Beginner HPDE/Time Trial Seats

[CobaltFilly]

Just sat down in some Sparco EVO XL (QRT?)s and think I fit in them decently (5 foot 10, 208lbs, 39" waist Im fat). Any other seats of note I should consider for my S550? Looking at Watson Rollcage/bar, Sparco 5 or 6-point harnesses, Stand-21 HANS, and my no visor helmet. I daily drive this car.

 

[JDee]

Just sat down in some Sparco EVO XL (QRT?)s and think I fit in them decently (5 foot 10, 208lbs, 39" waist Im fat). Any other seats of note I should consider for my S550? Looking at Watson Rollcage/bar, Sparco 5 or 6-point harnesses, Stand-21 HANS, and my no visor helmet. I daily drive this car.

Down the rabbit hole another one goes. It won't be a daily for long.

 

[CobaltFilly]

Down the rabbit hole another one goes. It won't be a daily for long.

Pretty much. Next January acquiring either a pre-75 mustang or F150, or a 2004 Ford Focus SVE. TBD.

 

[GAR944]

Just a quick reply on the move, make sure you still fit in a race suit. Mine is a triple layer so thicker than a pair of jeans and can change the feel. If they have seats they probably have suits. Even if you aren't running one yet maybe ask to try one on and check the seat.

 

[CobaltFilly]

Just a quick reply on the move, make sure you still fit in a race suit. Mine is a triple layer so thicker than a pair of jeans and can change the feel. If they have seats they probably have suits. Even if you aren't running one yet maybe ask to try one on and check the seat.

Ooo that's a good one...

 

[EF1]

Seats are a personal preference. Sit in as many seats as you can. You will know which one feels right.

 

[RandomSquirrel]

We don't "daily" ours, but our driver seat is an OMP HTE-R XL. I'm 6'2", 225, 36-38" waist, and it's a perfect fit. The other two guys on the team are 6' 250 (38-40" waist) and 5'8" 150 (32-34" waist) and they fit snugly as well. We like the halo seat as it contains things, even with our HANS device, but may limit visibility for daily driving duties.

 

[Ewheels]

If I may offer some of my personal experience.....please ignore me if this doesn't apply to you.

Similar to you, when I first got into track life, I became obsessed quickly and wanted so badly to turn my street mustang into a true race car. At one point along the way, I came to the realization that creating a car that would no longer be street legal made little to no sense as I only go to the track 4-6 times a year. This means that for 90% of the year, my car would just sit in the garage collecting dust.
Rather, I wanted a hybrid of sorts: track ready but can still be enjoyed on the street. For me, that meant a seat, harness, and roll bar was about as far as I wanted to take the car (other than suspension, brakes, and things like that).

 

[JDee]

What he said^^^^
I did the same thing. Modded my '16 so much it eventually become not liveable in terms of comfort and not street legal at all. So, I bought a trailer. So then needed to buy an F150 pickup to pull it. Prep time and loading up to go to a track day was a half a day of hard work, same after the track day. Then 10 or 15 hours of maintenance weekly. And after 4 or 5 years of beating on it things started breaking. Expensive things that only real mechanics can fix. The only thing in the driveline that didn't break was the motor. It was gutted, caged, race seats, it was loud, obnoxious and harder than hell on the old bones. Suddenly it was a huge PITA and no longer fun.

Nowadays I run my Mach 1 pretty much stock except for camber plates and wheels/tires, so I can drive it to the track. I have a Maverick pickup instead of an F150 gas eater hauling a trailer. I get as much enjoyment as I did before, and I am doing something now that is sustainable. I've even got warranty on the Mach 1, I take it to the selling dealer for all service that Ford specifies for track usage which they happily do.

Life is pretty good these days.

 

[CobaltFilly]

What he said^^^^
I did the same thing. Modded my '16 so much it eventually become not liveable in terms of comfort and not street legal at all. So, I bought a trailer. So then needed to buy an F150 pickup to pull it. Prep time and loading up to go to a track day was a half a day of hard work, same after the track day. Then 10 or 15 hours of maintenance weekly. And after 4 or 5 years of beating on it things started breaking. Expensive things that only real mechanics can fix. The only thing in the driveline that didn't break was the motor. It was gutted, caged, race seats, it was loud, obnoxious and harder than hell on the old bones. Suddenly it was a huge PITA and no longer fun.

Nowadays I run my Mach 1 pretty much stock except for camber plates and wheels/tires, so I can drive it to the track. I have a Maverick pickup instead of an F150 gas eater hauling a trailer. I get as much enjoyment as I did before, and I am doing something now that is sustainable. I've even got warranty on the Mach 1, I take it to the selling dealer for all service that Ford specifies for track usage which they happily do.

Life is pretty good these days.

If I may offer some of my personal experience.....please ignore me if this doesn't apply to you.

