Kirkey Intermediate Road Race seat info?
 

So, after a lot of debate I think I've landed on going with a Kirkey Intermediate Road Race seat. The 47 looks like it will work for me, though I've considered the 45 as well since it has helmet braces. The 47 seems to be a popular choice for a lot of people. I just had a few questions for anyone running one of these seats. It would be going into a dedicated track car.

I'm currently 6'2", 230lbs and a 38" waist. just for some additional info. Though I am working out and dropping some weight so those measurements may change before I actually order a seat.

For those of you running one, how have you mounted it/braced it, and are you running sliders. I'd like to have sliders, but if they will make me sit too high, it's not that big of a deal. I'm basically the only person who will be driving the car.

What I'm really having a hard time finding, has anyone had any experience with a crash in one of these seats, or any Kirkey seat for that matter? I've only seen a few people talk about wrecking, and most of them seem to have walked away with only a few bruises.

Thanks.

Hello,

I have a Kirkey 56LW 10 degree seat with the head restraint kit in my tube framed GT3 car. For sizing I am 6'2", 220 lbs, 36 inch waist and I fit fine in the 16" seat.

All the Kirkey seats I have seen have been mounted through the seat pan into some type of rails. All custom fabricated. And then mounted to the roll cage either at the mid-back or at the shoulders.

As for crashing with a Kirkey, a good friend to a wicked, side impact type hit in a Miata and he did walk away, but with a few broken ribs. It had a well built cage and the seat and belts were properly mounted.

Guy

Well you are really lucky. You are the exact same size as me, and I just put a Kirkey 47 in my car last week. The nice thing is that you can add the helmet braces in the future if you want them.

I am very happy with it so far, and have a track day next Tuesday to try it out. It is mounted to the factory slider, no back brace yet, but I will probably run the IO port adjustable back brace. I have a friend that drives the car sometimes. I got the 16 inch model and fit snugly. I want to lose about 15 lbs anyway. The top of my helmet has some scratches from hitting the sunroof with my old seat, and I did not gain any headroom by going to the 47. I have it nearly as low as it can go with the stock slider. I am pulling the sunroof out soon and I will have an inch or more of headroom to spare then.


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That's awesome and really good to hear you fit in a 16" cause I was going to go with an 18", which has been out of stock since I started looking about a month ago. Definitely wouldn't want to have an over sized seat. Figured it would be like wearing a helmet that's too big.

I was looking at incorporating it into the cage as well, so a mount how you've described yours is sort of what I was going to go with. Any chance you have any pictures of it? I haven't talked to any fabricators yet, but I'm hoping to find someone locally with some experience incorporating a seat into the cage.

Also, great to hear he was able to walk away. That seems to be the consensus from what I've read, hard hits end up with some broken ribs possibly, and most people walk away with some bad bruises.

Looks great man. Super glad to hear another person who is fitting in the 16" seat. By the time I get my car on the road I'm hoping to lose at least another 30 or 40 lbs, so I would need to be able to fit snugly and safe in it.

I'd love to hear how it feels after you've been on the track.

The sliders for me were an after though because I've got a few friends who seemed pretty bummed when I said I'd be the only one able to drive pretty much.

Do they make you sit any higher than the stock seats? I'm just touching my hair on the roof in stock seats, so I need to come down at least 2-3 inches I think.

Yes this seat is lower than the stock seats.

You would want the seat bolted to the floor, not tied to the cage. In a bad crash the car and the cage could go in different directions, distorting the seat and injuring you. The back brace can be bolted to the seat or just sit very close to it. If you hard mount the seat, I would just put the back brace against the seat. If the seat is going on sliders, you dont have much of a choice, you may have to bolt the back brace to the seat

As for mounting, my car has a ~3" x 20" x 1/4" plate that runs across the cockpit. I have four 5/16 bolts that go down through the seat bottom and bolt to the plate. In addition I have bolted the top of the headrest to a welded tab (1" x 3/16") to the cage as seen in this photo. The drivers right side of the headrest is also bolted to the cage, but I don't have a good picture of that right now.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-k...0/IMG_0966.JPG

If you like, I can take and post up photos later tonight.

