Racers,

I know that typically at a MINIMUM we are required to have a fire extinguisher inside the cockpit that is easily accessible by the driver.

I just experienced my first and hopefully the last fire in my car this past weekend at Road Atalnta with 2 laps from the end of a 90 minute Enduro. It was a fuel fire (I will discuss details at a later date) that flashed up very quickly in the engine compartment and the flames flowed into the driving compartment (my fault for not filling all openings in the firewall). I pulled the handle on the fire suppression system and it knocked down 90% of the fire initially. My system has 3 nozzles (1 in engine, 1 on me and 1 toward fuel tank). The balance of the fire was extinguished using a dry chemical fire bottle from the trackside wall.

I was not harmed in any way and the car only has some burned wires of various types that will be be replaced. Without the fire suppression system, I am confident that me and my car would have suffered a lot more damage.

I intend to order another system just to dedicate to the engine compartment (2 nozzles) and I will change the configuration of the existing one to point at me (2 nozzles). I will also carry a fire extinguisher in the car as back-up for me and maybe to help another driver if required in the future.

Bottomline: I would encourage everybody to install some type of fire suppression system that can knock down any fire as quickly as possible.

Tim, It's good to hear that you're alright and hopefully you can get the car back up and running soon.

Just for interest sake, what size system did you have in the car?

Chris,

We will have the car ready for the next race in May.

I have a 2.3 litre system.