A guy I know had a crash and fire today. It got me thinking about installing a fIre suppression system in my car. Would it do any good to spray halon or whatever they use now at the engine of a car like mine? Wouldn't it all just blow away? What are the recommendations for a system that is light weight but effective?

Todays crash and

My car with no hood:

That thing burnt for a while. How far did the fire crew have to come from? What caused the fire?

The Halon systems rely on displacing oxygen from a closed area to put the fire out. If you got caught inside of an area with Halon dumped in it, you would suffocate if you didn't get out. I stuck my head in car once that had the system discharged accidentally. Very strange experience.

It's not useful in the open, especially with the car moving. Even Top Fuel cars don't require a fire system unless the cockpit is enclosed. And then only discharged into the cockpit.

Hate to see old irreplaceable stuff torn up like that.

Mine uses Cold Fire. Its a foam. sticks and cools. Washes up easy with soap and water.
http://www.goodvibesracing.com/DJSafetyFireSystems.htm
Doug

I have a foam fire system also.4 liter firecharger in a 69 Satellite on race gas.

Here is the video, it looks like the fire might have been started by the other car that spun trying to avoid him. Either way I am glad Nick made it out, he was already on his way out when the fire first started it looks like. Scary for sure.

Language warning

https://youtu.be/DHabMzS2hJo

I think the funny car fire suppression systems use foam.

I would not be surprised if the nostalgia front end dragsters had fire systems but I don't know for sure.

Talk to the manufactures I am sure they can tell you what to do.

I am sure nozzle placement is important.

I have not heard the cause of Nick's fire but it looks like the track had little fire fighting capability. I your photo has a full blown fire truck in the back ground and I would be surprised if it was at the track at the time of the crash.

Halon would be only useful to some degree if you car was stopped/no fan. I am fairly certain if you have a fire, your car will soon come to a stop at some point, and engine will be off. A foam type system would be preferred. And you can always activate the system as car comes to stop, depending on the intensity of fire and how much heat you can tolerate/or pay for. Assuming you are at a legit track, all you are trying to achieve is to contain fire to some acceptable degree until rescue arrives. If it was my car, I would have a dual system, interior/ trunk fuel cell, and engine bay.

Joel get with Eric Yost.He can get you lined out for what you need.

Nostalgia Top Fuel needs to have an SFI 17.1 system. That's what I would look at. I think gas or foam is optional depending on the application. Definitely foam on an open car.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm definitely going to look into it.