Design For Driver Placement

[Wbulk]

First, I am sorry for this being a little long. I am just about done with building my car and should have it painted the by the end of March. I like building cars so I am looking for my next project, and that may mean another Cobra or not. Last spring I road in a friends Kirkham and that made me more aware of design issues that effected comfort, roll bar height, windshield height/sight etc. I will admit that even though I thought I had done my research and talked to other owners, the information needed was deeper than I had gone and will admit I was a little “Cobra drunk”, as a friend called it when he bought his. Like most things the learning never gets to an end with these cars.

Admittedly, there are a ton of issues that determine what makes a good car, so I really would like to focus on design as it relates to us bigger guys that are over six foot. I have found that frame design effects body height placement on the frame. This effects suspension height design, how high you set in the car, knees hitting the dash, roll bar height, windshield sight and so on.

What I found in building my car was that because of frame design I end up setting higher in my car than in my friends Kirkham and this resulted in my roll bar being higher compared to his to be effective. This I believe is the main reason you see a fair amount of guys tilt their windshields up, so they can see through it rather than look at the top windshield frame. I know of two guys where I live that have very expensive cars that this whole body height placement, relational issue, was handled poorly by their manufacturer. One of the guys that is taller admits he will not drive his car more than 20 miles because it hurts to drive it. I have set in cars where it was down right painful. When I saw this video a while back it made the issue very clear. I have no connection to this company and have not seen the car in person.

Pacific Roadster, cobra kit, Wide Body,Cobra Replica,Kit Car,Hot Rod - YouTube

With this being said, has anyone done and in-depth comparison between the various brands for driver placement in the vehicle. I have not seen measurements given like you see in brochures for new manufactured cars. If I do this again I will have to resolve this issue first to narrow the list down before I even look at the other issues.

Thanks.
Wayne

[mdross1]

After observing the same thing and realizing I would be the only one driving our car,took the seat sliders off,found the best place for the seat for me to be comfortable driving the car,bolted it solid to the floor.That alone set me a couple of inches lower in the cockpit.Honestly with the brass windshield frame and only the one rollbar doubt the outcome would be very good in a rollover.