Headgear and aeroscreen

[Downlands]

Hi

Just wondering what headgear people wear when out in a 7 with an aeroscreen?

I have been wearing a beanie and buff whilst its been cold but now that the weather is warming up, that combination is getting less comfortable. 

Thanks

Tim

 

 

[aerobod - near CYYC]

Bolle ballistic glasses around town, but full face helmets for long distance:

[rj]

Full face helmet with thicker visor.

Recently a stone at the size of a brick was thrown at the windscreen of my Passat whilst passing the local school at 30MPH.

Imagine that in an aeroscreened Seven without a serious helmet.

[Tigger]

I echo RJ. I’ve previously worn ballistic glasses for short journeys but having had two large stones hit my Audi windscreen in one afternoon I’ll be wearing my Bell helmet with ballistic visor from now on. 

[DougBaker]

Bolle Safety specs

You also need very good ear plugs as the wind noise is significantly greater than with a screen/doors.

On a long term risk basis I worry more about the danger to my hearing when running with aeroscreens than the risk to my sight.

Wearing a helmet all the time would for me somewhat defeat the point of owning an open top car.

I also have a goretex windstopper headband which is more comfortable than a beanie when it starts to get a little warmer.

[Tazio]

Military grade ballistic goggles for me and a motor cycle face mask begins with Halverson or something like it..best £10 spent...Hate hat's they move about in the air..Helmet when it rains, to me it's pointless being Aero and wearing a helmet.

[Jonathan Kay]

For yourself: think about the risks to your sight, your hearing and the preferred configuration of your face. Good suggestions about choices for reducing these above, to which I would only add that eye protection kit for work is much cheaper than that for recreational activities. But it's your call.

But please also think about any passengers...they're probably much less knowledgeable about these than you are.

Jonathan

[Tazio]

Only one seat in mine Jonathon....

[Colin Cooper]

Just me, but I've always thought no screen and a helmet, in a road car, is just a tad OTT.

Col

[DJ.]

Jonathan said:

But please also think about any passengers...they're probably much less knowledgeable about these than you are.

 

A couple of years ago, a car coming the other way flicked up a stone which I hit at more than 60mph. It was aiming at my face, and I got a real shock when it hit the screen hard enough to chip a 1/4" chunk of glass out. I'd never forgive myself if my wife or one of our daughters were scarred or lost an eye driving in the Seven.

Duncan

[Keith_T]

In the 7 on Severn Bridge last week a lump of something hard fell from a truck, bounced in front of the car forcing me to duck behind the full screen.  Luckily,  the "thing" smashed into my offside headlamp with sufficient force to push back the bowl.

Obviously I felt peed off about the incident but now appreciate it could have been a lot worse.  What if I'd had an aeroscreen and the lump bounced high enough to hit me in the face?  Would a helmet have been sufficiently protective?

 

[Toby S]

Halcyon mark 49 goggles, Worcester Warriors padded flying helmet hat covering the ears (saves on earplugs) and fastening under the chin, and a buff (if cold). Pretty much the same as when I road a BSA for many years with open face helmet back in the 80's

Seemed to offer sufficient protection (i,e, no injuries) when some arse decided to pebble dash me going along the A38 after it had just been re-tarmaced when he couldn't be bothered to slow down below 70 - I had only had the Brookland screens on for 2 days so it was an early test I guess and there were loads of stones kicked over.

I agree with the other comments - re passengers (I have a second set of goggles and hat/buff), although warn them of the risks - and that's the crux of it - you pays your money and takes your choice - yes a full face helmet would give you ultimate protection, but then you lose all pleasure of fitting aero/brookland screens. Having a windscreen and side screens isn't exactly risk free in a Caterham from flying stones.

No doubt I'll change my mind once I lose an eye, but you only live once. 

[Downlands]

I fully understand why some prefer to use a helmet with an aeroscreen and I would certainly never take a passenger when using such a screen. Trouble is I enjoy the ‘raw’ aeroscreen experience too much. I’ve just been unable to find headgear that doesn’t look too daft in the summer....

Thanks though for all the comments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ivaan]

You soon learn to keep a good distance to the vehicle in front. Otherwise you will get pebble dashed with small grit and sand... and sh1te from stock wagons !

[DougBaker]

We went to the VSCC Prescott hill climb a few years ago and there was a lovely Bugatti Blue Series 2 Lotus Seven.

It only had a single aeroscreen for the driver.

This did not stop the elderly gentleman driver bringing his wife along for the day and she looked very good with a silk headscarf and a classic looking pair of shades.

