Safety: Fire Extinguisher

Safety: Fire Extinguisher

The objective of fitting a fire extinguisher system in a race car is to help extinguish a small fire / delay the development of a major fire prior to the additional track fire marshals arriving at the car.

The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) is generally accepted as being the world governing body for all motorsport (we exclude North America from that statement) and the FIA defines the specifications and lists the approved products relating to the safety aspects (helmets, race suits etc).  The standard by which the fire extinguisher system must comply is 8865-2015.

For saloon racing cars this dictates that a system of a minimum 4L capacity, that discharged 50% into the cockpit and 50% into the engine bay. There must be two activation points, one on the outside of the car and one inside of the car that the driver can reach……

The bottles have a service life of 10 years and have to be re-certified every two year by an authorised service agency. The bottle then has a tamper proof label attached:

An integral part of the overall system is the specifically designed atomiser nozzle. The device divides the foam into minute particles, smothering the fire with a fine mist that forms an invisible seal over the target area, cooling and thus preventing re-ignition. The extinguishment is Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF).

There are two activation systems, these being:

Electrical:

Mechanical:

ZRT Motorsport are using the mechanical activation system.

The fire extinguisher system comprises of a number of components which are listed below:

Bottle:

Bottle Cage:

Hose:

Connectors:

Nozzle:

Activation Handles:

Installation:

The basic layout of the installation is defined by the FIA and is presented below:

The bottle has been installed horizontally in the “passenger” footwell with the driver activation handle installed on the center console panel:

Nozzles

External Activation Handle

The local authorised Lifeline agent is Dubai based Motorsport Wheels (msw-me.com) who last year re-certified the team existing bottle. So if you are in need of a handheld bottle, a plumbed in system or recertification, contact Motorsport Wheels (www.MSW-ME.com).

Click Here for Fuel Tank