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As my car has gotten better, especially this year, I am literally being thrown out of my seat and cant keep my butt planted all the way back on the Corbeau FX1 pro. I know putting my harness back in will help a little but only to the point where Im still flopping out against the straps rather than the seat holding me in. The real light shinning moment that things need to change was my ride in Ron Bauers miata with Bride Lowmax seats and just using the lap harness. It just held my hips so much better that my upper body was fine at 1.4-1.5g and upper harness wasn't needed at all.
I also noticed the Bride seat setup was much stiffer and the corbeau slider is pretty much garbage in my car. Its both somehow super lose for flex, and super sticky for sliding. Are any of the sliders better or is everything aftermarket just junk?
A couple things that are needed,
- Absolutely have to run a slider. I have to many combination of male/female drivers to consider that a fixed seat doesnt work.
- Dont want a harness. Its annoying to change every run, no chance of crashing into other cars or rolling, not going to run a harness bar.
- I dont need super low. As long as its not higher than stock, then thats ok. ~1" lower than stock is about ideal for us.
So what have you guys found you like or more importantly dislike about various setups? I need to get something ordered soon if Im going to have it before the next event.
Are you 100% against non slider as in what if it were adjustable but required loosening up some bolts? I know you said that but wanted to confirm bc if you recall I was working on a seat bracket project which is finally complete and think they turned out pretty awesome.
After talking with you and a few other folks its apparent across the board that most of the kits out there are garbage. I thought you had the Buddy Club rails but perhaps my memory is off? The Brides are supposed to be nicer in the stiffness department. My opinion is that anything with sliders is going to give it up in the stiffness department. The Sparco sliders are supposedly solid and come with double locks which apparently a lot of sliders on the market only come with a single lock.
Basically my findings were that the aftermarket options all basically suck but the Brides are the best of the bunch so if you must have sliders then that is where I'd spend my money.
However, if you arent 100% opposed to not having sliders then check out what I came up with with some assistance from Austin. My want list was stiff, lightweight and adjustable
I definitely have to be able to adjust with no tools. Basically 2nd driver hop in and adjusts position and wheel height. Anything more and I'll get an earful from my codriver/wife
Havent tried the CG lock, I could see that helping a bit at least preventing me from scooting forward. Really need more side bolster on my legs though. Its currently not possible to left foot brake my car because you spend all your time bracing as hard as you can.
Yeah I figured as such but wanted to throw it out there since I spent a good bit of time on that project and it finally came together as I had hoped it would.
The side bolster is mostly a function of the actual seat side boltering (duh). I haven't sat in the Corbeau but from the pics it appears to have decent side bolstering. You could take a look at the OMP WRC-R as that has really tall side bolstering and it a very comfortable seat. I ended up getting Sparco QRT-R and as you can see from the pics the side bolstering seems to be right on par with your Corbeau.
CG lock would be a good start for you IMO since you dont want to go to harnesses. When if your next event? I think I'll have some time tomorrow to do some cutting so I can get it out to you; its been sitting in my toolbox for years now.
heel2toe can you please provide some more info? Does this seat as low as the sparco 600 seat base? Is it lighter? Also what is the price? i was thinking no sliders because it adds height
Then all u gotta do is pull the lever loose move the seat then pull it up tight again. You could also make your own out of a bolt and some fab work with a nice long lever that isnt going to come loose.
As you kind of said in your original post sliders suck. If u can ditch em for a solution like this id absoluely do it.
Harnesses are just as important for holding you properly in the seat so your not leaning ur weight on the steering wheel during cornering to stay upright. Why not invest in some good quality Willans endurance harnesses or something which take 5 seconds to adjust? Cheaper harnesses are a nightmare to adjust but if u get some made for endurance racing the ratchets on them are designed to be quickly loosened and tightened during a pitstop driver change. The willans ones are the best ive dealt with, I have the schroth enduro harnesses now and they arent bad also but dare i say it the willans ones were easier to adjust.
I have a Sparco circuit in my car which is nice and stiff and has deep side walls but its far too upright for my liking. Dare i say it if u can get ur hands on a decent OMP seat or a genuine bride seat youll be pretty cumfy (not the lowmax. i have the chinese bride lowmax as my passengers seat but the side bolsters arent amazing in them.
Even a pin would be cumbersome considering we have less than 5min for changeover locally and that includes dealing with pressures, tire/cooler spraying, numbers, seat/harness. So adding more to the mix just becomes more of a hassle than we gain. Its the game we have to play to make both drivers comfortable and get them to the line with as little mental stress as possible so they can focus on the drive.
For now I may just have to put the harness back in the car and at the Packwood Tour/Pro where all the big money cars show up (I'm still faster than them BTW, they're just big money ) and can see more up close the quality of the slider between brands.
I was thinking about the harness and potentially pulling the bottom pad or putting one smaller in to get deeper into the seat. With the harness going through the cutouts in the side vs OEM belt going over and sitting deeper, I might be much better off than we have been till I decide a better direction overall.
The brides do look really nice in Rons car and were really stiff with his slider but I didnt think to move the seat and see how it felt there. But they're quite spendy at around $1400 per with slider.
I have a CG lock if you wanted to meet up. I’m in Tigard. I actually have two so if you wanted to try one out at your next event that’s cool.
