Reading about the recent freeway shootings in L.A. I'm not seriously considering, though circumstances could change, but curious as to how to provide limited protection in the RX-8. Light weight kevlar panels in seatbacks and door panels might provide reasonable protection from bullets for minimal weight gain and cost. Anybody have any knowledge or experience?

BTW I used to go to a semi-controlled shooting range where they allowed shooting of abandoned cars and refrigerators. I was shocked to learn that my little .22LR could penetrate through a Toyota Corolla, passing through both front doors!

Hmm, not sure how much this would cost. I know BMW used to offer a "protection package" for such things but I have never seen anyone get it aftermarket.

As a fellow So Cal resident, I too am getting a bit worried becuase my girlfriend makes the drive from Thousand Oaks to OC every weekend!

Never thought we'd have to worry about such things, huh?

To armor your car in California, you will need a permit, and it's very expensive.

Due to the shootings i have considered what i can do to prevent such.

1) Drive a little faster than the flow of traffic - if you notice someone following you avoid that vehicle by all means.

2) while you are passing vehicles, look to see for "suspicious" people Avoid them aswell.

I find this way (so far) very cheap and works very well.

sorry i couldnt help any more.

hmm instead of armoring your car...jst get some body armor..it'll cost less...and you'll look intimidating :D

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=46411

make them fear you!

A few years back they had a company where you could attach a very thinck piece of ballastic glass to the inside of your window that would protect the occupant from handgun level bullets. Don't know if it ever caught on. For your door, you could probably buy some bulletproof vests made of kevlar & spectra shield & put them inside your car door but not sure how much more effective that would be.

hmm instead of armoring your car...jst get some body armor..it'll cost less...and you'll look intimidating :D

I did just that during the Rodney King Los Angeles Riot. I have a government job that necessiated me working past midnight during the riots. Since it was impractical to wear a vest to work, and I didn't want to be seen taking off my vest at the parking lot, I placed my vest over the seat back, giving me double protection if shot from the back.

It seems to me three kevlar or similar panels would give some protection against handgun rounds One in each front door and one inside the seat back. This shouldn't weigh much and may be DIYable.

in japan isnt there a rx8 cop car? wonder if that thing has armor on it

With a bajillion cars commuting everyday it's been blown way out of proportion. Easy to get a plate ID with traffic crawling 1-2mph.

Exactly Toadman. I'm not sure why people are OVER hyping this gun shooting here in LA. Go to any ghetto area and you are likely to run across some scrupulous people. I'm not saying not to be cautious, but being overly cautious is silly.

I tend to drive in a big mob of people... been driving after 11pm most of the time, and I just follow other cars. I highly doubt someone would try something when there's a line of cars next to each other. Besides, there are tons of cops now on the freeway.

Isn't this a troll forum?

I think you are all missing the latest law that went into effect this past January in California. As long as you mount your guns in plain sight, you can have no more than one per side of the vehicle. That is, one for the passenger and one for the driver. If there is no passenger, that gun can then be slaved to the driver's side.
I'm taking orders....here is mine...

We also have one available with armor as well as the mini guns.

Chainguns for the win!

However, for reasons of my own, I looked into the feasibility of adding armour glass (NIJ Level III, if you're curious) as part of investigating a full armour treatment for the RX-8. Adding the bullet-resistant transparencies all the way around will add about 600 lbs (272Kg) to the car (as much as 800 if you're not choosy about your vendor), and seriously raise the centre of gravity of the car. They're also really thick (.82 inches or 21 mm thick).

we don't really need a minigun

however, what with all the recent shootings, I'd actually want bulletproof glass :D

You probably have a higher chance of being killed in a vehicle accident.

These are all road ragers shooting. If you're about to be shot, you probably already know it because you did something to piss off.

Unfortunately, rx8 is road rager's cocaine. Rx8 only makes a fierce angry driver more angry. More rpm, more power, more aggression. Engine is so smooth to accelerate to ultra angry speed, you don't even realize until you've killed someone or yourself.

These headshots were likely cars side-by-side, arguing, pulling down windows, etc. And then someone pulls out a gun.

The lesson is, when you're about to be shot, you already know it. Just hope there's not an armed passenger that you have to take out first before you can kill the driver.

Just watch some more movies, like the "Death Race" movie I think. Should give you some more ideas. In the trailer they were talking about all sorts of armor plating for mustang, so should work for rx8 too.

These are all road ragers shooting. If you're about to be shot, you probably already know it because you did something to piss off.
....

The lesson is, when you're about to be shot, you already know it.

Unless it's the person next to you who pissed someone off, and the shooter has terrible aim.

I'm currently working on an electromagnetic pulse generator. It's designed to detect the sound of gunfire and produce an extremely powerful magnetic field that can actually catch bullets.

It may be a while before I have it in production though. Every time i test the thing i need to get a new assistant to help me and the legal fees from next of kin are getting prohibitively expensive.....:uhh:

I'm actually working on another system similar to your design. It's designed to detect fast projectiles aimed towards your car. Once a bullet fires, the system activates an array of lasers positioned around your car and literally vaporizes the bullet. The system is designed with a response time of around 80ns.

I am running into trouble generating power for the laser array; however, I have been experimenting with a device called the flux capacitor. Hopefully it will bring some results. Stay tuned!

You are all mistaken if you believe that kind of technology is any closer than 3 to 4 long years away. 5 years we will be transporting to Mars, but until then there's a long ways to go for research. The point is, it is a bit early to be revealing your hand.

There is already armour being tested by the US D.O.D. that essentially acts like a giant capacitor, vaporising inbound projectiles when they pierce the outer insulating layer. The problems with such a design include the very powerful electrical power source needed and the need to insulate the vehicle so the built up charge doesn't cook every circuit in the vehicle. Such a system really only makes sense if you are trying to armour a vehicle against antitank weapons. The weight of this sort of system is prohibitively large for a vehicle as small and light as an RX-8. Bear in mind my point made earlier, that armour glass that will protect against 30 calibre rifle fire and any pistol known will cost you a 600 pound weight penalty for the glass alone. If you really want the numbers, here they are:
21mm (0.82 inches) thick, Weight = 9.1 lbs/ft2.

you guys most have missed the phason matter shifter. i think it will work wonders
when there's an accident about to happen. only problem when the car phase's back in, it sometimes returns back inside another car. not a pretty sight...