Daytona Air deflectors

[bkozlow]

One decision that has to be made in building a Daytona is the air deflectors on the sides of the windshield. These were added to the cars to direct air to the rear brake intakes beside the side window. They are made of 3/16th plexiglass. They have a molded in curve and as such, plexiglass has to be used rather than Lexan. Lexan does not lend itself well to at home molding.
The deflectors are attached to the body and the roof of the car. I remember when I flew out R&D Design car to see their first completed demo car. It had the deflectors attached to the doors which was incorrect. If you look at the present issue of Kit Car Builders, the NAF car pictured on the cover has the deflectors mounted to high on the roof. Also, if you look at the picture of the side window, it has one of those round aircraft air inlets. These were not original but addresses the point of this correspondence. If you decide to do your car as an original and go to these deflectors, know this: they work very well to redirect the air back to the brake inlets. There draw back is this: the air they direct back is air that has come through the radiator opening. This air is warm to hot. If you put your hand out the window opening, you can feel a layer of air about 2 inches in depth that is hot and then the cooler ambiant temperature air. One reason Daytonas run warm inside the car is that the car is continually covered in radiator exhaust air. The windshield air deflectors help increase covering the car with even more warm air. If you are not familiar with these deflectors look at the photo in my gallery and enlarge it until you can see them by the windshield.