Josh- the seats SHOULD be replaced in accordance with the homologation, otherwise we are borrowing piecemeal. it's yet another unfortunate cost burden we must endure in order to go racin'.

that said, the current standard is NO, if the seat has an FIA homologation, you can run it mounted however you want for however long you want. some techs might argue this, and frankly they would be right, but the GCR disagrees.

There were no updates on the seat mounting rules in this past fastrack. This is a real bone of contention for me, and I have written what I feeel is a very involved letter regarding same. in short - the mounting is unregulated, expirations are not enforced, and impacts that might have affected the integrity of the seat are not recorded or accounted for. So obviously, the solution to human damages caused by the above is to force the installation of a structure and design-defeating back brace. this will end up hurting more people than it helps if it goes through. so I propposed that the seat mounting be controlled and enforced in an equitable and affordable way that is generic engouh to apply accross the spectrum of chassis used in the club.

FYI - as Steve said there are now 2 seat standards at FIA: 8855-1999 (technical list 12)and 8862-2009 (list 40). those on list 12 do not list anything other than the style of mount used in homologation (no material, dimensions, or part numbers). those in list 40 (I think 8 seats currently) specify the mount PN, and might require a specific back brace as well. becasue of the limited data available in FIA technical list 12, the seats conforming to 8855-1999 will NEVER meet the rule as poposed in the 8/10 fastrack, and will ALWAYS require a back brace. this is very, very stupid and potentially very dangerous.