On board fire suppression systems-locations
 

I am in the process of installing an onboard firesuppression system on my FD after watching 2 cars during a track day burn down to the ground while the owners watch helplessly.

I know the point of the firesuppression is to give you time to get out but why not also save the car eh?

I was wondering for those of you who have this installed in your FDs if you can post pics of your mounting locations?

Thanks in advance. safe motoring

I don't have one, but if I did, there would be a nozzle pointed toward the fuel rails.

Sorry I should have been clearer. What i was looking for was the actual mounting of the Canister , not the nozzles. I already know where I will be putting those.

Put the bottle wherever you need to add weight for a better corner balance...

Im not at the point of corner balancing yet, im still doing a lot of testing and changes to my setup and to corner balance would be a waste (and expensive) as ill probably be doing it every week lol.

I think i figured out my location for the bottle. Thanks to everyone that replied

Mounting the bottle is determined by what sort of system you have, and how the manufacturer says it needs to be mounted, how big it it is, available room, etc.

Never count on a fire bottle saving your car, its just not its purpose.

Also, I have seen cars that might have been saved from extensive fire damage burn to the ground because of improper use of the fire bottle. First, NEVER pull the fire bottle while your moving. All this will result in is the fire retardant foam, gas, etc. being blown out of the car and the fire resuming. The proper way to do this, assuming an engine fire not yet in the cockpit, is to pull the hell off the track, get unbuckled and as your on the way out pull the fire bottle. If the flames are physically invading the cockpit (you did follow the rules and block off all holes into the cockpit from the engine bay and fuel tank didnt you?) then stop the damned car, pull the fire bottle, get the hell out, forget the car.

As a side note, I knew a driver who was so afraid of burning up in a car he kept a $100 bill in his drivers suit and made it known to all the corner workers that $100 bucks belonged to whomever got him out of the car first.

I'll add to the above post: If the flames aren't in the cockpit yet to pull over close to a worker station that way a middle aged chubby guy in white overalls won't have to haul an extinguisher a long way to help save your car.

I have a picture, but don't have access to it right now. I'll see if I can dig it up once I get back around my personal laptop. Mine is a 3 nozzle system and it's mounted in the hatch area. Centered is the fuel cell. To the left of the fuel cell is the fire supression bottle.

The key to this, is not actually have the $100 in a pocket easily accessible...and never reveal what pocket. :lol:

Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I know that the purpose of the firesuppression is note to save the car, rather give you precious seconds to get out. But it can still obviously save the car from burning down as it does what its supposed to do.

The car is still streetable, as I do not want to fully plunge into a fully trailered track car and there fore I do not have the rear hatch area closed off, yet.

Extra added insurance is always a welcomed bonus in my book. Lets be honest that most of us who do HPDs/track days dont have fire extinguishers in our cars and are at the mercy of track workers who may or may not have fire extinguishers on them where you have crashed/pull over on.

I like the idea of $100 on the suit lol.

Brent, thanks, I was hoping you or Damian would chime in.

I found a picture last night once I got back to my room, but my civilian internet was down. I'll try again tonight.

Thinking about this a little more from a street car perspective, you could probably fit the canister in the rear bin. I'd cut the bottom out of the bin and bolt it to the floor and, with a little trimming(or drilling some holes) of some other interior panels, it wouldn't be too much of a hassle routing the lines.

Ideally I think you want both a hand held extinguisher and a fire suppression system. I think everyone has heard the story of the car going off track, car gets disabled for whatever reason, and then the hot exhaust starts a fire under the car and your too far away from a corner worker. You would need a handheld extinguisher to try to put this type of fire out as the fire suppression system nozzles are not usually aimed underneath the car.