Track Seat Mounting Help

[Axes-Of-Evil]

Ok so, my wonderful wife got me a Pro Road Race seat from Ultrashield from x-mas and my mom pitched in and bought me the corbeau harness bar (which along the lines of safety I'm comfortable with at this level. I know it's not a roll bar/cage but I mostly autocross at this point, I will upgraded once the risks increase as well). Also the 5-point is on the way so I'm not just throwing the seat in and using a stock belt don't worry. However, before I go out and buy a bracket to bolt the seat in I wanted to know how everyone else has their seats installed. My dad says I should be able to use the stock seat's brackets, I've seen some people make their own, and others just buy the brackets. Just lookin for some input before I install it. Thanks guys. Oh, and yes this was one hell of a Christmas

 

[RDK]

From sema show vehicles to race cars..
I usually have seat brackets made by wedge ..

http://www.wedgeengineering.net/

 

[Towelly]

RDK - How much do those brackets run? Also, are they compatible with the aftermarket slides from Corbeau and the like?

 

[Gray Ghost GT]

RDK - How much do those brackets run? Also, are they compatible with the aftermarket slides from Corbeau and the like?

Corbeau seat mounts for the 05+ S197 and the Sparco seat mounts

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Corbeau seat mounts for the 05+ S197 and the Sparco seat mounts

+1, I use the same: Corbeau adapter, with Sparco steel side-mounts on top. Ultrashield Road Race Pro seat, Simpson 5-points, Autopower 4-point.

 

[908ssp]

In the old days the brackets on the stock seats were a separate part. Now they are built into the seat in a way which makes it pretty near impossible to use them for anything other that the stock seat. If you know you're not going to adjust the seat you might be able to make a fixed mount yourself; for adjustable mounts you'll probably have to buy something.

 

[foolio2k4]

call wedge and ask. They might be cheaper than AM. I use a recaro mount from wedge and its great.

 

[Bizzyb0nes]

I've used Wedge brackets/sliders before, they were very nice...I paid $300 for a set for recaro sports a few years ago

 

[Philostang]

I made my own mounting bases and used Kirkey aluminum fixed mount seat brackets to bolt the seat to the base. If you can weld and have an afternoon, it's cheaper that way and you can build sturdier bases than the Corbeau and Sparco ones (but I think mine came in about 3-4 lbs heavier each).

FWIW, on the S197 Mustangs the seat base and slider can be unbolted from the seat itself. I've already done it as part of another project. There are only 4 bolts, but they're pretty well hidden deep under the seat bottom. Once you find them, they come out w/little trouble. Still, the base that's left is very heavy (esp. if your driver side has all the power motor stuff).

And post-Merry Christmas All!

Best,
-j

 

[05SonicGT]

I used the Corbeau seat base last season - had some issues
Had to reinforce the base by welding in extra gussets as the steel is very light & flexes so the seat moves.
The slider broke about half way thru the season

 

[Axes-Of-Evil]

So, would i be better off buying the seat base from corbeau/wedge or trying to build my own? I don't have the tools to weld at home, so would i still come out ahead if I just built it myself then took it to a shop and had them do the welds? Also, do u have any pictures of the ones you made Philostang?

 

[Gray Ghost GT]

So, would i be better off buying the seat base from corbeau/wedge or trying to build my own? I don't have the tools to weld at home, so would i still come out ahead if I just built it myself then took it to a shop and had them do the welds? Also, do u have any pictures of the ones you made Philostang?

IMHO, I think you're better off modifying the Sparco or Corbeau seat mounts - just ensure you purchase the mount with dual slide locking mechanisms (not single locking).

 

[SoundGuyDave]

IMHO, I think you're better off modifying the Sparco or Corbeau seat mounts - just ensure you purchase the mount with dual slide locking mechanisms (not single locking).

OR, if you're the only one that will be driving your car, skip the sliders, and hard-mount the seat in place. You'll be able to put it in the PERFECT position, not just front-to-back, but also height and pitch as well. Order the Corbeau base, without sliders, and the Sparco side brackets, and start positioning your seat. Ideally, you want to be back and low as far as you can, with the following provisos:

1) your feet not only reach the pedals, but you can put each pedal on the floor without locking your knee.
2) you can drape your wrist over the top of the wheel without pulling your shoulder off the seat
3) you can comfortably grab the shifter when it's in fifth gear.
4) drop the seat as low as you can in the car, while still being able to see what you feel you need to.
5) before you drill holes for the mounts, check and see that there is no undue pressure on the bottom of your thighs at the edge of the seat. On longer runs, this can cut circulation to your legs.

You'll find some combination of longitudinal and vertical locations, plus pitch angle that sets you up perfectly. Trust me, the right seating position is worth more than tenths of a second...

