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From: Chris Freudenberg
Fromemail: c.d.freudenberg@which.net
Category: Technical
Remote Name: 192.168.1.1
Date: 04 Jul 2002
Time: 09:29:11
Modifications to Jupiter for modern traffic conditions (Jupiter SeatBelts/Harness amongst other):
The three seat belts fitted for the bench seat to my Jupiter are full harness three point fixed belts. Having read about fitting roll cages in the Autostorica catalogue ( www.autostorica.com ), I enquired at the showroom at Grand Prix Racewear Ltd. , Chiswick, London who referred me to Safety Devices Ltd. I spoke with Pete Dixon who looked at my car with its hard top & reassured me that a roll cage could be fitted.
I had already had the seat belts fitted by Dennis Sparrow. The Jupiter has a very strong chassis to which a roll cage can be attached. Mine has a hard top which is quite roomy because I'm tall. Since decapitation is more likely with seat belts & no roll cage, a roll cage was fitted to my Jupiter which it turned out (though this was not what Safety Devices would have been done on a Jupiter for motor racing i.e. without my hard top), it was possible to make a roll cage within it. Dennis Sparrow made six lower fixing points with which Safety Devices Ltd., used to fix the three belts to my car. The three single upper belt fixing points were abandoned & replaced by fixing to a roll cage member which lies going parallel & just behind the top of the Jupiter bench seat back. Roll cages on historic cars fitted by Safety Devices Ltd are un-boltable.
For museum display/exhibiting, rather than normal driving (mine does not include motor racing), the roll cage can be removed (unbolted) and the normal tonneau put on. The plates on to which the roll cage is bolted are hidden behind the seat back. Not wanting to be decapitated, Dennis Sparrow and Pete Dixon fitted a roll cage to the historic competition R1 Jupiter. Roll cage, belts & lights are no guarantee against a shunt in modern traffic (or a concertinering between modern heavy lorries on a motorway for example)!
My hard top was made for me by John Blazé, designed to be sympathetic in shape to the car & to my height. It can be lifted off easily, preferably by two people. It has a 1950's Morris Minor rear screen for better vision. I have additional lights for better safety in urban traffic to the usual Jupiter rear red lights which in my case are wired to American Specification to be stop/tail/indicators. I also have two red rear bright indicator/stop light LED's for left & right tucked, out of sight, under the spare wheel tray door. I have on each side of the hard top, Morris Minor yellow indicator lights (more domed lenses than Jupiter) as side/tail indicator lights (wired, American Specification, to double filament front white indicator/side lights. Larger than standard size rear reflectors are on the rear (and hard top) & there are a pair of reversing lights. I would prefer an inertia wheel on the driver’s belt. That has not been possible though Safety Devices could supply them.