Similar to you, when I first got into track life, I became obsessed quickly and wanted so badly to turn my street mustang into a true race car. At one point along the way, I came to the realization that creating a car that would no longer be street legal made little to no sense as I only go to the track 4-6 times a year. This means that for 90% of the year, my car would just sit in the garage collecting dust.
Rather, I wanted a hybrid of sorts: track ready but can still be enjoyed on the street. For me, that meant a seat, harness, and roll bar was about as far as I wanted to take the car (other than suspension, brakes, and things like that).

Both of you, thank you for the excellent experience info! I am a 10+ track/autox days a year kind of guy, wanting to get good at tracking then build her into a Time Trial car. Next year I may purchase a new daily, either a pre-74 or a 2004 Ford Focus SVE or newer one. But yes I only plan to go seats, harness, and rollbar while maintaining road safety and a little comfort. I am early 20s so any and all info is super valuable to me.

Current issue is I am literally THROWN from side to side when even mildly tracking. I may consider trying Schroth harnesses, but I feel its more the seat itself has been worn down terribly (previous owner was x2 of me, God bless him).

I also desire a hybrid track/streetable car. Hence considering Sparco EVO XLs as they aren't halo seats, more double duty seats. I would REALLY love to have 2015-2017 OEM recaros...but I can't afford $4k for seats alone!?

I do not plan on gutting the interior, the exhaust is perfect as she stands (V6, so I have sound advantage), and I believe I learned my lesson on my first car (wasn't a track car, but still valuable lesson).

 

[Ewheels]

I have also come to the realization over the years that I hate wrenching.....I'll do it out of necessity but I enjoy driving far, far more. So for me, reliability is everything. I want to be able to have my fun and then do as little maintenance as possible.

Current issue is I am literally THROWN from side to side when even mildly tracking. I may consider trying Schroth harnesses, but I feel its more the seat itself has been worn down terribly (previous owner was x2 of me, God bless him).

I also desire a hybrid track/streetable car. Hence considering Sparco EVO XLs as they aren't halo seats, more double duty seats. I would REALLY love to have 2015-2017 OEM recaros...but I can't afford $4k for seats alone!?

For reference, I drive mine to work about once a week and I have a halo seat in it. Probably not legal, not the most comfortable, not the best visibility, but it works and I enjoy it. Complete interior from the B-pillar forward. Definitely holds me in place on the track.

 

[CobaltFilly]

I have also come to the realization over the years that I hate wrenching.....I'll do it out of necessity but I enjoy driving far, far more. So for me, reliability is everything. I want to be able to have my fun and then do as little maintenance as possible.


For reference, I drive mine to work about once a week and I have a halo seat in it. Probably not legal, not the most comfortable, not the best visibility, but it works and I enjoy it. Complete interior from the B-pillar forward. Definitely holds me in place on the track.

Yea Halo might be a bit much for me in general due to my eyesight issues, and hopefully I won't need Halo in Time Trials (in what 3+ years lol).

Definitely going to stick to a "competition" style seat instead of a real Halo seat.

 

[stevbd]

I think there are two types of "hybrid" cars: track cars you can legally drive to the track, and street cars that don't fall on their face on the track. They are quite different and you have to decide which category you want to be in.

Race seats work for the first category (assuming you can pass your local inspection) but not really the second. I'm in the second category so I bought some take-out Boss Recaros and use the Schroth 4-point harness system. Obviously not as good on track as the setup you are looking at. But it is way, way better than the stock slip 'n slide and 3 point OEM belt combination you are using now - and the versatility and flexibility really can't be beat. I guess I'm saying there are middle ground options that will be far better than what you are suffering with right now and don't require all the compromises of a true race seat. Good luck!

 

[CobaltFilly]

I think there are two types of "hybrid" cars: track cars you can legally drive to the track, and street cars that don't fall on their face on the track. They are quite different and you have to decide which category you want to be in.

Race seats work for the first category (assuming you can pass your local inspection) but not really the second. I'm in the second category so I bought some take-out Boss Recaros and use the Schroth 4-point harness system. Obviously not as good on track as the setup you are looking at. But it is way, way better than the stock slip 'n slide and 3 point OEM belt combination you are using now - and the versatility and flexibility really can't be beat. I guess I'm saying there are middle ground options that will be far better than what you are suffering with right now and don't require all the compromises of a true race seat. Good luck!

Thanks brother! I am lucky that California has no inspections other than CARB/emissions (big sad). So otherwise anything goes really.

I was considering Schroth but the seats themselves suck (and perhaps I could find OEM Recaros for around $2k if blown...i don't know).

I will give it all careful consideration.