Though I am not convinced any of the male club members would be able to get away with that look,

Once you have seen the cars arriving by the road at a VSCC event it will help reset the risk equation when looking at your seven. Many are capable of motorway speeds the older ones without front wheel brakes, mudgards or silencers, and all fully road legal

[andy couchman]

Full face helmet and earplugs for me. Don't usually carry passengers with the aeroscreen but if I did then the passenger gets the helmet. Also race gloves - provide some protection plus fireproof gloves are always useful in any car - you never know when you might need them.

Have tried big hat, muff and sunglasses and sometimes use that on local journeys but crash hat is fine and, as a glasses wearer, easier to keep the rain out when it's wet. Chamois leather and a quick wipe now and again plus Rain x on the visor. Incidentally, I use an old race hat rather than current one on the road as the helmet tends to get knocked about more by the rollbar. Each to their own on these issues though - I write for a living so eyes, ears and hands quite useful!

Andy

[7 wonders of the world]

In case anyone needs them Amazon have 3M Maxim ballistic rated glasses in clearance in clear, bronze or yellow roughly £10 a pair.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008KKYIUA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

[polainm]

Since 1982 I've wanted a Caterham, and many didn't have even an aeroscreen back then. At the time I was invincible and not concerned with protection of any kind. Years of paying out for education, mortgage, business, family, family holidays, people wagons, boring diesel runarounds...I ended up riding motorbikes instead, until swapping to a four-wheeled motorbike Caterham last year. Just in time before I get too decrepit to get in and out of one. It is very true that when one is young enough to drive/use a sports car as intended, it's unaffordable, then once one can afford one, it's driven like bread van.

During a three year period of motorcycling over 15 years, three mechanics at two different workshops were killed on their motorbikes, and they all serviced/MoT'ed my motorbike. Then a close friend had a pigeon fly into his visor at a combined speed of around 60mph. He kept control of the motorbike to a stop, but he has a broken nose and a messy bike. I felt like a cat with a few lives left.

I also cycle a great deal, and still have a racing licence. Having a bug fly into your eye during a downhill moment in French Alps (80kmh) losing your stereoscopic vision can be lethal, as hitting an Armco wearing just lycra or an oncoming car is Game Over.

For local country lane trips of less than ~10 miles and less than 50mph my cycling glasses and large gaps between vehicle in front is my approach in the Caterham with aeroscreen on. Over this and I use a motorcycle helmet.

The point of these comments is it's not necessarily the impact into your face that could be lethal, but what loss of control comes from it.

Sure, I look a dick in a track car on the public highway with a helmet on, but not half as much of an arse as those tintops with racetrack wannabes inside thrashing their 2 tonnes around the road, taking all the wrong lines (race or vision) and making the roads dangerous for everyone else (including me when I'm out cycling). So I keep this in mind when protecting my face from the rusty bolts flying off the builders' van drivers doing 80mph on country lanes....

[Jonathan Kay]

The point of these comments is it's not necessarily the impact into your face that could be lethal, but what loss of control comes from it.

Excellent point. And part of duty to others.

Jonathan

[andy couchman]

The nice thing about looking a dick wearing a race hat in a Caterham is no one can see it's you...

Andy ;-) 

[Oysterman]

It seems the motorcyclists among us including me, feel wearing a lid when driving enthusiastically with aero screen is perfectly normal and second nature . Why do the some people think “ it gives the wrong impression” as someone said to me the other day who had never ridden . 

[DJ.]

I don't think wearing a helmet without a screen gives the wrong impression, it just seems a sensible precaution on a higher speed road.

[Wile7]

Considering this now for the up and coming Swiss Trip. I have Brooklands on currently and don't wear a helmet but do have glasses with varifocal lens but with an 'anti infraction' lens in some kind of plastic (I teach design technology and in the workshops etc. it was less hassle to have my glasses equipped like that for lathe/mill work etc.).

I wear a helmet on my Motorbike, but not in the car. A Buff or Beanie in winter - au natural in summer 

As someone has said, it's part of the charm of the car with this configuration....and I seldom take passengers, if at all.

I don't see many Healeys or Morgans (and others that have been fitted with Aeroscreens) with their drivers wearing helmets. For safety it makes eminent sense for many of course, of that there is no doubt.

But....not for me.

So, on a long trip, what to do? Possibly a bit of motorway work for sure so maybe some goggles and a Fez for that ...otherwise a buff and a smile?

Dave

[Ivaan]

I have an Oxted motorcycle helmet bag ( the type that fix to the tank ). This attaches to the ROB on the near side, where it doesn't effect rear visibility, so I always have the option of sticking the lid on if I feel the need.

This weather, it's just a pair of ballistic googles and a baseball hat ( attached to the seat with a lanyard )