Gentlemen ( and Women) Moggie Riders
When I first rebuilt my 1959 4/4 (in '89) I installed a lap and cross
shoulder belt which was bolted through the wooden rear wheel housing with a
2" diameter washer under the wood to take the load.
I was hit from behind by a 85 year old guy driving a Buick while on the ramp
on I95.
I was thrown forward and cut my face on the rear-view mirror (36 stiches)
because the lap belt was torn commpletely out of the wood. I discussed this
with Maurice Owen once and he told me that this method of fixing had been
tested at the works to take a 5 ton load. However this was a steadily
applied load and not a snatch load.
I now have a roll bar with the fixings bolted through the chassis and the
wood on each side behing the doors. This rool bar is braced by a cross bar
behind the seats which takes the two shoulder belts of a five strap harness.
The lap belt is fastened to the chassis on one side and to a metal bracing
under the wooden floor in the middle.
This arrangement complies with the VSCCA and other competition
recommendations as the car is mostley used for VSCCA races now with a few
road excursions for Morgan 3/4 events.
Once you have experienced an incident like this it tends to make a believer
out of you. This is despite having driven many competition cars in the
early '60s with no belts at all. Including "D" type Jag, and Loti types 12,
18 and 23. I had a head on incident with some straw bales in the Formulae
II Lotus in the wet at Landow (South Wales) which I walked away from, but it
would have been a different story if I had hit modern steel or concrete
barriors.
I rode a an AJS 500 twin to engineering college in the winter of '58 and
allways wore a helmet. I fell off it with repeated regularity in the winter
and was looking for all the protetion I could get which included leathers
and officers field boots. I eventually crushed my left ankle on it.
I hav'nt much patience with these macho types riding "girls bikes". But we
have to pay the their medical bills.
Keep Moggieing & biking
Mike Virr, 1959 4/4 VSCCA prepared
[This message delayed, as it needed manual intervention by the list
administrator. mjb.]
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