Seat Poll for aftermarket road race seats. Please tell us what you have/like.
 

Can people chime in with how they like their Cobra, Recaros, Sparco, and Corbeau seats?

I'm looking at either Sparco or Corbeau seats for road racing that are adjustble and have provisions for 5 point belts.

For those that reply please state which model you have and what the approximate cost is and what +'s/-'s in addtion to how tall you are. How they hold you in under braking and around corners.

I would like to keep my cost on seat spending towards the lower end of the scale... but have no problem with spending more if I have to. This would be a street driven vehicle also but leaning more towards a track oriented car.

-Mark

Well, if you really want a race seat then you need to sacrifice the adjustability(I assume you mean the seat "tilt"). The only seats you will find to be certified by the FIA are the one piece carbon/fiberglass units. I'm a small guy so I have my eye on the sparco rev seat.

This is as cheap a price as I can find here: http://www.i-m-racing.com/sparcorevseat.html

SCC also ran an article a few months back detailing a ton of aftermarket seats from sparco corbeau momo ect. Issue is dec 2003. They got a few guys of pant sizes 28-34 and got them to make comments on how each felt. If you just want me to post the results for a few seats (3-5 any more and I'll be typing from now until christmas) here gimmie a list and I will try and help you out.

Brent-

Thanks for the quick reply. I would be pretty much the only person driving it and you were right I wanted the "tilt" feature. If it isn't legal in NASA/SCCA then I guess I could forget about that function.

I'm 29" waist, 5'6", 145lbs. I'd be interested in seeing that seat review if you wouldn't mind either photocopying it for me.... or I could buy the mag off you or "rent it." :D

Would you mind briefly doing the writeup on the top 4 seats from the SCC article?

Thanks,

-GNX7

GNX7:

I am researching race seats for my FD too, so I'll let you in on some of my findings.

Affordable:

Sparco Sprint, Sparco Ultra -- they don't make brackets so you have to make your own non-sliding ones

Corbeau Forza -- they make FD sliding brackets but the Forza was too wide for me (I'm 5'7", 28" waist, 130 lbs). You might fit though. I thought the CR-1 was EXTREMELY supportive and comfortable but it is not an FIA seat (street type seat).

Not so Affordable:

Recaro SPG -- I sat in Cossie's car with this seat. The seat was great and not too wide for me. Recara USA apparently doesn't sell FD brackets, but Recaro Japan does.

Very few of the other seats on the market actually fit into an FD without smashing into the door panel.

Racetech I am using the new seat designed for the new Viper competition coupe. it has the wrap around head rest/restraint. this seat has no equal at this time in my opinion and after alot of research. they have several different models that are more cost effective, but since I am a big fat guy I had to get the biggest seat they made. make sure to get the seat with the head rest/restraint.

The begining of the article goes over the ground rules of the major sactioning bodies. As I read it neither NASA/SCCA REQUIRES a one piece seat. However they do hint that you should use this type. SCCA REQUIRES that seats not meeting FIA requirements should have a brace that attaches the back of the seat to the roll bar. I have seen these a M2 performance but I doubt that you can recline the seat at all with this installed(set it and forget it setup) so there is really no point in paying more for a reclining seat.

I'm 5'7 135 and about a 30 waist so I'll list that are "good" fits for that size.

Like I said before the rev by sparco

Sparco-pro 2000, Evo
Corbeau-Clubman,
Cobra-evolution, Suzuka, Imola,
Bride-Exas III, Artis III, Zeta III,
OMP-Grip
Buddy Club-Spec Racing Bucket

These are the seats they list as good fits for our size. All but the Buddy Club, the Bride's, and Corbeau are FIA homologated. Comparing the 30 waist testers comments to my own for a few of the seats I've sat in these should be fairly accurate for size.

There's really no substitute for trying the seat on. I wouldn't even consider buying a seat I hadn't tried before. The best way to do this is show up at a track event and ask people to let you sit in their seats. I'm 6' 1" tall, 210 lbs, and the Momo salesman told me that one of their seats would fit me just fine. I tried it and it was way too small. The center of my back wouldn't even touch the seat because my shoulders were perched on the shoulder bolsters.

Aside from the size issue, there's the question of body idiosyncrasies and personal taste.

Try before you buy -- especially since most places won't allow you to return seats once you've opened them.

Agree with above.
Go to a showroom of the seats if you can find one around where you live and try them on for size.

I bought my seat in NJ at an authorized Sparco dealer. The showroom had the REV, EVO, EVO2 and PRO2000.
I tried them all and fit best in the REV and EVO. I ended up with EVO. FWIW, I am 6 foot tall, weigh 185 lbs and have a 32 waist.

You can look at the specs and numbers but the best way to see if you fit is to sit in it.

Man you guys are little. 130 lbs. DAMN. I haven't been that skinny since middle school. 6'1 200

I will have to go to a local shop and see which seat fits me best then. Since I'm shaped like a Martini glass with chicken legs some seats probably won't fit well.

-GNX7

I love my Sparco Milano's in black alcantara. But they were very difficult to install.

any reclinable seat is not a race seat

Do they have much for the larger guy?
 

I'm 6'1" and 235 lbs with a 34" waist. Anything in that article sound like a good fit for me? I'm thinking of the Sparco Pro 2000 or the Corbeau FX1 right now.

-Trent

DrPJM1 do you have any pics of the seats installed?
i dont have an aftermarket seat but i have sat in a corbeau cr1 and it was very confortable and supportive, i'm 5'8 160 29' waist.

I had Corbeau GT7s, which are more street than race seats, for about 4 years in the Trans Am. You get what you pay for, the quality isn't that good. But they were comfortable.

I'm going with the Kirkey Intermediate RR seat in my race car

PaulC

I have a Corbeau clubman, which is a one-piece metal frame. The recline angle is a bit more than most one-piece seats, which is why I got it. I'm short so I need to slide forward but didn't want my shoulders and face too close to the wheel, so I got the one that has more angle. It's not FIA-certed tho. My specs - 5 foot 8, 165 lbs.

race seats
 

I've got stock seats in my FD for now, so the following comments are from my experience in my Miatae. The features that are desirable in a pure race seat are typically difficult to live with in a streetable car - you just have to decide what compromises you want to make - just like most other mods.

Putting a race seat in my street/track Miata improved my driving significantly, for 2 reasons - (1) with the seat/5-pt harnesses, I wasn't bracing my body to fight the lateral g's, so didn't get tired as quickly or as sore afterwards , and (2) I could feel what the car was doing much more clearly - especially with regard to oversteer. On the other hand, it made the car uncomfortable for casual driving, and more difficult to get into/out of.

When I built my Spec Miata, I moved the seat to that car and have been very happy with it. I have the Momo Start - relatively inexpensive, FIA-certified, and it fits me well, and fits in the car (not much room in a Miata). There's no substitute for actually sitting in the seat, as you have been hearing from others - even better if you can spend some time in it. Height and weight aren't as important as pelvic brim width, shoulder width, torso length, etc. Many of the "road racing" seats have large rib and head "wings" that make the seat more difficult to fit into the car, and harder to get into/out of, but are definately worthwhile if/when you suddenly decelerate any direction but purely fore/aft.

Again - first clarify your needs/wants (street car that will see some track days, or do you plan to do Solo I or road racing that requires that you meet specific requirements), then see what fits you, your car, and your budget. If you can get mounting brakets that bolt-in, rather than having to fabricate them, that's a plus, but shouldn't be your primary decision maker.