Race Seat Mounting

[fomad]

Just wondering, Don't know of any wreck that I have heard of where the seat pulled out of the mounts or separated from the slide track mounting in regular use so, I was wondering, Is it possible and within the rules to secure the Racing Seat to the Sliding rails that the factory seats were attached to. This would be within ITS class.

Regards,
Larry W.

[fomad]

Ya dad burned Red Headed Step Child!! Ye cain't mount the dadburned RACIN' seat tu the Slidin' Chassis Mount because Rule Number 32.6.h subsection r specifically forbits it, even a galldurned Idjit would know that! Besides, The seat is supposed to be STATICALLY MOUNTED! I doan know what that means but I'm SHOW it's IMPOTENT!!!

We now return you to the regularly scheduled posts found at this site......

[charrbq]

Even if the rules would allow it, you're only asking for trouble by mounting your seat, if you could, to the stock mounts. A fellow by the name of Jay Wright was involved in a fairly simple accident that turn violent and almost fatal several years ago at the Runoffs. The seat mounting of his showroom stock car broke when it flipped. His seat belts were of no use immediately, and he bounced around the interior of his car. His neck and spine were compromised, and he remained in a paraplegic until his untimely death due to complications of his injury. As a result, showroom stock cars now run seats just like us in the name of safety.

Is your mobility or your life worth being able to adjust your seat?

[Z3_GoCar]

My seat is adjustable. It's not the stock rails though as that means my seat would be powered in up-down as well as fore-aft. My sliders are from TC Kline and are what he uses in his Grand-Am race cars. Normally a stock slider would have one that locks and one that slides, with my rails both lock into position. It's also bolted to the stock seat points. What are you trying to reuse the stock sliders on?

James

[Greg Amy]

A fellow by the name of Jay Wright was involved in a fairly simple accident that turn violent and almost fatal several years ago at the Runoffs. The seat mounting of his showroom stock car broke when it flipped.[/b]

Be careful of jumping to conclusions.

"Back in the day" Showroom Stock car HAD to run FACTORY SEATS. That's right: no race seats (or race pads, or even weld-in cages) allowed. The problem with Jay's seat in 1993 was NOT that it pulled out of the sliders - it didn't - but the factory seatback adjustment mechanism broke and the seatback was no longer supporting him. Coupled to a poor rollcage design (the main diagonal it collapsed), it was nearly fatal to my friend.

Jay's accident was the impetus for requiring race seats and better weld-in cages for Showroom Stock cars.

To the question at hand: there is no restriction against using stock sliders, nor is there a requirement to have statically-mounted seats (i.e., you can have adjustable seats). SCCA is surprisingly mum on the issue, requiring only "secured" seats (I don't have the exact verbiage handy.) I have personally recommended - and mounted - racing seats on stock sliders in many cars, mostly Spec Miatas, and I'm comfortable with the installation.

However, as I Tech inspector, I am additionally suspicious when I inspect a car with one, to verify its security.

Greg

[charrbq]

Sorry, Greg, my bad. I understood the ruling to mean that the seat had to be fixed once mounted as was explained to me by a tech inspector. I realize that different tech inspectors have different interpretations of the same rule. I was told by Caroline that the seat mounting failed, not the back, but that could've been my interpretation in the retelling of the story. I was aware of the roll cage failure as a result of, the angle of, and the severity of the roll over. It's not unlike the FA accident at the same track where the roll cage collapsed in a flip. The things are only designed to take so much. That accident also led to changes in roll cage structures for formula cars.

[fomad]

Now we're talkin'. Seems that I have to ask my questions and then prompt for replies. Guess I'm cursed. Thanks for the replies, I don't know these things and can't find them in the rules(can't be sure that I've looked everywhere and that I understand what is written) so I have relied upon those found here. Thanks for the answers.

[fomad]

James, - I was intending to mount the seat with bolts and washers to the bottom-most portion of the stock seat and then once the roll cage is in, determine where to go from there. My car is an '85 Supra. The engine is going back in this month and then it goes to the body shop for the cage. If I determine that the mounting will be permanent, the sliding option will be nixed by welding the sliders into their final position. Again, I am new to this, having just sent off for my SCCA Membership, My learning curve extends to the sky and I cannot see the end of it.

[racerb]

Here are pics of my Celica GTS track event (read soon to be PT car) and how I mounted my seat. While it isn't adjustable, you could very easily make it that way by simply drilling additional mounting holes in seat and back support bracket, that's an IOPort bracket by the way.

racerb