Ideas for Reducing Wind Turbulence (without Side Curtains on)

[Randy Flowers]

My current idea for solving this is to:

 

1st get the Caterham wind deflectors and modify them with heat as described in the forum link I posted above, then see how much that helps all by itself with no side curtains or half doors on.

2nd, if not acceptable enough at that point, then go ahead and get the half doors (which I already own) fitted and combine them with the modded wind deflectors and see if that is enough.

 

3rd, wait to order a tonneau until I have sorted out the above two steps.  If all goes well and I can be fine driving up to 60mph without full side curtains, then during the dry season I will be using a tonneau to cover the car most of the time with the half top kept in the boot for emergencies.  I figure when driving alone with the tonneau on as well over the passenger side, that the tonneau itself may also reduce some of the turbulence in the cockpit.  Plus, looks great to drive it with the tonneau over the passenger side, how real sports cars should look

If I am driving it during the rainy season and there is possible rain in the forecast, then I can leave the half doors and wind deflectors at home and just take the full side curtains.  I doubt I will ever throw the full top into the boot even during the rainy season.  If I get caught out in a rainstorm, then I will just throw the half top on along with the full side curtains and that will get me home fine.

 

Regardless of how well the above works with wind turbulence, I suspect I would always need to use the full side curtains when I need to travel a long way on the freeways.

Only time I can envision ever putting the full top into the boot is if taking the car on an overnight type of trip.  Could be pretty bad to be caught out 100s of miles from home and a rainstorm happens when the car is just sitting outside with only the half top and full side curtains on.

 

I plan on running all of this by the guys at Soft Bits for Sevens as well.

 

Really hoping that the above works and I can be driving the car most of the time without needing the full side curtains and with a tonneau thrown on the passenger side while driving (and tonneau fully covering the car when left in public). 

Randy

Edited August 27 by Randy Flowers

[Slonie]

I did my longest freeway drive yet a couple weeks ago and spent some time thinking about this as I was being punished by wind buffeting above 50mph. Pushing the wind deflectors out by an inch or two on their hinge pins actually seemed to make a significant difference, so bending them to make it stick out further or even making a spacer to push them out has merit. Maybe something that snaps into place on one of the tonneau button snaps, as rube goldbergian as that might end up.

 

 

 

A couple of local guys with GBS Zeros have a similar style of wind deflectors  but they're much larger. I haven't ridden in their cars but I bet they do a better job. If I was going to start bending/customizing the OEM Caterham ones I'd strongly consider just fabricating new ones in this style.