I really enjoy reading European based car magazines. The Europeans always seem to appreciate sports cars and track day events more than us Americans do. One look at Evo magazine from the UK makes our US based magazines seem amateur by comparison.

While browsing through some European magazines at a local book store I came across a company called Oakley Design (no relation to Oakley sunglasses) who was advertising some innovative products for the Porsche 997. This was nearly a year ago that I saw their advertisement but something really caught my eye…it was a carbon fiber roll cage.

Now at this point I’m used to seeing carbon fiber wrapped roll bars, strut tower bars, etc. But the extent of carbon fiber on chassis reinforcement bars that I’ve seen has been entirely cosmetic and simply hiding the metal underneath a carbon fiber skin.

What Oakley has engineered however is a full carbon fiber roll cage with certification from TUV and pending FIA approval. This is the first time I’ve seen a legitimate aftermarket bolt in carbon fiber roll cage that is functional and safe. Oakley also states that it has patented anti splinter technology for added safety. Naturally the carbon fiber cage is extremely light, approximately 75% lighter than usual Steel roll cages.

If anyone wants to source one of these, I can get access to them…but sadly at this time the application list is strictly for 996 and 997 Porsches.