Has anyone tried mounting a wing to their roll bar in an open top car? I'm particularly thinking of the following scenario.
I just took delivery of a Hard Dog style roll bar for my NB. It's a Japanese brand because I live in Japan, but the design seems almost identical.
I will be making a track-only hardtop for this NB. I intend to make this hardtop roughly shooting-brake style.
This hardtop will not be very strong structurally because I don't want to put a ton of weight way up high on the car. Also, I'm not going to bother weather proofing it or even putting a rear window in it.
Since I'm not going to weather proof it or deal with windows, it doesn't seem like a huge deal if I make cutouts.
If I have cutouts, I could use the cage to mount the wing, and then let the mounts protrude backwards and upwards.
Something like this in shape, but with the mounts going straight through the area that's glass on this car.



The pic's not loading but it sounds a lot like how the rear wing mounts on an Exocet. It's a perfectly good place to put a wing, the only thing to watch out for is the low pressure area created by the windshield.

In reply to GameboyRMH :
Exactly. I've seen this on a lot of exoskeleton type cars. The difference I'm wondering about is if the car is more of a shooting brake shape.
My biggest concern would be if you put a lot of leverage on it, if it might rock a bolt mount loose or deform the sheet metal where its mounted. If you weld in a larger landing plate it would probably make that much less of a concern.
wspohn
UltraDork
3/2/25 3:14 p.m.
How are you figuring on getting the optimal wing angle? To little and you get lift, too much and you get drag....
NickD
MegaDork
3/2/25 4:34 p.m.
The Big Oly Bronco had a wing that mounted to the rollbar and had an on-the-fly variable angle of attack

DaewooOfDeath said:
I'm not going to bother weather proofing it or even putting a rear window in it.
Please re-think installing a rear window for fire protection.
Watch this video of a Honda hatchback with no rear window. Pay particular attention to the rear-view camera in the bottom right corner.
Here's more discussion of the event.
In reply to DWNSHFT :
That's great information!
Though what I meant by "no window" is that I'd leave the flying brake part as solid fiberglass, no openings at all.
theruleslawyer said:
My biggest concern would be if you put a lot of leverage on it, if it might rock a bolt mount loose or deform the sheet metal where its mounted. If you weld in a larger landing plate it would probably make that much less of a concern.
A wing could break a roll bar?
wspohn said:
How are you figuring on getting the optimal wing angle? To little and you get lift, too much and you get drag....
I have something like this in mind.
DaewooOfDeath said:
theruleslawyer said:
My biggest concern would be if you put a lot of leverage on it, if it might rock a bolt mount loose or deform the sheet metal where its mounted. If you weld in a larger landing plate it would probably make that much less of a concern.
A wing could break a roll bar?
I don't think it would break the bar itself. However if you put it on a long level arm, particularly for a 4pt with a narrow stance like the NB you can be putting a lot of torque on where it is mounted. In unibody cars its usually pretty thin sheet metal that the bar is attached to. If the mounting points don't have sufficient structure by ensuring there is a plate to spread load I can see that fatiguing over time. You've seen roll bars punch through the bottom before? From your drawing you're look at a really really long lever. I'd feel a lot better about it if you triangulated your wing mount. Maybe the the rear bar mount points? You might be able to use a couple of those rods for splitter stiffening down into the trunk? Just think of standing on it repeatedly. Not an engineering analysis. Just setting off some alarm bells for me.