Regards,

Guy

Thanks for the info. Right now sliders are still up for debate, but, if it fits in my Miata, I may use it in there. I have extra sliders I can mod and make brackets for so a set up like yours would be great for that. My stock Miata seat is leather an I slide a lot in it.

Thanks a lot for the info. If you have any more pictures that would be great. No rush, I'm not ordering probably for another month or so. Just sorting out a lot of research now to prepare. Is the drivers side head rest attached to the car as well, or just the cage? And how is visibility with the headrest mounted there?

Funny, I have always understood the exact opposite - ultimately you would like the seat tied 100% to the cage. In a bad wreck it is the cage (not the car) that is protecting you and you want to stay centered within the confines of that cage.

There is no question here - it should be bolted securely to the seat. That back brace represents a (potential) spear that is located near some rather important bits of your body - like your head. In a wreck you do not want the end of it free to shift around.

For the OP - I have a 18" Kirkey in my track car and my waist size is larger than yours. I have plenty of space (almost a little too much, give some recent weight loss). You should be fine with a 17" or 16" inch.

Good luck,

-bill

A couple points here because I basically agree with you. If you have a full cage or tube frame car, and a non adjustable seat, absolutely tie the seat to the cage. If you do not have a full cage or something that is bolt in, or if the seat is on sliders, you probably want it tied to the floor of the car as opposed to part of the cage.

A seat back brace should have a pretty sizable base against the seat so the potential to spear you is very low to nonexistent. Also, not everyone has an aluminium seat to drill through. You should not drill a composite seat to bolt a back brace to it.

There was a wreck in a recent Chump Car or Lemons race (I don't remember the exact race at the moment) where the back brace tied to the cage, and bolted to the seat, deformed the seat on impact.. just something to think about.

These are just things I have researched specifically because more than one person drives my car, and we need to adjust the seat.

How comfortable are these seats for say long drives? would a sparco sprint V . Be a better choice for a car that is driven on the street as well ?

I have not taken it on along drive yet, but I had Sparco Sprints and these are more comfortable, but are harder to get in and out of.

i have a Kirkey 47700 intermediate road race seat and am very happy w it. mine is mounted pretty close to the floor in a non-adj position.

howard

Kirky road race seats are for racing, they would be awful on a long drive.

For a car that would see occasional street duty, I would use Sparco EVO seats.

A couple pictures of the attachment of my headrest to the cage.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C...0/IMG_0093.JPG https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-m...0/IMG_0094.JPG

As for seat comfort, it's a compromise. I've driven for hours in a Sparco EVO and it's quite comfy. My Racetech is also very good, my Kirkey is a 10 degree seat and quite upright. I've driven many 40 min sprint races in the Kirkey and have never been uncomfortable.

Guy

Based on these two comments I'm reasonably convinced you have no idea what you are talking about.

While comfort is subjective, Kirkey road race seats are very comfortable. They are available in many different sizes, and you can add or subtract foam to your comfort.

Try fitting a Sparco Evo 2 in a street driven FC.

Awesome man. Thanks for the input on it. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with the Kirkey 47 series. We have a few people who run them locally for autoX so I may wait and sit in a few to check which seat will fit me best. A 16 or 17 seems like a good option.

I was considering the EVO III and EVO II, but I'm trying to avoid a fiberglass seat and Carbon/Kevlar is kind of pricey compared to an aluminum seat.

Awesome man! Thanks for the pictures. I think the 15 degrees on the 47 will work out well for me. In a street car I don't tend to lean too far back unless it's like my girl friends civic where if I don't lean back, my face is almost on the windshield. Glad to hear it's comfortable though. It's not too big of a deal when I'm running 20-40 minutes at a time on an open track, but after 7 hours of that, I can see an uncomfortable seat becoming painful.