Race cars end up with a bunch of equipment hanging from the cages. Mirrors, cameras, fire bottle pull handles, water bottles, radios, steering wheel hooks, etc etc. However, these seemingly-simple hunks of metal are often frustratingly expensive.
I’m not mad at the pricing of motorsports-related cage brackets. To a large extent, I understand. Many of these parts are custom designed for our very specific applications, and built in small batches for an incredibly small niche. However, I’m not sure which parts are expensive because the seller is listing with huge markups vs which are genuinely expensive to produce and sell. Id guess the market is a mix of both.
If you see a seller you like producing a part you need, it absolutely makes sense to pay bit of a premium to support your favorite shop or manufacturer, and push an easy-button on what will undoubtedly be a nice part. However, if you’re a stubborn cheapskate like me, you only need to look slightly outside our world to find a wealth of cheap brackets.
I spent a ton of time searching for bar-attaching brackets but many are created for small bicycle handlebars and don’t fit on large 1.5″ rollcage bars. Most of the brackets listed are also made of plastic. I don’t hate plastic and composites, but I definitely don’t want major components like fire system pull mounts on something that can melt. For the (admittedly cheap) plastic brackets I have, most started to show their age quickly, even with very minimal UV exposure. Camera mounts on the exterior of my car usually only last 1-2 couple seasons before beginning to crack.
Enter: ATV Light Bar brackets.
LED Light Bars. Equipped to light up a campground brighter than Times Square, sidebyside ATV’s are often loaded up full of flags, Coors Light, and LED Light bars. Wildly popular, these helped create a big market for easy mounting solutions that needed to be TOUGH: Resistant to flying through the air, UV exposure, and stray gunfire alike.
With minimal, lightweight bodywork and a metal tube structure of similar diameter to the standard race car rollcage, they opened up a large market of low-priced brackets that can be used for many purposes in our cars.
My car’s cage is 1.5″ bar, so I found compatible brackets to use when I need. I also have some smaller 3/4″ support bars in spots, so I got smaller brackets to mount things to them as well. eBay sales famously come and go quickly but here’s ones similar to mine. Let me know if these links go dead or just search for same title.
For the 3/4″ mounts: 2 for less than $15
2x Bull Bar Roll Tube Mounting Bracket Clamps LED Light Bar Offroad for ATV UTV“
For my 1.5″ mounts: 2 for less than $20
1.5″ Aluminum Tube Bull/Roll Bar Mount Bracket Clamps Holder LED Car Truck
These weren’t purpose-designed components, but are plenty close enough to be used with minimal or no compromises.
“but the weightttt!” – The beefier metal mounts were 3oz heavier on my kitchen scale… less than 1/4 of a lb. Maybe that matters in F1 or space flight, but not in club racing
Mid-Season impression: I’ve been running my cameras with these so far this season. I didn’t notice any issues with shaking or vibration with the old mounts, these are more of the same. What is nice now is they don’t bend or flex when I’m adjusting them and I’m a LOT less concerned about them breaking. With pricing similar to cheap plastic mounts, cheaper than genuine gopro mounts, and WAY cheaper than motorsports-specific brackets – I consider these a solid purchase.
If you’re looking for any other hard-mount solution: Mirrors, fire bottles, fire system pulls, radios, even DIY seat braces…. I’d say mounts like these are a great starting point.