This came up last week when JP was thinking about cutting his windshield off. I emaiiled the PCA technical chairman and got this reply...

"Wow, is there ever a lot of confusion. I am presuming that you are talking about GT-class cars -- obviously our stock class cars must have windshields.

Our GT-class cars do NOT have to have windshields, but obviously a driver in an open car must wear a full face helmet with the face shield in place, and wear arm restraints.

I think the origin of any confusion out there is not the windshield, but the height of the front roll hoop on the roll cage. We changed the wording in Appendix A on roll bars and roll cages last year to the following: "The top of the main hoop (and front hoop if applicable) must be at least 2" above the driver's helmet when the driver is seated in the normal driving position. Additionally, if a full cage is required, the top of the front hoop and the top of the main hoop must form a plane that is above the driver's head. In open top cars, when a full cage is required, the front hoop must also extend 2" above the driver's helmet."

OK, that was serious overkill, since we said basically the same thing three times over, but the general idea was that we were no longer going to allow open cars with low front roll hoops -- and quite a few of these were built some time ago. However, they are not grandfathered -- this is a safety issue.

Does that help?
Donna"

So boys you CAN after all

Actually, that confuses me.

GT-class, as in GT-1 through GT-5?

What about the production classes?

And when is a full cage required?

That is BS. The production people have been through this for several years. AS long as the driver is below the line on the main hoop, you will not hit the ground. If you don't beleive that, have you ever seen an F1 car with a high front hoop? The problems with the low front hoop is the whole getting out of the car if it is upside down. You will have a tough time getting out of an upside down car with a low front roll hoop. PCA is probably concerned about their workers not being able to get to you in the event of a roll over.

What it boils down to is one to many idiots put themselves too close to the roll bar.