LocostUSA.com

Have a look at my car after it got a full cage - that was due to a deer. A helmet became standard attire afterwards (it also helped a lot with wind and noise).

I was driving to an autocross one morning in June of 2011 and in the field next to the road I saw a doe running. The field was about 3' above the road with a barbed wire fence at the top of the hill. I was hard on the brakes right as she jumped over the barbed wire. She heard the tires squeal and hit reverse mid-air. Lucky for me/unlucky for her hooves do not have a great coefficient of friction with pavement and down she went. Her torso was hit by my right front tire and it ejected her breakfast all over the front and left side of my car.

Aside from having to clean up green deer vomit, she knocked my headlight out of adjustment. I got lucky.

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-Andrew
Build Log
Youtube

Why does the bracing have to be overhead? Why not brace it similar to a backwards roll bar? Either a verticalish hoop with forward angled 'a-pillar' braces, or a slanted back 'a-pillar' hoop with verticalish braces. It may not be perfect, but no 'safety' solution on these cars is. It does seem like a pretty good compromise though, if one can figure out how to package it on their car. Heck, it doesn't even all have to be "roll bar" spec tubing, but even if it was it would still be a lot less of a visual obstruction than the a-pillar on any modern car.

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-Justin

"Orville Wright did not have a pilots license." - Gordon MacKenzie

That would probably work quite well in the sense of large animal protection, and roll-over for a street driven car. The main down- side that I see is the narrowing down of an already less-than-generous entry/exit route. For track use, I'm sure that the powers-that-be would tend to look at something this different with a less-than-favorable view.

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Mike - Read my story at http://twinlakesseven.blogspot.com/

Having just hit a rotting bambi on the interstate with the RX-8, I can say for certain that you will want a good skid pan or other underbody protection if you are any lower than a "normal" sports car.

I think the only thing that saved my driveshaft was the PPF...

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Walt
06 RX-8 Shinka
04 RX-8 GT
06 325xi
Some people never have anything except ideas. Go do it.
Emissions & fuel economy haven't exactly been areas of strength for past rotary power plants, but absolutely no one with a soul has ever cared.

Sprint cars have figured out a way to keep Bambi out of the cockpit.


And, the F1 version

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Bill H
Winnipeg, MB, Canada

I got my first 8-point buck (probably over 180 pounds) during Volkswagen season...

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Geek49203 aka
Tim Wohlford
Louisville, KY
Hayes front, S10 +2 rear, Lalo body.

In more ways than one. If you will notice that diagonal bar running forward from the upper left corner of the cage. There is a companion to that on the right hand side, and they both run down to the front of the chassis. It seems to me that a pair of those on a Locost would help encourage Bambi to just slide up and over the cockpit and it's occupants. Considering the type of "Extreme" aerobatics that take place when open-wheelers get into a tangle, that may be what they're there for on the sprints & midgets that use them.

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Mike - Read my story at http://twinlakesseven.blogspot.com/

Properly designed and integrated into the build, it shouldn't have to impede ingress/egress in any meaningful way. In fact, not having to be careful of how much weight gets put on the windshield frame may actually make it easier. Track organizations also have no official concern for how a windshield frame is constructed, which without anything directly connecting it to the main hoop, is all that it would be. Consider that modern production convertibles have structural windshield frames, and traditional style 7's have VERY non-structural windshield frames, yet both are regularly allowed on track with similar additional rollover protection requirements.

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-Justin

"Orville Wright did not have a pilots license." - Gordon MacKenzie

Good point, Justin!

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Mike - Read my story at http://twinlakesseven.blogspot.com/

I just had a near clip of Bambi's mom this week. Worked out a lot better this time than in the fall, when I popped my first Buck. Big old 8 pointer. Got it in the (Dodge) Dakotas. Better tires and binders would have helped, as they did this week, which is good, becuase hitting Bambi's mom would have cost a LOT more. Just got a middle window seal for the convertible top on it that cost $350!

Waaaay to many Bambi in these parts.

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Figuring out how to build in the bucolic garden state
Build log: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18224

I am sympathetic about the need but having been T boned by a white tail in my wife's van I am not sure how an open cockpit can provide much protection. That critter would have been in my lap in an open car. Drive carefully and not at all at dusk.

Dusk and dawn are the usual trouble periods, but the deer hit that totaled my van was at 12:30 in the afternoon!

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Mike - Read my story at http://twinlakesseven.blogspot.com/

All of my near misses have been at night.

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

Most of my near misses (along with one hit) have been, too. But I've had enough N/Ms (and one BIG hit) in the daytime to know that you're never really safe. I've even had one daytime N/M in Los Angeles (Griffith Park) that was particularly scary as I was on a 250 Yamaha!!!

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Mike - Read my story at http://twinlakesseven.blogspot.com/

The main reason I'm going with the fugly roll cage, or a windshield at all, is due to the local deer.

They're not Bambi, they're Satan's Antlered Minions.