Recumbent - Bent on a roof rack?

Recently when I stopped by the LBS the shop guys acted very concerned that I was transporting my Bacchetta Giro on the roof rack of my car. They told me the wind drag was going to damage the rack or worse pull the whole thing off the roof of my car.

I agree the seat does create more drag than a regular bike but I doubt that it causes any more drag than a bike with a bra (transport cover) on it. I took a road trip last year with two df bikes on the roof and the wind drag was enough to cause a noticable drop in my gas milage. When driving with the bent on the roof the wind drag does not feel as bad as with the two df bikes with transport covers.

Anybody have any experience transporting bents on the roof rack of your car? Thanks,

Krispy

A friend takes his Aero on 50 and 100mile road trips, originally on top of Lance's
favorite wagon but more recently a Toy PU with a fancy box cover with the bike
carrier on top. He is not shy about 70-80mph. He has lost a seat cover and a bottle but not a bike. He is careful to remove the cushions and seat cover and bottle but
other wise he has had no problems. That said, some car mounts are beefier than
others, and his Toy mount is very beefy. The station wagon, not so sure about as it was a year or so back. Steve

Thanks for the input. Since you mentioned the issue of how beefy the mounts are I think I'll be OK. The Q-towers on my rack have pins that fit into the holes in the door frames. Apparantly they designed the car with a roof rack in mind.