 

[GAR944]

Some really good points have been brought up.
@stevbd really nails it with the 2 categories.
I've built both, and the racecar with number plates is a far from civilized animal and tends to be the better it is on track the worse it is on road. It also attracts way too much of the wrong attention.
My Mustang is the other, seriously competent but you still have all the features.
A non fixed back seat that allows the factory seat belts to be retained and harness to be used. Note that they usually only accept a 4 point harness. Have had them custom made so you can get a pull down adjuster on the waist as there is very little room on the sides of the seats which make the standard pull up adjusters a pain.
In all honesty i don't believe the factory GT Recaro seat is much better than the stock seat. Especially as they are still a full leather style seat, it needs to be a material that you don't slide on.
A half cage, bolt in, to allow harness mounting or a harness bar.
A harness as already mentioned and the assorted hard wear to mount it correctly.
This is the interior of my car and it works well.

If i didn't need it to be street legal, and here i need the airbags for that, i would have gone down the fixed seat option like the picture below and dealt with the seatbelt issues. But i have the benefit of it not needing to be a daily.


Either way a seat and harness in what ever form will be the biggest benefit to your driving. In terms of being attached to the car and feeling what it is doing under you and how your inputs are affecting it. Seriously do the seat before any other mods. Especially if its as worn as you have mentioned. No point having a car that could handle but you are hanging onto the steering wheel for dear life to hold you in place.

 

[CobaltFilly]

Some really good points have been brought up.
@stevbd really nails it with the 2 categories.
I've built both, and the racecar with number plates is a far from civilized animal and tends to be the better it is on track the worse it is on road. It also attracts way too much of the wrong attention.
My Mustang is the other, seriously competent but you still have all the features.
A non fixed back seat that allows the factory seat belts to be retained and harness to be used. Note that they usually only accept a 4 point harness. Have had them custom made so you can get a pull down adjuster on the waist as there is very little room on the sides of the seats which make the standard pull up adjusters a pain.
In all honesty i don't believe the factory GT Recaro seat is much better than the stock seat. Especially as they are still a full leather style seat, it needs to be a material that you don't slide on.
A half cage, bolt in, to allow harness mounting or a harness bar.
A harness as already mentioned and the assorted hard wear to mount it correctly.
This is the interior of my car and it works well.
View attachment 96946
If i didn't need it to be street legal, and here i need the airbags for that, i would have gone down the fixed seat option like the picture below and dealt with the seatbelt issues. But i have the benefit of it not needing to be a daily.
View attachment 96947

Either way a seat and harness in what ever form will be the biggest benefit to your driving. In terms of being attached to the car and feeling what it is doing under you and how your inputs are affecting it. Seriously do the seat before any other mods. Especially if its as worn as you have mentioned. No point having a car that could handle but you are hanging onto the steering wheel for dear life to hold you in place.

I will look into the Sparco EVO XLs more then, they look the most useable and was extremely comfortable to me. I am going this Saturday to go sit in a ton more options just in case. Definitely going with this sort of option since I have no checks other then are all the lights off on the dash and the car passes CARB/emissions readiness check. Then adding in a bar exactly like your own in your white mustang with 5 or 6 point harness, while retaining stock seatbelts for dailying. Surprised at how much more comfortable the Sparcos were being a fixed back, but I guess that really has to do with the cloth OEMs being so worn...I always feel like I am hanging on for dear life while tracking, so much so that I (rarely) sometimes grab the auto shift knob to keep myself in place. Not good.

 

[EF1]

I went through this same exercise a few years ago. There are several manufacturers that make seats similar to the Sparco EVO with the lower diagonal thigh bolsters and no halo. They all look similar but have different dimensions. If that is the style seat you are looking at Cobra, Recaro, Race Tech, Sabelt, and OMP all make seats of a similar design. Sit in as many as you can to see what fits you. Also try seats with a higher thigh bolster for comparison. I find them hard to get in without a removable steering wheel, but someone younger and more flexible may not have a problem. I settled on the Cobra Imola GT. It fit me better than the others and fit in the car with the interior still intact.

 

[EF1]

Here was my choice.

 

[mwjscn]

Current issue is I am literally THROWN from side to side when even mildly tracking. I may consider trying Schroth harnesses, but I feel its more the seat itself has been worn down terribly (previous owner was x2 of me, God bless him).

Just from personal experiences with the stock seats and auto crossing, I used to get thrown around a lot and had to use my left knee and elbow to brace up against the interior to the point of bruising. After just installing just the Schroth harnesses, it completely solved that issue for me and resulted in significantly less body fatigue (as well as a jump in concentration level). It was a great solution for me since it was 90% street car with a handful of autocross outings per year. Just make sure, like with any harness, to fit them correctly. Lap belt and buckle stay "low and tight across the hips" like the flight attendant tells you. If you tighten down the shoulder straps and the buckle rises, it's not tight enough.

 

[Ewheels]

Adding mine since we're sharing...