Most of rear cage in place. Numberplate location marked, although as a
Heavy Quadricycle the numberplate could actually go lower down (as one of
those motorcycle plates), and thus save a bit of drag... but this is
supposed to look like a car, hmm... Anyway: underneath the green lines is
clear air-gaps, and above is the rear windows. Still very unclear!
There is "bodging it" and there is "bodging it". A full two centimetre
rise from left corner to right is not an acceptable "bodge".
Arr, five minutes later with the angle grinder and the welder (blob, blob)
and that's near-as-damnit acceptable.
Darn - the rear-facing child-seat isn't going to fit at the front, it's
taller than imagined, and the gear-lever (purple) will be in the way,
anyway. Marked up a first iteration of what the windscreen might look
like, then went to check the MSVA 2010 document and it says "clear
unobstructed view of the road, near-side and offside". Therefore, bizarrely,
the windscreen housing is going to have to be *octagonal*. Have already
sort-of made a decision to go for flat glass (argh, yes, bad aerodynamics)
for the prototype but you would not believe how much getting custom-made
glass costs for the moulds.
Getting the roof in: it's quite small - a lot smaller than imagined, and
in the CAD/CAM drawings, notably because of a decision to go with flat
glass for the prototype. The angle coming off the windscreen supports
(green), yes that really *is* that shallow. It's a hell of a long windscreen:
possibly over 1.2 metres, but only 70cm at its widest point. Door frame
is shown in red (inner door frame. outer door frame for the air-box is out
of shot, bottom).
Marked up, quite badly, where the windscreen will go. Looked at the MSVA
PDF again, particularly the complicated bit where they place a protractor
in the seat. A careful analysis of this funny-looking protractor does
nothing more complex than put an average human in the driving seat and
work out exactly where their eye is. However, when I went back into the
barn to look at creating the dashboard as a mounting point, it occurred
to me that this will be part of the infrastructure for mounting the
steering column, as well as for the front of the door-frame. That means
it's suddenly got complicated. Will need to go cut out the steering
column mount parts from the Suzuki, get the dials off the dashboard etc.
Showing a "clear unobstructed forward view of the road", even through a
windscreen that is only 70cm at its widest point. You have to imagine a
road instead of a barn full of crud...