Is this camera mount a bad idea?

loki_racer

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Pittsburgh, PA
I have some GoPro cameras coming before my next race and I want to be able to run one of them inside the cab. I don't have a cage to mount them to. I would like to have it in the middle of the back seat looking out the front window.

My idea is to get a flange mount and steel tube, and mount the flange to the tunnel between the front and back seats. This would allow me to screw the pipe in to the flange and mount a GoPro to it while racing. Then when grocery getting with the kid in the rear seat, I can simply unscrew the pipe from the flange.

Recommendations to install a cage will be met with hostilities from anyone in my family that doesn't sit in the driver seat, due to funds.
 
get a cage if your racing. racing offroad without a cage is really dumb. Take it from me, I rolled my 96 Cherokee 5 times and am very very lucky to still be alive
 
X2 on the cage even if its a simple a&b pillar cage with some bracing.

Your mount is a good idea in theory, but a bad idea in practice. Mounting it on the end of a tube that is not braced against lateral movement is going to make for some very shaky video. I've had good results with a mount I built that pinches onto the overhang on the dash above the radio. That would only work though a 96 or previous dash though. Basically in order to keep the camera still it needs to be mounded as close to your mount's attachment point as possible.
 
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here's a rough drawing of my mount, it took me about 20 minutes to build, and using the same principle you can build a really strong mount if you take some time on it.

cam_mount.jpg
 
You complain about cardboard being stuck to your springs, meanwhile you race without a cage? You need to rethink some priorities.

Recommendations to install a cage will be met with hostilities from anyone in my family that doesn't sit in the driver seat, due to funds.

But they are OK with you getting FUBAR'd when you roll without a cage? Again, priorities...
 
You complain about cardboard being stuck to your springs, meanwhile you race without a cage? You need to rethink some priorities.



But they are OK with you getting FUBAR'd when you roll without a cage? Again, priorities...

I'd love to know how you draw a connection between a post I made about the condition a "finished" product arrived in and a post I made about a camera mount. The only connection I can find is you being an internet troll.

I know I need a cage. We have a final race this season and the league will be addressing some rules changes. Once they have finalized the rules, I will be considering a cage.
 
I'm not arguing for or against the rule, as I don't make them. I know I need a cage. It's on the list.

We have a boatload less go fast out here, so there's a lot less concern with high speed crashes. It's the league's first season, so they are still figuring it all out. They just made firesuits a requirement for the last race, and a ton of people aren't happy with it. The guy winning our league spent $500 on his XJ, maybe a couple hundred more on some poly bump stops, welded the rear, and that's it.

This isn't an argument against a cage, but I feel safer racing without a cage than driving down the street in my wife's MINI Clubman S.
 
if you cant afford a dd... dont go racing with the car your family depends on to get to school on monday...

what dieselSJ said is 100% true, if you dont have a cage, DONT RACE TILL YOU DO, if you cannot afford a cage, you cant afford racing! go out, have fun! but take it easy, make it home to the family!

that clubsman is safer in it's environment, then youre xj will be in it's new race league.

you should RUN away, from any racing league that lets you race offroad without a cage.


=))
 
OR, forget the camera's. and put that money into a cage.


PRIORITYS! you can either remember racing, or have video for your family to watch after you're dead/severly injured.
 
if you cant afford a dd... dont go racing with the car your family depends on to get to school on monday...

what dieselSJ said is 100% true, if you dont have a cage, DONT RACE TILL YOU DO, if you cannot afford a cage, you cant afford racing! go out, have fun! but take it easy, make it home to the family!

that clubsman is safer in it's environment, then youre xj will be in it's new race league.

you should RUN away, from any racing league that lets you race offroad without a cage.


=))

No doubt. It sucks not being able to afford the proper equipment to be able to race safely and then people still do it anyways.

If you can't afford something it's just that simple, you can't afford to do it. Not having the money doesn't mean you should go do it anyways and put your life or others at risk. Racing anything is a luxury, get used to luxuries in life being out of reach.

At least any injuries suffered racing without proper equipment will be on camera for the insurance companies.
 
Thanks for useful input xcm. It would be great if you didn't assume my XJ was my daily driver. How is racing more dangerous than driving a MINI at 70mph down a highway with 18 wheelers?

How does not having a cage put other people's lives at risk?

I rode street bikes for a while. Just looking at a street bike is more dangerous than racing an XJ in an offroad series.
 
when the XXXX did i say it was dangerous for OTHERS? i said it was stupid for your own sake, and im surprised the idiots who run the league can even get insurance. (then again, it's back east, and you guys have surprised me before)

youve got a lot to learn about offroad racing, im not expert. never raced. BUT ive been building a rig to do it safely for over 3 years, ive got a cage, ive got airbumps. but yeah, what do i know?

the fact that you want to mount a camera, before basic safety equipment just means you wont be missed from the gene pool.
 
I never said you said it. iwannadie said it: "Not having the money doesn't mean you should go do it anyways and put your life or others at risk".

Man, your opinion of me actually hurts my feelings. And here I thought we were going to be friends.
 
I never said you said it. iwannadie said it: "Not having the money doesn't mean you should go do it anyways and put your life or others at risk".

Man, your opinion of me actually hurts my feelings. And here I thought we were going to be friends.

I was just speaking in general, it seems they have some pretty relaxed safety regulations. As you said they just required fire-suits and people were mad....

Then again I don't know the type of racing going on. I've seen plenty of AutoX without cages.
 
Thanks for useful input xcm. It would be great if you didn't assume my XJ was my daily driver. How is racing more dangerous than driving a MINI at 70mph down a highway with 18 wheelers?

How does not having a cage put other people's lives at risk?

I rode street bikes for a while. Just looking at a street bike is more dangerous than racing an XJ in an offroad series.

...apples and oranges...mini, street bikes and xj races... What's the point of which one is more dangerous. The point I think is racing the XJ without a cage is more dangerous by a significant margin than without one. Same is riding a street bike in shorts and flipflops vs. outfitted in proper gear. Plenty do it, many get away with it, yet if an accident does happen you don't have to have a degree to figure out which one is better.
 
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