Nerd’s Eye View: The Kern’s Pikes Peak Evo IX

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The roof!  The roof!  The roof is built like a bomb shelter!  You can see how the roof bars tie into the main hoop which is also the connection point for the middle and back half of the cage.  Lots of the high density foam padding is also placed on the cage where helmets may come into contact with the cage.

 

Right behind the occupants of the vehicle is this massive X-brace which fortifies the middle of the cage and roll hoop.  Again, gusseting is used in the middle of the X to add a lot of strength.  However, the builders were mindful of weight by using the dimple die to trim out material but still keep strength in the sheet metal. 

 

The big X in the rear beefs up the back half of the cage tying all the corners of the cage together.  By connecting all the nodes or joints of the cage together, the force from impacts will get distributed throughout the cage instead of getting concentrated in one spot reducing the likelihood of a failure.

 

The driver and navigator are secured in the Racetech seats with Schroth HANS 6-point harnesses.  To communicate with each other, Stilo WRC helmets and intercom system are used.

 

Nothing too fancy going on in the way of controls, just functional.  The fanciest thing visible may be the Sparco steering wheel.  Otherwise, the stock dash gauge cluster, shifter, pedals, and even shift knob are used.  The stock shifter is relocated on a custom high-mount which makes for a shorter arm movement from the steering wheel to the shifter.  What you can’t see is the Tilton dual master reservoir which the brake pedal is attached to.  As for the two stainless braided lines, those are the fuel lines.  It’s safer to route those inside the car than outside where they could get destroyed by ruts, rocks, and other rough things rally cars drive over.

 

 

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