So, for tracking a stock car, what are the thoughts of using the Corbeau bar and harness? I have heard that it is not a great idea to run a race harness on track without at least a 4-point bar like what Terry shows.
Ask 100 people this question and you will get 100 different answers, covering the full spectrum. Some folks spread fear about tracking with a harness bar, others equate fixed back racing seats without a roll cage to instant death - I've heard it all. In 26 years of attending track events I have yet to see any accident compounded by a harness bar or fixed back seat. So I suggest fixed back seats and harness bars for HPDE use, just know that there is a
very small added risk involved.
If you get in a weird pancake rollover situation you
could be more likely to have a back injury, if the roof crushes just the perfect way. But,
supposedly, if you are in an OEM seat/3-point seat belts you are
slightly more likely to "fall out of the way" of a collapsing roof, or the seat is more likely to break (yay?), and that somehow saves your back, or some such nonsense... to me this is all an extreme stretch of logic. A lot of "my buddy said" and "I heard about" stories.
I have known one person that rolled their street car at an HPDE, my college roommate who rolled his car 4 times at TWS (went over a curb sideways at 100+), and his 240SX's roof didn't "pancake" nor did the seat break. He walked away without a scratch, just a wounded ego and a very totaled car. He got the whole thing on video and it was epic.
The S197 Mustang is a very strong, heavy, overbuilt chassis. I trust myself in this car much more than I do in a Miata, or a 240SX, or any one of hundreds of other cars that are tracked regularly - and even rolled - without death. The amount of risk you are willing to take is entirely in your hands, and your driving has the biggest impact on your likelihood of crashing at an HPDE event - so you control your fate here.
Sure, adding real rollover protection is smarter, but that just isn't practical for 75% of the folks that do HPDE events (due to the costs and loss of back seat). Adding a roll CAGE to a STREET car just isn't done, either. Driving around
without a helmet inside a fully
caged street car (bars near your head) isn't at all safe. I've konked my head on a roll cage tube in a street car once and it
sucked. A roll bar (4 point) is the happy alternative for a street car, as the tubing is all behind you.
2013 Boss302 with Maximum 4-point bar + OEM Recaros and custom Schroth Profi-2 Harnesses
Personally I
drive a lot better on track when I am belted firmly into a fixed back racing seat, and get a lot less fatigued as well. Instead of your arms spending 50% or more of their strength holding your torso and head onto the flat OEM seat while on track, a racing harness keeps your body firmly planted to the seat and frees up your arms to steer and shift only. The steering feels light and turns and corrections are nearly effortless, plus your back and butt are getting all sorts of communication from the car
through the seat. This only gets more noticeable as you add mechanical grip.
E36 BMW with Cobra Imola GT seats with Crow harnesses and 4-point roll bar
Likewise a real fixed back racing seat holds your torso and legs in place vs a 5-7 point harness when used with an OEM style seat. Virtually ALL seats that come in any OEM car DON'T have harness holes in the lower portion (for the anti-submarine belts) and most don't have proper shoulder harness pass-throughs. It makes the harnesses less effective (to even completely
ineffective) when they have to go around head rests or over seat bottoms to get to you.
For my own car, I will likely do little if any power mods, but will be throwing suspension at it eventually. However, it also needs to stay streetable with usable back seats.
Right now I'm kind of torn whether to leave this on my wishlist or scrap the idea. I do really like the idea of a proper harness to keep me in place as I get faster (the stock 3-point+Recaros works well enough for now) with the ability to pull it out easily.
That's the choice many here have to grapple with. What seat/harness/harness mount can I live with on the street, or what is easily removed for daily driver use? There is no single perfect answer.
A harness bar + the optional OEM Recaros + 6 point belts is a good first step. The
Corbeau Sportline RRB reclining seat shown below is as good or better than the Recaro for a lot less money, too. It has the shape of a fixed back racing seat but still has a good bit of adjustable seat back tilt. This particular Corbeau also has proper harness pass throughs for ALL of the belts, too: lap, shoulder and sub.
2012 Mustang GT with Corbeau Sportline RRB Seats + CG lock on the OEM 3-point belts
A proper fixed back composite racing seat is the next step up, and holds you in even better. These tend to have high step-overs which hold your legs in place MUCH more securely than the above options, but make getting in and out of the car a hassle for daily use. And without any tilt you have to really get the seat installed properly for YOU and the back seat is now much less accessible. But they really work...
2013 Mustang GT with Cobra Suzuka GT seat + G-Force harness + Maximum 4-point roll bar
So a lot of choices for seats (and harnesses and mounts and bars) exist, and each one has its Pros and Cons. Some seats have good seat mounting bracket options, some don't. And some off the shelf brackets mount the seat too high, or don't work with sliders, or have some other limitation. Some 4-point roll bars have good design and engineering, many do not (dead nodes, or bolted back-stays, or insufficient mounting plates). There are so many variables it helps to work with shops that know YOUR car, knows about the wide variety of seat options, and have made and installed lots of different brackets, roll bars and such. We've worked with quite a few seat installs on the S197, and installed lots of harness bars and harnesses, anchors and sliders, and lots of belt choices. If you want our advice we are but a phone call away.
Cheers,
