bar to see if it will pass this test.

Cary, NC (west suburb of Raleigh). I have a feeling that the days of my exoctic pics will come to a crashing halt! Not to worry, I will stock up on piucs here before I ship out

Jason - the pop-up roll hoops on the 996 Cab cannot be deployed manually unless there has been a radical change. The hoops are powered by a pyrotechnic charge like the air bags amnd setting it off co$ts. You should ask the event organizer how they measure the 996 cab to allow for the pop up. Some regions use a block of wood 8.5 inches tall to simulate the height of the hoop when deployed. So place a broom handle (here we use hockey sticks!) on the windshield header and the other end resting on the 8.5 inch block of wood which is resting on the top of the seat. That simulated the higher position of the roll hoop. Your helmeted head should not touch the stick. Someone posted 2 inches of clearance. That is not a sure thing. Many regions just want to see daylight between the helmet and the stick. Check with the organizer. Two inches is the standard requirement for the height above the head in a race car equipped with a cage. Note most regions of PCA (including mine) no longer require the broomstick test for Boxsters and 996 Cabs. Porsche says the car is safe in a roll over and we have no reason to doubt them. Roll overs are not a high risk at DE IMHO. All modern cabs from germany have roll hoops which are not as tall as you would expect. Some deploy in an accident, others do not. Fact is, the engineers who designed the system know that a three point seat belt will allow you to fold over, and the height of the roll hoop or bar is calculated accordingly. If you are wearing a harness, you will be held bolt upright and I would not warrant the performance of the hoops under that scenario. Lastly most regions wants Cabs and Boxsters to run top up. That prevents arms and things from being thrown up if you roll. Besides, the cars are much faster top up than down, and in the case of the boxster there is a nice magnesium piece which adds roll over protection. Not sure about the cab, never owned one. Best,

Bob - Thanks for the reply. I thought I remember seeing something about manually putting the things up - maybe it was just how to manually put them down (now that I think about it).... I'll call the event organizer and ask. I may just take my Audi anyway - the issue is, the Audi people are not used to the pop-up roll bars and they have strict rules re: cabs.

It would puzzle / surprise me if your "pyrotechnic charge" idea is correct. For my 2000 Cab, the owners' manual includes detailed directions on how the owner may "lower the rollbars after deployment". A tool is included in the Cab tool kit for unlocking the uplock, and directions are to "slowly push down the rollbar until it can be felt to engage". That doesn't sound like a one-shot pyro deployment to me. As for PCA events, the PCA 996 Tech Advice column has this to say, quoted directly from page 2 of the PCA DE Guidelines .... "any make of car delivered with factory-installed roll over protection meets the minimum standards for PCA DE events." Also, the theory of using an 8.5" wooden block to simulate deployment seems sound as an article in the February / March 2005 Christophorus (page 40) gives a figure of 8.5 inches with the top up and 9 inches with the top down.

My roll hoops deployed when I had my accident. The next morning, when I got to the body shop, they had already "reset" the hoops (reset was the word the tech used, IIRC). I doubt any new parts were required, as I had not authorized any work to be done.

I thought I read in the manual that getting all wheels off the ground will cause the roll hoop deployment. Go find a hump or bridge and have some fun! You can reset them by using a tool and pushing them down.

OK, since I like to understand my car, all this speculation (including my own) prompted me to go out to the garage, get down the service manual, and look it up. At least for the MY2000 (and probably all other 996s): From Pages 69-29 & 30 - Diagnostics: The control module, attached behind the rear seat, consists of an itegrated g sensor and level sensors. The g sensor detects loss of contact with the road surface. The two level sensors detect vehicle inclination and transverse and longitudinal acceleration. Capacitors provide reserve power in case of battery failure. If the sensors detect a roll-over situation, the roll over bars are extended through spring force. A compression spring is located under each vertical shaft of each roll-over bar .... total of 4 springs. For you real tech heads : The level sensor consists of a spirit bubble (carpenter's level), an LED, and a photo transistor. Exceeding set limits of acceleration in either axis, or exceeding roll limit about the longitudinal axis .... causes the air bubble to pass through the LED light beam and be detected by the receiver. The G sensor consists of a magentized weight compressing a spring below. In the event of sufficient negative G force, the weight becomes ligher and the spring presses it upward, making electrical contact to trigger the spring release in the roll-bar units. Manual Triggering: The roll-bars may be intentionally triggered by the diagnostic module (PST2), or manually by inserting a screwdriver in a sealed hole in the control module to press against a release pawl. Instruction for re-stowing the roll-bars is found in the owners' manual. Required tool is included in the Cab tool kit.

Hi Bob, Good to hear from you on this board. Been many years since we last chatted... Just wanted to say that I'm pretty sure your statement above is not correct, or at least not for a '99 cab, which is what I have. When I first got my car, I went out for an aggressive drive on a country road that I had driven a few times before. This time I was going faster, and when I went up over the crest of a small but steep hill, all four wheels left the ground, and a sudden loud BANG scared the crap out of me. At first I thought someone had shot at me (seriously, it was that loud), then I thought that I had somehow blown up the engine. I immediately stopped the car, and only then realized that both of the pop-up bars had deployed. It turns out that on my car, (and I suspect most other Porsches), the bars are just fired by big whopper springs, that sit there coiled up waiting to scare the s**t out of you. After the pop-ups deploy, the can be pushed down with a little effort and a long tool of some kind. So no pyrotechnics, but it sounded like there was! Keep the shiny side up, =Carlos=