Last thing to consider is the rules and regulations for the group(s) you run with. Some of them (like NASA) require all non-FIA (or expired FIA) seats to have a back-brace mounted to a rollbar. I use the IO Port brace with mine.

 

[Axes-Of-Evil]

I will be the only one driving the car so I don't need it to be adjustable in any way so I won't get any sliders. do they require back braces mounted to rollbars for HPDE-1's? or is that only when you're at the higher levels? I would like to eventually make the jump from autocross to road course but I'm 20 and a college student sooo autocross is a little bit more feesible for me in its base cost, even though I know dollar per minute of seat time is much greater with road coursing.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

Check with your particular NASA region's tech people, but I believe that if you modify ANY safety gear (seat, harness, rollbar, cage, fire extinguisher, etc) it must be compliant with the race tech section of the CCR. You might want to double-check with SCCA as well...

While it's easy to see a seat and harness as a performance mod (and it is!), it's really a safety mod, and should be treated as such. Think on a worst-case scenario, where you loop the car and back it into a tire wall or Armco... Do you want your seat to restrain you in place, or possibly fold in half midway up the back? While the risks are considerably lower in HPDE-1, since you'll have an instructor in the car, they are still there.

Another bit of food for thought: is there a way that you can install a seat and harness on the passenger side as well? Many regions require that the instructor's safety package be equivalent to the driver's.... Doesn't have to be the same make and model, but should be equivalent. Check racingjunk.com, and you might be able to score a used race seat and harness for the other side of the car. I know for a fact that many of my fellow instructors (myself included) tend to get a bit nervous when a novice driver with a high-horsepower car shows up with a "cocoon of safety" making them feel invincible, and we're handed a stock leather seat with a stock 3-point...

Another thought is to keep your stock pieces and reinstall them for your first HPDE day! After your first weekend, you will have had so much fun, you'll probably be figuring out how to make your interior look like this:

The big thing is to just get out and do the events... Don't worry about anything but learning to drive the car. I would just hate to see you sign up, and then get bounced at tech, or have your instructor refuse to ride due to a safety mod that didn't dot the Is and cross the Ts.

 

[Axes-Of-Evil]

Well, the people I autocross with are the PCA and I've seen multiple cars out there with only one race seat for the driver and a stock one for the passenger and they passed through tech. I understand the safety aspects of the seat bar and harness as being a system ( I read the track seat options thread where you guys described two crashes one with stock restraints and the other with the race system ) but so I'm assuming that means you would not necessarily trust the corbeau harness bar as a sufficient reinforcement to the seat back in the event of a crash? The biggest reason I wanted the seat was because not only does it look cool and feel very nice to sit in but I really wanted it while I'm still in one of the earliest learning phases. I wanted to be able to focus entirely on the movement of the car and not bracing myself so I could maybe increase my learning curve in the beginning. I'll look into the rules with any group I go out with because I would hate to get bounced at tech like you said and I'll browse through that site. thanks

 

[Axes-Of-Evil]

Oh and they don't need to be too worried about a high horsepower car. I'm rocking a stock v6 just has new wheels per DusterRT and an added rear sway bar thanks to sam. I'm still racing stock in the beginning.

 

[SoundGuyDave]

I totally hear you on ALL your points! My thinking is that you could get some used kit for the passenger side, for around $200 all in, and have a setup that would make all the participants happy. Check with the tech folks to see if you can brace off the harness bar. My gut says no, but I'm not a tech official.

Just food for thought... I was at an event where a Miata lost it in a carousel, slamming the right-side into some Armco, and it wound up giving the instructor a fun ambulance ride to the hospital to get checked out. It happens. Not common, but it happens. From the instructor's standpoint, one of our biggest fears is getting into a car where the driver has top-shelf safety gear, and we don't have anything even close. That level of kit can give the driver a (false) sense of being invulnerable, and can lead them to taking more chances than they would with a stock seat. PLEASE understand that I'm not busting your balls with this, I just want your first track day to be the best it can be. Also, what would pass for Autocross may or may not translate to open-track. After all, our SLOW corners are about as fast as you get on an autocross track. There are corners in the Midwest region that are taken at triple-digit speeds, and that's where the pucker factor can come in.

 

[STEVE_POE]

Made my own. also keep in mind that a harness bar is not a good idea. If the car rolls on the roof your shoulder belts are going to keep you from moving out of the way . Your head will be in bad shape if the roof has no support and comes down.

Return your harness bar and least get yourself a basic hoop with a cross bar.

 

[Sleeper_08]

Another alternative is the GG Lock combined with the stock harness. I've been using one for three seasons and it really helps hold you in.

http://www.cg-lock.com/index.html


I'm not yet ready to go with a racing seat, 5 point harness and a proper roll bar.