Is 1600 lb/in beyond the Ohlins Flag stock valving? That’s over twice as stiff as the coils they come with!

 

Definitely. Im running 1450 on stock valving and rebound is near max but from talking with Marshal, I dont recall if it was High or Low speed wasnt enough.

Compression seems fine still though. At least, It can definitely be set too much in bumps and becomes super harsh.

 

sweet. taking a look at a few sets, mainly the recaro pole positions. seems like they're still comfortable enough for regular driving, but light too. 7kg = 15.5 lbs, vs stock's 37.4 lbs. 22lbs per seat, so 44 lbs right there

 

Don’t forget the weight of the seat brackets though (what the side brackets mount to). You want those to be beefy from a safety standpoint.

 

And the seat brackets base and side mounts can be pretty heavy. 10-20lbs depending if you use sliders.

I found if I add a 5pt harness to my sparco with slider then its not any lighter than stock.

 

Yes by a lot.

 

I'll never use any seats other than Racetechs after the amount of driving I've done in mine. They key to cutting weight in seats is not using a slider. A properly bolstered seat is a must in a racecar. Bracing yourself as you drive is the absolute worst.

 

oh hm good to know.. i guess the 37.4lbs for stock includes the sliders and brackets

 

Also stiffness is much increased since the slider itself pretty much takes out any stiffness benefit of the base. But if you happen to have lots of drivers run the car like in AutoX does, a slider is almost mandatory.

 

missed the point about stiffness. may just use the sliders too i suppose.

i'm regularly bruising my left knee against the door card, thought it'd be a double win if i had more thigh bolstering + weight loss

 

Are you installing a roll bar with the sests? Fixed back seats make you less safe in a roll over without a roll bar. Might be passable for autox but not a good idea on track. And there goes your weight savings...

 

hadn't planned on it.. current setup is stock seats + buschur quick release harness bar + schroth 4pt asm

 

True. My setup has a bracket with studs, remove 4 nuts and move studs to another set of holes on the side mounts. Takes a couple mins to adjust but more rigid and lighter than a slider.


This is not always true. Fixed back seats are less safe if you're using a 5 or 6 point harness without a roll bar. They are perfectly fine if you retain a functioning 3 point belt. The seat itself is more structurally rigid that the factory seat in most cases.

 

I agree. My point was about using fixed back seats without a roll bar.

 

I found it easiest to everything at once. I figured if I did the seat, I needed to do the harness. If I do a harness, I have to do the bar. It all just kinda needs to be done together at the same time. Like ripping off a band-aid. Just get 'er done Keeping in mind my goal was safety more than anything. If I just wanted to move around less in the car, then a seat and OEM seatbelt/ASM harness would be good enough for me.
I did keep the OEM seatbelt, in case I drive the car around town. So, that means I also kept the airbags too. I haven't quite decided to go full-on race car, yet.