brooklands skirts/aero deflector

[Bonjo2]

Does anyone know of a skirt--like the 50's road racers--or an aeroscreen to fill gap below the brooklands? I suck at fiberglass to make my own. But might have to.

 

I tried a mock-up windshield using p clamps and flexiglass on roll cage, but given the turbulence, even at 40 MPH I knew I need to keep the Brooklands. Not sure if anyone has done much to keep the legal brooklands, but keep buffeting down. I cannot go to a simple aeroscreen without trouble from the law.

 

Brooklands work from 40-80 really good. Above that, it's still like a tornado inside. I had a softball fly into pax seat at 40, which would have destroyed a passenger, and got me thinking full screen in order. But, with the windshield it sucks worse.. Softball might not be an issue, but damn, everything not tied down wants to fly. I'd like to keep my tunnel carpet and Dunkin Donuts Iced coffee on tunnel on not in face. Maybe I am a dreamer.. Maybe windshield would work if I installed a screen behind the roll bar.. I want to do more than 5K miles this next year.

 

Any input appreciated.

[JohnK]

Couple of thoughts, pretty general but perhaps some helpful bits.

 

I blended a deflector+screen into the rear edge of the hood of my WCM S2K by attaching an aluminum frame to the fiberglass of the hood with 3M structural epoxy*, and the frame was fabricated with tabs to connect to polycarbonate screens (with scratch resistant layer on both sides **). In my particular case, I think the saving virtue (and also the thing that made it really challenging to build) was the curve at the rear of the hood that I fitted the aluminum frame, and then screen, to. What happened was that TWO curved surfaces were joined when all was done. This made the thing into a structure which has proved pretty rigid (no flutter at 100+ MPH), and it directs the air around the cockpit pretty well (but not perfectly, 'specially at speed). Polycarbonate is very strong, and being curved adds a lot to its rigidity.

Shots at http://usa7s.com/vb/showthread.php?t=7421&highlight=Ithaca.

 

*3M Scotch-Weld Epoxy Adhesive Tube Kit. 2216 B/A gray - Gives 90 minutes working time - and 7 DAYS to cure (but you can speed that up a lot with moderate heating).

 

**This was a Bayer product the data on which I've misplaced. You can get info from my local source at Queen City Polymer 513-779 0990, but I'll bet any industrial plastics source can be a provider. 1/8 x 24 x 48 piece (enough for 4 screens for my build) was $71.

 

Secondly, if you decide to get into fiberglass to make a diverter, try http://www.fiberglast.com for an overview of what you can attempt, and for more modest work ITWEvercoat (formerly Fiberglass Evercoat) has perfectly good resin products that you can get locally anywhere. I made a NACA duct out of fiberglass to provide an effective (and cool-looking) means of getting under-hood heat out of my engine bay. Using fiberglast's info (they have how-to videos that are really informative) and products I was able to do the duct via something called "vacuum bagging" which allows you to make some pretty professional, not to mention very functional, pieces out of resin and fabric. Pretty much of a job, but for a one-off project and modest expense it was a good experiment - being successful the very first try. Best of luck.

[Bonjo2]

Wow, nice work.

[JohnK]

Thx, but if I were GOOD it wouldn't be taking me so long. You should have seen the stumbling around I did for months and months just trying to figure out how things worked and trying to understand what Carroll Smith was laying out in his "--- To Win" books (which I very highly recommend).

If you admire what I've been able to put together (an old, grumpy, retired Biologist) the lesson you should take home is, "Hey, if THAT guy can do it, I should be able to too!"

There's nothing quite like struggling with a problem, figureing it out and then taking the car, Your Car, out and having it work like you want it to.