PM me if you’re interested
Yeah basically with 5 minutes to spare to your point your only option is sliders or literally dedicated seat and brackets and swap the seat each time but that is totally ridiculous. The brackets I made do not make sense for you and even with those toolless bolts the design would still require the seat to be removed since you wont be able to remove the carriage bolts to move forward without pulling seat out. Basically youre stick with sliders so buy the best ones you can get your hands on and I think its still Bride.
Dallas- Have you tried sitting in some Brides? Im not saying you're most likely too big for them but seems they, along with most race seats come in 2 sizes small and smaller.
Nicolas- what info would you like to see? They were a lot of work and not so sure if Ill be making em to sell honestly. I've thought about a few runs potentially but was really just a project for myself. Dallas has a HAAS so offered it to him since he could probably build something similar himself.
If you really want to pursue it and we have others interested then perhaps we could talk but as it stands now especially if you want something sooner than later the Sparco or Wedge or Planted offerings might be better suited. But in the interest of not derailing this thread we can take it offline.
Yeah basically with 5 minutes to spare to your point your only option is sliders or literally dedicated seat and brackets and swap the seat each time but that is totally ridiculous. The brackets I made do not make sense for you and even with those toolless bolts the design would still require the seat to be removed since you wont be able to remove the carriage bolts to move forward without pulling seat out. Basically youre stick with sliders so buy the best ones you can get your hands on and I think its still Bride.
Dallas- Have you tried sitting in some Brides? Im not saying you're most likely too big for them but seems they, along with most race seats come in 2 sizes small and smaller.
Nicolas- what info would you like to see? They were a lot of work and not so sure if Ill be making em to sell honestly. I've thought about a few runs potentially but was really just a project for myself. Dallas has a HAAS so offered it to him since he could probably build something similar himself.
If you really want to pursue it and we have others interested then perhaps we could talk but as it stands now especially if you want something sooner than later the Sparco or Wedge or Planted offerings might be better suited. But in the interest of not derailing this thread we can take it offline.
not if u weld on some captive nuts on the back side of the holes u wish to switch between. or if the bracket was thick enough you could thread the bracket itself
the levers i posted are literally only a 90deg turn and they loosen off. you wind in pre tension using an allen key on the bolt then u just rotate like 90deg and they lock. so it would be just almost as quick as sliders. if u cut slotted holes with dallas seat pos at the maximum and his wifes at the minimum ud literally just turn all 4 levers 90deg. slide the seat all the way forward or back then lock them back up again by turning them 90deg. we use them at work to do quick size changes its literally seconds.
Bracket is .25" 6061 so cutting threads didn't seem to be the best idea. I do like where your heads at in regards to slotting both the front and the rear as then you could slide without fully unbolting. I can snap some more pics but one other thing to keep in mind is that the center counsel is like right there so getting the inside loosened up once installed in the vehicle might be a lil tricky but and then again with what youre proposing its basically a matter of flipping a lever.
The reality is it can be designed however you want it to be designed. I believe the intent of this thread was moreso whats readily available on the market to purchase today and for that I think its slim pickings once you get into the specifics around stiffness adjustability and weight. What is super annoying about the setup on our cars is the front mounting points arent flat but rather there is around a 10 degree downward slope so I spent a considerable amount of time coming up with a means to bend without cracking bc 6061 is very brittle.
That being said Dallas is pretty creative so perhaps the pictures I posted will get some ideas floating around in his head to come up with something that works for him. Or he'll just report back on the Bride brackets and tell us they also are mediocre at best, lol!
Dallas- Have you tried sitting in some Brides? Im not saying you're most likely too big for them but seems they, along with most race seats come in 2 sizes small and smaller.
Im not a small guy, but not big guy either. Dropped from 210 about 2 years ago to around 180 now, but still have some good size hips. The brides I sat in this weekend were definitely snug, and i think those were in the "smaller" size but without trying out the "small" I couldnt order one without knowing how they'll fit me.
I think I may just order the Bride slider to try with the current seat and put the harness back in for now. I do love seeing all the quasi quick adjustments people have come up with though.
U guys might not have heard of them but Racetech down here in new zealand do some awesome seats designed for more normal sized humans haha. They are used in alot of pro race cars e.g the Aussie Supercars all run one. they are super good quality seats. might be worth a look in? i believe they will ship direct but if you have any issues dallas can always ship it to me and ill forward it on.
They do all different size seats. normal, wide, tall, wide and tall. theres a size chart in the pictures but it goes from 5'3" up to 6'7" and 29" waist to 44" waist.
They also do a patented rollcage back mount so ur seats connected directly to the cage rather than the floor.
Regarding the front mounting points u can cut them out and just put seat bars in. its still tight on the center console however.
I've been using Bride FG rails/sliders in my car w/ Sparco Evo seats and am really happy with them. You lift up on small handles on both sides to unlock, slide forward/back, push down on the handles and then push back/forth to lock. They are not crazy low. I have not measured but I can if it would be helpful. I did try them with a Sparco Evo.. L? (the one size bigger one) and they did not fit in the car that way. I was originally going to do a wider seat on the passenger side bc I found one cheap, but couldn't make it work with the Bride rails.
Jun 17, 2019, 10:01 AM
