Seriously. My factory leather seats and seat belt just don’t hold me tight enough and I end up bracing myself with my left knee on the door / right knee on the seat well in the turns.
But everything that could help my ass stay put potentially increases my risk of injury.
Using those devices that lock your factory seat belt in place are unsafe.
Using harnesses with a harness bar is unsafe in a roll over.
Using harnesses with adjustable seats is unsafe.
Using a bolt in cage is unsafe.
So short of adding a welded in / reinforced cage, fixed back seats and then adding harnesses what can I do? Anything?
I’m not interested in running any other setup besides my factory belts / seats on the street and only intend to do lapping days where I’d need the extra ass-grip.
Was going to post the same thing. I have 2 rolls of stuff I was going to use in a tool cabinet but went another route. More than welcome to a roll. Opened the one so I’m stuck with it.
You can grab a pair of used racing seats with side brackets for when you go to the track and run them with your stock belts. That’s “ok” with most organizations. Just has to be one for the driver and passenger. “Equal” safety systems. Kind of a pain, but really your only option without opting for other seats that are dual duty like Recaro Sportster CS.
My method is a cheap used FIA seat that is designed for someone that should have a 2" smaller waist and weigh 20#s less and I still get bruises on my knees at times.
Out of the box thinking is use expanding foam and make a side bolster insert that would wedge between your left side and door, and your right side and transmission tunnel. Get two part expanding foam, a heavy duty trash bag, use cardboard to define for and aft walls, sit in the seat, fill bag with foam, wait for it to set. The mold will always have the exterior of the trash bag unless you got fancy. It would be cumbersome, and you’ll be pissed if you get any of that shit on your interior before it is dry.
How about getting your seats reupholstered with cloth? That might help. Other than that, a dedicated ‘track’ seat that you can bolt in and out would probably be your best choice.
Or you could get fat and wedge yourself into a car too small (That’s the route I chose, haha)
My stock seats look like they have as much bolster as those Recaros, but you’re on to something there @MPD47. Maybe I’ll just buy one really good seat for the drivers side for now and swap it in / out when I track the car. But that’s assuming the factory belts will work with one… @fairgentleman_Z I’m picturing this happening, lol:
Why wouldn’t the factory belts work? Just get a spare receptacle, and bolt it to the side mounts. If this is just TMP do whatever, but if you’re planning on going to any US tracks, buy two seats.
Not all bolt in cages are unsafe, and not all harness bars are unsafe. I’m with MPD, get some FIA racing buckets (new or used) and swap them out for the track. If you can get spare receptacles it should be as easy as swapping your brake pads.
This is probably true, however who’s the judge of that? It seems like no one agrees on anything.
I’ve seen pictures of bolt on cages that popped through the floor where they were bolted in after a crash making them more harmful than safe. And while most people say a harness bar is OK for autox, they also say absolutely not in any situation where you might flip upside down… and I distinctly remember a C5 Corvette on its roof during autox at UB years ago, lol.
I’m just going to steal one of @newman’s seats from his E30 since it’s not like he’s using it.
In theory, a weld in cage could punch through a floor too. Its mostly about surface area. IMHO, there are 2 main issues with bolt-in rollbars. First, the mounting plates are way too small (im looking at you, Autopower). Second, they don’t mount to 2+ planes. The first being easy to fix, the second not as easy. If I bought one, I would sandwich in some surface area under the landing plates. If you welded in a rollbar with the same mounting plate surface area as the autopower bar has, I guarantee it would blow through the floor just as easy.
For not much more than the cost of an autopower bar, you could probably get a custom weld in roll bar put in if you do the prep work. I made all of my mounting plates and IIRC this was like $600 +materials.
i ran into the same problem when i tracked the roush with stock leather seats. hence why i now have Evo 2’s 5 or 6 pt harnesses and a 4 pt bolt in cage which has fairly large mounting plates. like 6"x6" at least. that was the setup i ran for a few years at the glen etc. and the passenger seat matched mine in terms of harnesses and seat mounting etc.
if you do go the route with harnesses, just buy new ones so they are not expired unless you are running a track that doesnt care about that stuff
If you want to retain stock seats: A PROPER (read above) four point roll bar, with harness bar, with an adjustable seat back brace would allow you to: be safer in a roller (be not SAFEST), have a harness, and retain your stock seat. The first issue with that is how you mount the anti-submarine belt? Is there a seam in stock seats that you have an eye stitched in and pass it through.
Even with a bolt in and large spreader plates you will most likely end up bending and distorting the factory sheet metal. So from an aesthetics point of view yes bolt can be removed and covered with carpet, but bolt holes and mounting plate imprints will still be there if you know where to look. Most bolt ins mount to the rear wheel well, where as a better spot in some cases is at the top of the strut/shock tower.
Seats are not too hard to swap out for a track day, but it gets to be a PITA when you lump it in with everything else like tires brakes etc. I would try to get a 4 pt cage installed & find some better seats if you start to get more serious about lapping.
My body took a beating riding in two cars all weekend with stock seats/belts.
